Another Generation of Kids Cannot Wait #IMMOOC

While many teachers carry on the tradition of the factory, compliance-based, teacher-centered model of education, other teachers are embracing a student-centered, learning by doing model of education.  What ever happened to 21st Century Learning?  We are 16 years into the push for 21st century learning, but the 4 C’s of communication, critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration are often missing in classrooms today.

Innovation in education is crucial today because our kids cannot wait any longer for the transformation of education to fully occur. For example, my youngest son recently graduated from high school.  While we sat on our deck this summer enjoying a nice evening, he started talking about his learning experiences through high school.  He described ways in which he learned best and ways he learned and retained very little.

It was heartbreaking to hear him talk about what I call “playing school;” doing what he needed to do to get the grade and move on.  He listed learning experiences not meaningful including reading textbooks, completing worksheets, taking notes, lectures, and most teacher-centered practices.  On the other hand, he was eager to describe the details of each of his most meaningful learning experiences.  Projects with choice were the most empowering because personal connection and passion were naturally embedded. Projects motivated him to do well because he was responsible for the learning in the form of a high-quality finished product.  Certainly not the norm, authentic learning experiences connected to real-world problems also made a positive impact on my son’s educational experience.

Too often, innovation and technology become interchangeable words.  As access to devices become much more ubiquitous, pedagogy continues to change ever so slowly.  Way too slow.  Case in point, my son had access to plenty of technology, but he still wanted more choice, project-based, and student-centered learning.  In The Innovator’s Mindset, George Couros provides a great reminder:

I am looking forward to participating and connecting with other educators in the #IMMOOC. Let us, as a collective group, make innovation more than just a trendy educational buzz word, but rather a movement to make education more meaningful and relevant for our students.  After all, another generation of kids cannot wait for the transformation to occur.  

After One Year; Reflections on High School BYOD

Last year at this time, our district was in the planning and preparation stages for high school BYOD (Bring Your Own Device).  My blog post last summer (The Road to High School BYOD) outlines the transition. The last sentence of the blog describes our mindset:

“There will be much to learn and work to do during this upcoming school year with BYOD in our high schools.  We do not and will not pretend to have BYOD all figured out, but I will share, through this blog, reflections on our high school BYOD transition.”

At the beginning of the 2015-2016 school year, the Grand Forks Herald ran a story on the transition to BYOD in our high schools (Teaching with tech: Teachers, students warm up to devices in the classroom)

In February, I provided a “Technology Update” to the Grand Forks Public Schools Educational Enhancement Team (E.E.T.).  Membership on the team includes superintendent, assistant superintendent, curriculum, technology, and CTE directors, some building principals and teachers, parents, university representatives, and students.  One of the primary purposes of the E.E.T. committee is to gather feedback from our students.  After a brief technology update, I was most interested in hearing the high school students' perspectives of BYOD with the following prompts:.

1. What have been the positive aspects of BYOD?
2. What are BYOD issues that need to be addressed?
3. Has BYOD impacted your learning?

Here are some of the student replies:

“I think it has allowed the teachers to being more open to us having our devices out and ready to go so we can actually use it for learning.”

“Teachers have opened their minds to students having their own devices. It makes it a lot easier. I love bringing my own laptop to school and using that.”

“Impromptu learning is happening more, instead of reserving the Chromebook cart or the lab, you can access your phones or laptop, it is very convenient.”

“Educate yourself.  That’s the whole goal right? If you are sitting in class and the teacher brings up a topic and you want to learn more about it, you can take out your phone and find out more. You can learn what you need to learn.  Your device is right there to access, it’s not a battle to get carts.”

“You can access your textbooks online.”

“I think BYOD teaches discipline too. With that accessibility  I could sit on my laptop and the teacher doesn’t know if I am online shopping or if I am actually taking notes  That’s going to be available in college too.  Are you going to listen to the lecture or go online shopping?”

“Our Economics teacher uses online textbook or has it as an option, you can highlight in it, zoom in, you can listen to it, so if you are doing something else, you can listen to your textbook reading.”

