20 Percent Time

My 7th grade Tools for Tech class is generally a pretty technologically advanced class to start with.  I had many of them last year in 6th grade, and a large majority of them had their own personal iPads.  They come into the computer lab and set up shop.  iPad, iPhone, desktop...Their little work station is all set. 

Now, don't take this to mean that they are ready to work.  It's also a very social group who tends to buck the traditional classroom.  Good thing for me that I bucked the traditional classroom ages ago too. 

I tried to come up with an idea that would teach them technology skills in a way that they would appreciate when it hit me.  Be like Google!

Take a moment and read the link, then come back here. 

We just got started.  In fact, only half my kids have written a proposal yet, but I'm thrilled with the direction they are heading.  Here are our ideas so far...

• Writing, performing, and recording an original song.
• Writing and publishing an eBook.
• A number of web sites -- Weebly or Google. 
• A programmable robot.
• A knock-off Temple Runner app.
• Original software.

It's amazing to see these kids already -- within an hour of hearing about the assignment -- researching what needs to be done.  

We'll see where this goes, but I can't wait to see the final results. 

The Homework Question Rolls On

Let me pose two very important questions.  

1. What is homework?
2. What is your purpose for assigning homework?

I've been reading quite a bit lately about whether or not to assign homework, and there are good arguments on both sides.  As I consider the topic, it all comes down to those two questions. 

What is homework?

I guess we could go with the simple definition that homework is anything required to be done at home. I immediately see reasons why some work must be done at home.

• Studying for tests.
• Proofreading and editing by parents.
• Bringing in supplies.
• Completing school work not done in class.
• Make up work from being out sick.
• Researching for projects.

What is your purpose for assigning homework?

Nick Provenzano ("The Nerdy Teacher") wrote this post about homework in high school English, stating that there isn't time during a normal class period to give time for students to read the class novel and discuss the chapters read.  I imagine I would have read the entire novels in English class if my teachers gave us time to read them in class.  Especially on the high school level, there needs to be time outside of class to accomplish some tasks.

I used to think that giving a student 20-30 math problems was helping him.  If you want to be a good free throw shooter, you shoot 100 shots every day. It may not be fun, but over time you'll build muscle memory which will help you become a better ball player. Why not apply that to math?  There's another angle from which to look at this.  Why kill any love for math a student may have by overdoing the work?  If a student can prove to you in 5 problems that he understands the concept, why give him 15 more problems to do?  

If I'm assigning pointless worksheets or workbook pages, then shame on me for wasting my student's and her family's time.  However, if I'm assigning thought provoking and meaningful activities, is there anything wrong with that?

A colleague of mine requires her students to read 100 minutes a week outside of the classroom.  Is that bad?  Our band director requires 100 minutes of practice each week outside of band rehearsals.  Is that valuable?

I was recently asked to read and review an article with twenty reasons not to assign homework over the holiday. This article suggests many different things families could be doing if they were released from the tyranny of homework.  My first gut reaction was that most families wouldn't actually do most of the things suggested.  Then it hit me.  One, who am I to judge whether a family would or would not go to a museum over the break?  Two, it's not my job to decide how parents parent their families.  My role is to help parents educate their kids, not dictate what happens outside of school hours.  

A former student, now trying to wade her way through her first year of teaching, sent me this article about an alternative to spelling tests. Those of us who have taught language arts know that spelling tests don't do a lot to help kids learn to spell.  At best, it helps them learn how to regurgitate information on a test.  While the alternative is more labor-intensive for the teacher, it helps kids work on spelling in more realistic situations.  Not a bad idea.

As the homework question rolls on in my mind, I keep coming back to those two questions.  What is it and why am I making the kids do it?  There is value in doing some things outside of the classroom but we have to be careful what it is and the frequency of the assignments.

I'm all ears.  Let me know your thoughts.  Am I on the right path or do I need to reevaluate?  

One Week Down

I'm one week into my new role and it's been a whirlwind.  I'm glad it's the weekend!

