wmarkhall

We can save again!

Previously I wrote about some of the tech issues we have had this year. A new Internet filter for our district meant that many of the Web 2.0 tools my class is built on simply did not work. At the same time the new filter was adopted the district adopted a new Student Information System and the roll out had a number of bumps. That meant there were not a lot of tech support people to look into my issues. Well, the problems have been resolved and my class is back and running smoothly. Well smoothly for me- you may think it is chaos, but I like it like that.

Because of all of the network issues we had earlier in the year I had to piecemeal together applications for kids to use. What worked on one machine for one student did not work on the next machine for another student. It was a really crazy time, and I have to hand it to the students who stuck to it while we tried to find a way for them to get their work done. At any given time some kids were writing in Docs, some in Word- different versions, and some in Live.com. depending on what worked at the moment. As crazy as that was, in the long run it turned out great. Now I have kids deciding on which application to use for a particular task, and are able to say why they are making that choice. “I am going to do it in Docs because I want to work on it at home.” “I am using PowerPoint because I really like this template.” While I do not want to go through the tech problems we had this year again, the results- kids able to decide on which application to use and why, and kids able to figure out a way to get something done, are really amazing!

The return of Web 2.0 to my classroom came at a time when we were doing research papers. I was able to introduce Easy Bib as a way to build their bibliography (I added it to our Google Apps for Ed domain), and Bookmarks.Google.com as a way to keep track of, and even share, the web sites they are using for their research. I even threw in Books.Google.com so they could find books now that school libraries seem to be a thing of the past. So because of the technology nightmare that was the first semester my students are now really able to move seamlessly between applications, solve problems, and make thoughtful decisions about what they are doing. Put that in the win column.

Astonishing Kids

“If you’re not astonishing the kids, they won’t be astonishing you back!” -Stephen Heppell

I came across this quote a few weeks ago on Twitter. It made me think about which of my kids are doing astonishing things, and which are not. The picture with this post is of my students giving a presentation to the school board. In the summer. After grades were turned in. They were finishing their project. I think that was astonishing. I have a bunch of kids doing astonishing things.

But I have also been counting the number of kids who I am clearly not astonishing. Lets just say I do not have enough fingers to count that high. Even if I use my toes I come up far short. So I guess I need to, as my students would say, step up my game.

I teach a technology class, and am fortunate that I have a very wide range of curricular choices. I can really take the class in directions that most teachers can not. I do not have a district mandated pacing guide. I do not have an end of year standardized test. So I really have no excuses, no road blocks. I have a very supportive site and district administration- they will allow me to do what I think best. They trust my judgement. But still, looking across my room I see kids who are not doing astonishing things.

I guess that means I have room for improvement. I need to be more astonishing.

Platform Agnostic?

We have been having a lot of technical issues at school this year, and it has been a real challenge for me to keep my students engaged when things do not work like they are supposed to. I am not talking lesson plans and such, I am talking about network issues. Kids can’t save their work. Kids can’t access a web site. Kids can see a document but can not edit it. These are the kinds of issues that tech teachers deal with all the time, but this year has been especially brutal.

Over the last 5 or 6 years I have been using a number of Google products for my classes and I use Moodle as an online classroom. I have encouraged students to use open source products like Open Office and Gimp at home because they are free. I have steered clear of Microsoft products simply because I have found that many of my students cannot afford to have Office at home.

My students and colleagues have come to know me as a “Google guy.” Almost all of the assignments I give have in the past been done in Docs. This year Docs has not been working at school. I don’t yet know or understand why, but it does not work. Frequently kids could not save Word documents either. We tried using Microsoft Live and it worked! Kids could save!

So now We are all over the map in my classroom. Most of the course is still in Moodle, but it is moving to the new software the district is using. Sometimes we use Docs, sometimes Sites, sometimes Live, and yes we sometimes use Bing Maps instead of Google Earth. (Hey, you got to do what you got to do!)

I was feeling pretty sorry for myself dealing with all of these issues. I have been thinking that it is not fair to the students having to constantly scramble to find something that works to complete a particular project. It just seemed wrong to tell one student to try doing something one way and then tell the next kid to try something else. That is how they taught me to do it in teacher school.

And then I read a blog post by Ira Socol titled “Platform Agnostic.” Mr. Socol writes an awesome blog that usually gets me thinking. In this case he was writing about the diversity of tech tools he uses on a given day. The line that hit me hardest was

“I’m not “Platform Agnostic” because I’m a crazed techie, I’m “Platform Agnostic” because I work in education, and education is about helping students prepare for any possible future, not my particular vision of a future.”