“Obviously it has impacted learning  Teachers that you’d never think would embrace BYOD, have taken the leap. BYOD has helped, the carts are alway available and some of the students will have access and some will not, but do something that gets students involved with their phone.”

“Teachers are trying, even if they don’t know exactly what they are doing, they are trying to keep up with the kids.  They are putting forth the effort.”

I appreciated the students’ excellent insights into the first year of the BYOD. While students recognized the teachers’ efforts in incorporating more technology into learning, more work is needed to fully realize the transition from technology viewed as something extra to an ubiquitous tool for learning.  Technology by itself does not increase student achievement, which means the need for ongoing professional learning opportunities for teachers is underscored with the emphasis placed on learning first. In a recent blog post (Why Pedagogy First, Tech Second Stance is Key to the Future), Eric Sheninger emphasizes the “learning first” point:

“Everything we do in education should be built around learning. Thus, if the ultimate goal is to improve student outcomes then the role of any mobile device initiative should be to support or enhance learning.”

“There must be more of a concerted focus on learning outcomes, construction of new knowledge leading to authentic application, and the development/enhancement of essential skills (creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, digital citizenship, entrepreneurship, media literacy, technological proficiency, communication, collaboration)” (Eric Sheninger).

With students and learning at the forefront, we will strive to ensure ubiquitous access to learning tools (i.e. technology) and equip teachers with the necessary professional learning to design engaging and relevant learning opportunities for their students.

Relentless Restlessness

Since the end to the school year, I participated in a book study on The Innovator’s Mindset by George Couros.  (Thank you to Carla Haaven for organizing!)  The book study group met in person several times and responded to questions via Google Classroom.  Great conversations were sparked and additional questions were provoked through our book study.

I am truly amazed these educators took time out of their summer vacation to continue to learn.  Those who participated epitomize what it means to have an innovator’s mindset; “the belief that the abilities, intelligence, and talents are developed so that they lead to the creation of new and better ideas” (George Couros).  It is not surprising since these educators also share many things in common:

• have student-centered, project-based, and innovative classrooms
• are connected educators who willingly learn through reading and Twitter
• participate in #gfedchat, other Twitter chats, book studies, and Edcamps
• are risk-takers who learn from their failures

In The Innovator’s Mindset, George Couros quotes Pixar Director Brad Bird: “organizations that spread and sustain excellence are infused with a ‘relentless restlessness’ - that often uncomfortable urge for constant innovation, driven by the nagging feeling that things are never quite good enough.”

When I was a classroom teacher, my self-imposed rule was “if I ever have time to read the newspaper during my prep time or before or after school, I needed to revisit my quest to improve student learning opportunities and engagement.”  As a classroom teacher and now, I subscribe to a “relentless restlessness” in my continued quest for better for the students we serve.

I am fortunate to learn from and with so many other "relentless restlessness" educators with an innovator’s mindset and I look forward to continuing conversation on the book, The Innovator's Mindset.

Reflections on my “Shadow a Student Challenge”

I recently participated in the “Shadow a Student Challenge” by attending the classes of a student for one day.  Empathy was my purpose for this day as I looked beyond my assumptions and put myself in the shoes of our most important clients, our students.  I reminded myself to be curious, suspend judgment, and just observe.  At the end of the day, my goal was to have gained a better perspective of our students’ learning experience.

I am always cautious about making overgeneralizations.  One class on one particular day is not always representative of an entire semester or yearlong experience.  Similarly, one day does not always represent the overall learning experience of students in our schools or district.  That said, I can only share my experience for one day.

Let’s start with what is going well in the school I observed.  The students were polite and respectful in a very safe environment.  It was obvious students were interested in doing well academically.  Also, the teachers have good connections and share a mutual respect with their students.

I then thought about my observation experience in context of a recent blog post titled “Natural Versus Unnatural Learning” by Jackie Gerstein which describes the disconnect of how students learn naturally versus how students often learn in public schools.  Below are 4 of the points the author makes on “school” which were reinforced in my observation.