When we went into Christmas Break, my students had no idea what was happening.  That news got broken to them in an email the weekend before school started up again.  That meant that Monday was a day of talking through the process with my students.  They had a chance to meet their new teacher (Jessica) and introduce themselves to her.  Since Jessica wanted to see the iPads in action, we used Educreations and StoryKit for kids to introduce themselves.

Monday through Wednesday were used to transition Jessica into the role of the teacher in the classroom.  That meant that each day she saw more time in front of the kids while we spent a lot of planning period time talking through procedures, asking and answering questions, and getting her up to speed on everything behind the scenes.  I know I forgot how much they DON'T teach you in college about teaching. Jessica is going to be a great teacher and blessing in those kids' lives!

I also got to get some fingerprinting done for a must-have background check.  Never can be too cautious these days, I suppose. I had the joy of setting up and running a webinar in my room for a staff meeting as well.  

This transition time also involves meeting my new boss. Joe just moved here from Tennessee to become our new Technology Director.  We've spent a bit of time talking tech stuff, and I admit I've been lost for some of it.  There was one time I told him that he "might as well had said that last sentence in Russian." I recognized FAT32 and quickly got lost from there. I'm so happy to have Joe here getting our technology focused in one direction!

I also have a new office to move into.  The office is attached to the library, so it doubles as a library storage area, parent volunteer work space, and who knows what else?  My stuff was dumped in, and I'm trying to carve my niche into one half of the room. It took a week, but I have a computer set up, and the room looks livable.

By Thursday, I settled into my role of elementary computer teacher.  I had 4th, 3rd, and 1st graders that first day.  Today is Kindergarten, followed by 2nd grade.  I found a great web site for digital literacy and citizenship curriculum called Common Sense Media. This week's lesson for K-2 was about where to go while online, equating it to a field trip.  Well done.  For 3rd and 4th, I did more of an introductory lesson.  They had to type me a letter on Word, then they had an introduction to Sumdog.  Both levels got some typing practice as well:  Type to Lean Jr for K-2 and Mavis Beacon for 3-4.

So far, the biggest challenge is teaching the little ones.  I have been type-cast as an upper elementary teacher my entire career.  I started in 4th grade for two years, then I've been in 5th and 6th for the last 16 1/2 years. Add in my six years as a middle school youth leader, and I have no idea what to do with the kids under 44 inches tall. There were definitely some fun moments this week.

I will be adding middle schoolers to the mix soon.  They are on J-term for another week.  This means that next week will be a bit easier.  I'll have plenty of time for research, planning, and starting to help administration on various projects.

A Seismic Shift

For years I've wanted to shift my focus from "regular classroom teacher" to something akin to "technology integration specialist" but haven't really had chance to do so.  Let's face it.  That's not a job title that is readily available these days.  Sure, plenty of schools want to integrate technology to some extent, but creating a job title to help the process isn't easy in this economy.

I'm in my second year at a school that has slowly helped send me in that direction.  In Year 1, I was given a couple of hours a week to help me research and plan ways to best lead our school's iPad initiative.  That went so well, that this year I've been given an hour a day as Tech Lead to further research and help other teachers better integrate technology into their classes.  This extra hour of research time has been wonderful to keep my stress level down and to keep work at work while still helping the school move forward.  I've also been fighting a rare neurological disorder since June, so it gave me the opportunity to rest when the pain/numbness/tingling/fatigue are too much.  However, late this first semester a perfect storm of my health, staffing issues, and new initiatives came together to create a seismic shift in my career. 

Starting next semester, I will be out of the regular classroom.  Instead, I'll be teaching computers and technology for grades K-8 (with the exception of 5th grade). This will include creating curriculum which is both integrated with the regular classroom and aligned to the Common Core.  I'll also be assisting in behind the scenes technology projects from the software and integration side of the coin.  (Actually, I don't know what I'll be doing there, but I want to sound knowledgeable.) This move is listed as temporary.  There is a chance I'll be back in the regular classroom come August.  There is a chance they'll keep me in this role.  We'll see.