I am a “Google” guy, a GCT. I prefer the Google tools, they work well for me in my environment. But my students are not always going to be in my environment. And I am learning that Google tools are not always going to work in MY environment. I need to make sure me students know how to use a range of tools, and if that makes me less of a Google guy, then so be it.

Being a Good Student

After going through the layoff process in the spring and then having my layoff (thankfully) rescinded I decided I needed to do anything and everything possible to not get laid off again. In California teachers are laid off by seniority, but it is not as simple as last hired first hired. What your credential is in counts as well. I have a graphic arts credential, and am the most senior person in the district with that credential. Unfortunately I am the ONLY person in the district with that credential. So my position is strictly based on some unknown person deciding to keep my class. Or not. I would like a little more security than that.

So I looked into what it takes to get another credential. When I started teaching this was a long process. One had to enroll in a university course and take several courses and jump through several hoops to show that one not only does know the subject content but one could also teach it. No more. Now one needs to take a test called the C.S.E.T. to show they know the subject area content and submit an application to the state. That is it.

I looked at the list of different subjects the CSET is offered in, and considered what to do. I narrowed it down to English and Social Science, thinking that if I passed the test there was a good chance at some point I would be teaching the subject, and I think I would enjoy teaching these subjects. I decided on Social Science. I thought it would be a little easier for me to pass. I am more interested in world politics than I am in classical literature.

I bought a study guide and a set of flash cards. Like a good student I put the study guide on the bookshelf and reviewed the flash cards. Basically, I memorized the flash cards. Yea, like a good student.

I passed the test. It is good for me, it adds to my job security. But it is really sad for California. All it takes to be a highly qualified teacher in California is to pass that test. And that is shameful.

Oh, I did have to pay a few hundred dollars to a testing company for the privilege of taking the test. And I think that says it all.

Student Engagement and School Reform

The old school one room school house is a long way from my technology rich classroom. I imagine in those days student engagement was accomplished with a switch from the willow tree and a dunce cap. Those are not among the tools in my teacher tool box, but that doesn’t mean student engagement is not still an issue.

I started actively thinking about this earlier in the week when I read Larry Ferlazzo’s blog post on transactional vs transformational teaching. I am interested in reading Mr. Ferlazzo’s writings because he is an active classroom teacher in an inner city school not very far from my own. While I have never met him or visited his classroom I believe there are many similarities between his students and mine.

So when Mr. Ferlazzo talks about transformational teaching I listen. Like many teachers I struggle to change the way things are in schools. Too many of my students show up at school each day and check out. They do not engage in school, they just attend school. When I look at the data, I find that it has been this way for a long time. Year after year some of these kids go to school every day and fail at school. And every day I seem to bang my head against the wall trying to change that. How can I engage more students?

So this morning someone, sorry I can’t find who it was, shared a link to a story about students conducting research on how teachers can engage more students. I jumped all over that. Unfortunately it was the same old, same old. Teachers need to lecture less, the students found. Fewer worksheets. Fewer silent activities. More group discussions. More review games. More humor. More group work. No surprises here, these are the things I have been trying to do for my whole career. But I am not making much transformational progress.

Why Moodle

I saw a question come across twitter tonight from mguhlin; “What questions would you ask of a teacher who has been using Moodle in her classroom?” What really got me thinking was an answer that came back from David Jakes; “One. How has their use impacted student learning?”

So I have been using Moodle in my classroom, so I had to start thinking about Mr. Jakes‘ question. I spend a lot of time thinking, planning, and building my Moodle courses. I am finally starting to see the results. I owe a lot of that to Wayne Stagnaro, one of our district tech specialists; he has pushed and supported, and I have asked and bugged. And the results are starting.

In terms of learning, using Moodle gives me the ability to provide a number of different support tools for my students. A lot of tools are available out there to do this, but Moodle puts them all in one place. A student knows where that video we used is. They know where the handout is. They know where the podcast is. Its all in Moodle. They know where to find it. When they have to look for things, they have a habit of giving up. Moodle helps.

It is no surprise to anyone that knows me knows that I don’t do paper well. I never have. Back in the days before I had a tool like Moodle I had perpetual issues with students claiming I had lost their paper. With Moodle, I can’t loose a paper. I can’t delete a paper. It is really simple, either the student turned something in, or he didn’t. No one can claim that I lost their paper! In conversations at the end of the year I found this is a real issue at our school. Students use the “the teacher lost it” line quite often. They have even been known to steal the whole stack of assignments! But not in my class. Moodle makes them accountable for their work. It takes away excuses. And that has a positive impact on their learning.