Sit in uncomfortable desks and chairs, and expected to pay attention for long periods of time.

Other than a few exceptions, students in the classes I observed sat for the entire day.  Here is one of my observation notes during the day: “Lot’s of sitting on hard plastic chairs and in uncomfortable desks.  There are few opportunities for students to get up and move other than between classes."

Be quiet, interacting with peers occurs only periodically and only with permission from the teacher.

Other than a lab class and a group project in another class, student voices were mostly absent.  During the day, I observed: “Students don’t appear to be engaged in some classes.  Teachers asking students questions to encourage discussion, gage understanding, or solicit deeper level understanding were often missing.  For the most part, one-word answers, one student responding, and limited expectations of all students to think about and produce an answer was the norm.  Students talking about learning during a group project took place in one class.  Most student accountability to the content seems to take place on summative quizzes and tests.”

Learn and understand isolated content and topics often without a real world context and in a very linear manner.

Real world connections were mostly surface-level with the exception for one class.  In this class, the group project was designed for students to learn the content in context of real world applications.  Additionally, the same group project was the only time throughout the day in which students were allowed to use technology (BYOD or Chromebook) as a tool to explore personalized inquiry in relation to the content.

Not connect and learn with others outside of the classroom population.

I did not observe students connecting with other students and experts outside the classroom.

I firmly believe there is always room for “better,” so after my day of shadowing a student I reflected on specific ways the learning experience could be improved for students.  Recognizing there is always a time and place for all instructional practices, there are also opportunities to consider and grow.  The following is my “MORE OF” recommendation list:

●      Learner-Centered

●      Project Based Learning

●      Student Collaboration

●      Student Voice and Choice in Learning

●      Authentic and Real-World Connections to the Curriculum

●      BYOD and Chromebooks to Research, Connect, and Create

●      Formative Assessments to Ensure All Students are Learning

●      Student Movement

●      Flexible Seating - Tables

My goal in participating in the ‘Shadow a Student Challenge” was to have gained a better perspective of our students’ learning experience.  Yes, I achieved my goal.  It was a long day for me sitting and soaking up the information presented.  I thought back to my days as a student and wondered how much has really changed since the 1980’s.

As an overarching theme from the day, I wondered how school could become more learner-centered.  I honestly don’t think it would take that much to change classrooms from “school” to places of “learning.”  What if we asked our students how they learn best and made adjustments accordingly?  What if we took some time to reflect on what we truly believe about how students learn?  What if we reflected on the “school” and “learning” list below by George Couros and started by moving just one of our current “school” practices to “learning?”  I know our students would appreciate our effort.

Breakout EDU "The Best Thing Ever"

Back in December, Janet O'Hara (Red River Valley Education Cooperative Coordinator) dropped off 6 Breakout EDU boxes for our district to use.  Previously, I had heard of breakout rooms and Breakout EDU boxes, but never personally experienced or observed.  I was truly amazed when I observed a class of 5th grade students trying Breakout EDU for the first time.

What is Breakout EDU?

Breakout EDU creates ultra-engaging learning games for people of all ages. Games (Breakouts) teach teamwork, problem solving, critical thinking, and troubleshooting by presenting participants with challenges that ignite their natural drive to problem-solve. Speciality K-12 Breakouts can be used to teach core academic subjects including math, science, history, language arts and have embedded standards that apply problem solving strategies within a real world OR collaborative context.

HOW IT WORKS

With the purchase of a Breakout kit, you’re able to play countless Breakouts. Each kit comes with a collection of locks, hidden contraptions, timers, keys, and other “diversion hardware” that can be used to play the Breakout challenges available from the store.  Currently, all the games in the game directory are free!