May I just say that I am excited, sad, nervous, thrilled, overwhelmed, scared, honored, and happy all rolled up into one?  When I realize that I'm being handed a job that I've wanted for a number of years, I get giddy. When I look at the kids and realize I won't be their teacher anymore, I get sad.  When I think of the job ahead of me, I get nervous -- until I think of the Kindergartners, then I get scared.  Overall, I'm honored that my principal thinks I'm up to the task and is willing to do what it takes to keep me moving forward with the school when my body just wants to take a month off.

From this point on, this blog will reflect this new role.  I'll be talking mostly about my "computer teacher" exploits, but I'll probably mention some things I'm finding in my research and will hope to coerce my colleagues into implementing in class. 

You can start by helping me figure out what my curriculum will look like.  Click on this post to find questions that will help me map the future of my computer curriculum.  Thanks for the help and please keep reading!

Computer Curriculum

Recently I was given the task to create our elementary and middle school computer and technology curriculum so it is integrated with the regular classrooms and helps align to Common Core.  This is an overwhelming task!  I need your help!  Please take a moment and fill out the form below.




Once you've finished the form, check out the results here.  Thank you so very much for your help!  Let me know how I can help you!

No Homework? Really?!?

"I show you how much I love by how much homework I give you," I said. "And I love you a whole lot!"

Those are words I've said over and over and over to students and parents.  I can give you numerous reasons why I think it's a good idea for kids to take homework home.  In fact, let me list a few.  (NOTE: You'll notice that some of these are not exactly educationally sound but I'm just going to be honest here and show you some of my bad teacher cards too.)

• Growth comes from struggle.
• Practice makes perfect.
• Parents know what students are learning when work comes home.
• Students have something to do during study hall. (See! I'm honest!)
• We ran out of time in class.
• It's a good discipline technique.
• It prepares kids for middle school, high school, college, real life...
• Everyone since the beginning of time has had homework.

Maybe you agreed with my list.  Maybe you didn't.  Maybe you could add fifteen more reasons. Regardless, I feel a change coming over me.

This school year is a different year for me for numerous reasons. I have a decreased teaching load to make time for technology research.  Half of my classes are advanced math classes. I don't have language arts for the first time ever. I'm recovering from a nasty neurological disorder which leaves me with lots of muscle irritation and little energy.  

I find myself giving the kids very little homework, which is odd for me. It didn't start as an ideological change.  It was more circumstantial.  The advanced math kids tend to need less instruction time and get work done more quickly.  I'm used to history class being 25-30 minutes like it was in my old school, but it's 55 minutes here.  This means that kids can get things done in class. I just don't have the energy to grade a lot, so I don't assign as much. I'm still giving a fair amount of work, but the kids are doing it here. 

And, I'm feeling less stress -- from the kids, from the parents, and from me.  

I have my own version of a flipped classroom.  I used to teach for 40 minutes and give 15 minutes to get started on homework (if that).  Now, I teach for about 5 minutes and give 50 minutes to get the work done.  This is marvelous!  Not only does virtually every student get everything done before the end of the period, but I get to conference with each student as I grade work on the spot and have the ability to teach focused, personalized mini-lessons if needed.

One of my favorite bloggers is John Spencer over at Education Rethink. John isn't afraid to think idealistically and expect that things can still be that way.  He's not afraid to admit his struggles.  And he's not afraid to call the rest of us on the carpet on a number of issues. I may not agree with everything he says, but he makes me think about why I do what I do.

If you spend any time reading that blog, you'll realize that Mr. Spencer doesn't assign homework.  He decided he would rather spend his time playing with his kids and his kids would rather be playing with Dad.  He realized that his students' families probably feel the same way, so he's abolished homework in his class. Here are his 10 reasons to get rid of homework.  In fact, he even has a spreadsheet of teachers who have abolished homework completely.

While all these thoughts are swimming in my mind, the news hit our teachers' lounge that the state of Maryland abolished all homework.  (It turns out that only one elementary school in Maryland did this -- in favor of 30 minutes of reading per night -- but that really isn't the point.) My colleagues -- whom I respect and think are excellent educators -- acted as if this was the beginning of the end of education.  I just sat there and thought that it was a cool idea and couldn't wait to see how it plays out.