You have the right to fail.

I teach in an economically depressed area. There is a lot of poverty, and a lot of crime. Our community has been identified as one of the most miserable places to live in the United States. We are near the top in auto thefts too. Want to talk foreclosures? Stockton is near the top there also. There is lots of bad press about this community, and it seems to build on itself. I see it in the students I work with. I frequently will hear things like “Hey, we’re from Stockton, we’re supposed to be ghetto.” Obviously this has an impact on the classroom.

Don’t get me wrong, we have successful kids. We are only putting out our second graduating class at our high school, but both of the classes have kids going on to trade schools, community colleges, and four year public and private schools. Its the other kids I worry about. And we have a lot of them. Kids that come to school every day. They go to all of their classes, but they do nothing. They can occasionally be coaxed into doing an assignment or two, so I believe they actually can read and write. But they really have no desire to be successful in school, and so they don’t try. And their test scores reflect that- far below basic.

There seems to be a general consensus that students have the right to fail. But that needs to change. Society provides a lot of resources so that each student can be in school. When we have the attitude that students have the right to fail, those resources are just wasted. And the attitude is contagious. If Johnny can fail, why can’t I? As long as we think it is the students’ right to fail, they will. I do not think they have that right. It is time to change that mindset.

There was a fight at school today.

Again. I broke it up, again. Not alone, there was another teacher and our security person, our Principal, and even some students pitching in. It wasn’t a big deal as fights go, but I did rip my pants. It wasn’t the first fight I helped break up this year, but I do hope it is the last. It probably isn’t.

When I tell people tell people about days like today they often tell me I need to get out of there. But the odd thing is I really don’t want out of there. Here is the deal. I work at a small (250 students) neighborhood school. It is in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city. The city is one of the most illiterate cities in the nation, consistently ranking in the top 5. Currently the city is number 5 on the list of most violent cities in America. Forbes magazine rates this town as one of the most miserable places to live in America.

The unemployment rate in the neighborhood is well over 50%. Face it, its not a very pleasant place to live.

But I dont live there, I work there. By choice. Yea it is rough. But we are making progress. So I will get another pair of pants and go back tomorrow.

Lets go to the library.

A question was asked at a staff meeting a few weeks ago that got me really thinking: should we require our freshmen to do their research without the Internet? The point was made that a professor at a local state university requires students to do research from books AND requires the students to actually produce the books! Of course no one could name the alleged old school professor, but several teachers were adamant the story is true, and that we need to prepare our students for the eventual requirement of this one professor. Even with Google students still need to know the Dewey Decimal system, a teacher offered.

I shook my head and listened, I wanted to really hear what my colleagues were saying. It seemed to me that these teachers love books, thick paper books, and they are concerned that students are being deprived of developing that love. They want students to be able to USE books. They want our freshmen to all go to the library and do a research paper using only books.

I pointed out that we have a very small library. There is no subject that we have near enough books that a handful of students could use as a source for a research paper, let alone ALL of the freshmen. In fact, ten years ago I was arguing that we needed Internet for the school because we could not afford to sufficiently stock a library. Sure there is a branch library just ten or so blocks away. But does anyone really want to spend the time it would realistically take to walk these students to the library and then teach them to use it? Just the walking time alone would be a huge time commitment, let alone the teaching time.

I pointed out that I had recently completed my masters degree and never went to a library the whole time. I used many, many books. A few of them I bought, but most I did not; I used online versions. In fact, I cannot remember the last time I was in a library. And I love books. Why in the world would we spend huge amounts of time to teach kids to research with paper books? For ONE alleged possible future professor?

A teacher asked me at lunch today if I thought if e-textbooks would ever really catch on. It was clear that she had been thinking about the library. And her struggles with technology. She confided that she hates lessons that involve computers. She never knows what will work and what won’t work. She doesn’t know what to do about it when things don’t work, and she has no one to turn to for help. She calls me, but she knows I have classes too, and simply can’t come help her.

So it seems the whole issues is not really about using books or not using books. It is about having reliable tools. Books are reliable. They usually don’t break. When they do break everyone knows what to do about it-get another book. It seems we put a bunch of computers in classrooms and didn’t consider what to do when they break. And teachers don’t like that.