(http://www.breakoutedu.com/how-it-works/)

During my first time observing Breakout EDU in a classroom, Kari Melland (Curriculum Technology Partner) provided the introduction to Leslye Thiery's 5th grade class at Discovery Elementary.  While the students listened to the brief set of directions, they could hardly contain their excitement as the locked box became the focus.  And...the timer starts...NOW!  How often do we see students eagerly dive into a learning and problem-solving opportunity.  There was a buzz in the room as the students scurried around trying to make sense of the clues.  I enjoyed watching the group dynamics in action as some led the class down "wrong" paths, while some quietly figured out the "right" path.  Even with the energy and excitement of an entire class trying to figure out the clues, there were no disengaged and uninterested students.

Finally, the "Great Candy Caper" problem was solved as the students happily ate their Kit Kats. Kari and Leslye took some time to listen to the students about what they liked and what suggestions they would have to make it even better for the next time or other groups.  Here are some direct quotes:

"Best thing ever."

"We all had good ideas."

"Working together."

"Teamwork."

The first thing I noticed was the fact it had nothing to do with the extrinsic reward (Kit Kat), but rather the intrinsic rewards as listed by the students.  I observed a high-level of critical thinking, problem solving, cooperation, listening, and team work.  During the discussion, a student asked, "could we create a game for other students to try to solve?"  This comment was followed by many thoughts about how this could be done.  In education, it really does not get any better than students asking for opportunities to take critical thinking, problem solving, and deeper learning to a new level!  I can't wait to see what the students create.

To the skeptics and nay-sayers, this is not just a "game" for students to play, but an opportunity for deeper learning in all curriculum areas.  When students are empowered to create, their learning and curiosity soar to new levels.  I think it is a safe bet that more Breakout EDU boxes will need to be purchased/built/assembled in the very near future.

For additional information, follow @BreakoutEDU and co-founders James Sanders (@jamestsanders) and Mark Hammons (@mhammons) on Twitter.  Also, check out Maria Galanis's (@MariaGalanis) blog post "Breakout EDU - You Had Me at Breakout!" (http://goo.gl/qGPzsI) and the related infographic shown below created by Sylvia Duckworth (@sylviaduckworth).  

To Fail is To Succeed

The fall of 2015 marked the start of a new course at Red River High School proposed and taught by Mr. Eric Sanders called “Innovations and Communications.”  In a blog post by Mr. Sanders, he explains the course and basic structure:

Students choose a problem that needs to be solved. They decide if they are going to work alone or in a group of up to three students. They propose a plan, their timeline, the point value of the project, and at least three CCSS English standards that they will master through this project.

Brainstorming sessions every Monday, working on projects Tuesday through Thursday (Students research their topic, carry out their plans, and build their proposals and presentations, and basically get the job done), and blogging on Friday (reflecting on how their project is going, their struggles and successes, etc.)  When the project is finished, the students present their project to their chosen stakeholders.(https://sandersspeaks.wordpress.com/2014/11/04/innovation-class/)

Over the course of the past semester, I followed the progress of the class through Mr. Sanders's Twitter posts, highlighting student blogs and insights into the class.  I also received a phone call and emails from a student in the class inquiring about promoting her group's project through district communication methods. All students learned the real-world skills of reaching out and connecting with adults.

At the end of the semester, I was invited to listen to the the student TEDx talks, the culminating event. Mr.Sanders opened the class with reflections on his role as a facilitator and quest to develop each students' creative confidence.  Each student took their turn to articulate their project, learning experiences, and accomplishments in the class.  Projects included rape culture, transgender, Kindness is Key, hearing impairment, etc.  After listening to all the students, three direct quotes resonated with me:

"To fail is to succeed."

"All teachers should encourage divergent thinking and innovations in all classes."

"Failure and risk is part of the process of learning and innovating."

Failure as part of the learning process was a consistent theme.  It became apparent that as students recognized and became more comfortable with failure, their confidence and learning grew exponentially.  The following infographic by Sylvia Duckworth highlights many points made by the students:

It was obvious that Mr. Sanders created a culture of encouraging students to think big, which provided real-world opportunities to embrace, then overcome failure. Through the concluding TEDx talks, Mr. Sanders received some unsolicited, but resounding endorsements for the course.  In fact, one student even wished that Innovations & Communications class was a year long class instead of just a semester.