I have not signed the no-homework spreadsheet, but I'm thinking about it.  This post serves as my method for thinking out loud.  Help me out here.  What am I missing?

Ditch the Homework List!

1. Decreased stress for everyone involved: students, parents, teachers
2. Less divisiveness.  We are all working on the same team. It's hard to see that through the haze of homework.
3. Kids need to be kids. If they are bogged down with homework, they have less play time.
4. Parents have the ability to take back control of their home and how they raise their kids. 
5. Parents are not at odds with their kids to get it done. 

Keep the Homework List!

1. Parents feel more connected with student learning when they know what's going on at school.
2. What happens if/when I get assigned another language arts class which involves a lot more reading, writing, editing, and rewriting?
3. Just when you say, "I'll never..." an exception will come along and make me eat my words. 
4. How do you define homework? This is going to need subpoints.

• Is studying for a test homework?
• Getting supplies for an experiment or research project?
• What do we do with assignments not finished in class?
• What about long-term projects and reports?

So, I'm dying to know.  Where do you fall in the conversation?  What are your thoughts?  

Confessions of a Bad Hurdler

I had a dream of running the steeplechase on my college track team.  I asked our coach, and he was agreeable to it, provided I figured it out myself.  You see, our college was so small we rented a high school track for practices. We really were a rag-tag group of non-runners trying to get into shape before summer break with only one coach.  The same man was my cross country coach and I'm sure he figured I couldn't do anything goofier than he saw in the fall.

So... I set out to teach myself how to steeplechase.  The first goal, learn how to hurdle. I called my high school coach, who agreed to help.  My roommate and I drove spent a Saturday morning at my high school where we learned the fundamentals of hurdling.

What happened is that I never once ran steeplechase.  My winter blubber never dissolved during the track season so that I felt comfortable running roughly two miles while jumping over obstacles.

I did however reach ROCK STAR status on my track team. I was a hurdler!  I ran in the 110 high hurdles and the 400 intermediate hurdles.  And I was bad.  Not only did I never win, but I'm not so sure that I beat anybody in any race I ran.  I was an out of shape distance runner trying to run sprint events...but my teammates thought I was a big thing.

I took a chance.  I learned a new skill.  I did something the other people around me were too intimidated to try.  To the others, it didn't matter that I was good or bad but that I took that risk.

Looking back at my technology journey the past couple decades, I see some similarities. You see, when I started teaching, I hand-wrote my own tests. Over the years, computers began to creep into my classroom, till I realized I had technology and had no idea how to use it.  That led to my Masters' thesis on the topic of technology integration (published in 2002).  From then on, I've been something of a tech integrator, but things really changed when I started teaching at a different school that had just rolled out iPads.  I responded to an email asking how we were using our iPads in class.  My list -- verbatim -- made it into a Head of School email sent to the whole school, and I instantly became known as the iPad specialist.

You can look at a hurdle and decide to either jump over it or not.  Same thing with an iPad or a computer. Use it or don't use it.  Those who do choose to jump over the hurdle are revered by those who don't (and frankly, are probably looked at as a bit nutty).  Those who chose to learn how to use the iPad and integrate it into lessons are looked as something special.  Why? Because we took the time to learn how to do something the other people didn't want to learn.

There are days I don't feel like I'm doing anything special.  I can still be a lazy teacher at times, but a lazy teacher who uses a cool tool with the kids.  There are days when teachers ask me for a special lesson idea.  I'm more than happy to help out.  I do a Google search, skim off the top 5 results, email it off, and look like I did something great.

What makes a great teacher is not the tools they use but how they use them.

I was a hurdler at one point in my life, but I was slow, out of shape, and really bad.  Wouldn't it have been cool if I went into my hurdling career at my best performance weight and really tried to learn the craft well?  Then again, it would be really cool if I attacked every day of teaching with the same intensity that an Olympic hurdler attacks the first hurdle of the gold medal race. THAT'S what makes a teacher worth remembering!

Maybe one day I'll tell you about my triple jump experience!