When students are empowered to guide their own learning, choose a project they are passionate about, and recognize that failure is part of the learning process, true deeper learning happens. In fact, the learning has already extended beyond the classroom walls as some of Mr. Sanders's students recently presented at the @TEDxGrandForks Open Mic night and some have been asked to speak at other events.

I can only wonder how student learning could become more innovative if...

• all courses concluded like Innovations and Communications.
• teachers provided each student an opportunity to honestly reflect on their learning and experiences at the conclusion of the course.
• authentic and meaningful were words students used to describe their classes.
• students were empowered to explore topics of their choice.
• more teachers encouraged and modeled risk taking for our students.

“If we are really wanting to serve our students and help them to develop to become the leaders and learners of today and the future, taking risks in our practice is not only encouraged, but necessary.” George Couros

Thank you Mr. Sanders for taking a risk in starting the Innovations and Communications course and providing your students many opportunities to learn and grow through their failures. While these students readily admitted to their failures, they are now equipped with many more skills to succeed in THEIR future.

Book Review: The Innovator's Mindset by George Couros

Book Review: The Innovator's Mindset by George Couros

I recently finished reading the book The Innovator's Mindset by George Couros and am eager to continue the conversation of the book's contents with anyone.  Over the past few years, I have read all of George's blog posts because his thoughts on education resonate with my educational philosophy.  I heard George speak at ISTE in Philadelphia in June 2015 and again at TIES in Minneapolis in December 2015, so to say I connected with the book would be an understatement.  Here is a brief summary of the book.

We are in an exciting time in education with so many opportunities for ourselves and our students, so George starts by defining innovation "...as a way of thinking that creates something new and better."  As educators, shouldn't we always be searching and developing new and better?  His positive approach throughout the book encourages his readers to embrace change.  After all, "Change is an opportunity to do something amazing" as educators consider what is best for each learner.  George further develops the definition of The Innovator's Mindset through an explanation of each of the "8 Characteristics of the Innovator's Mindset," which are depicted in the following infographic by Sylvia Duckworth (@sylviaduckworth):

While reading the book, I appreciated George's straight forward approach to change.  He strategically provides opportunities to look at our selves/school/district in the "mirror" through questions posed in the book while opening the door to considering something better.  George recognizes the many aspects not within educators' purview and focuses on those areas which are in educators' control.  For example, education is and always will be about relationships.  The bottom line remains, "...we must be constantly focused on improving our practice, which means we will never be done innovating, growing, and learning" (George Couros).

This book is a must read if you are...
1. an educator or school leader.
2. truly focused on "What is best for each learner?"
3. open to new ideas to ponder, discuss, and develop.
4. ready to challenge the status quo.
5. interested in creating new and better educational opportunities for your students.
6. open to considering well-developed ideas to make school a more innovative place for students.

The words in The Innovator's Mindset are not just words in a book, but rather a thoughtful culmination of George's own journey towards an Innovator's Mindset.  As a connected educator himself, George connects the dots of current education thought and synthesizes the information in a way that encourages all educators to move forward.  As George states; "If we don't really think about the way we teach, and, more importantly how both educators and students learn, we will all miss out on the opportunities that lie in front of us."  Most importantly, "If students leave school less curious than when they started, we have failed them" (George Couros).  What are you doing to learn and ensure students leave your classroom/school/district more curious than when they started?  Spending some quality time with this book is the perfect place to start.

The Innovator's Mindset is another outstanding book from Dave Burgess Publishing (http://daveburgessconsulting.com/books-2/).  I have read most of the books in the Dave Burgess publishing series and found each one to be though-provoking as each author underscores better educational opportunities for students.  As educators read these books and become connected educators, they model what it means to be a learner, for our students.  Even more importantly, these books are outstanding for book study discussions which will hopefully lead to positive changes in your classroom/school/district.