This is Hard for Me

I had an impromptu discussion with my students titled "This is hard for me." We sat around and talked about what is hard for us. Most children were very honest. I heard things from math concepts to writing to reading. I admitted I am not a fan of teaching social studies. Sorry to all you history buffs out there, but reading about the past is not interesting to me. 

I explained to the students that I am trying to find ways to make that subject more interesting to us all, which can be challenging. I also shared that I have learned that learning from our past helps us make a better future. I showed them a picture of a floppy disk and people are still trying to figure out what that is.  

I had to show them artifacts from Pre-Columbian civilizations. I thought about what I read in Dave Burgess’ Teach Like a Pirate and wanted to create an experience for my students.  “Much of your success as an educator has to do with your attitude towards teaching and towards kids. The rest of your success is based on your willingness to relentlessly search for what engages students in the classroom and then having the guts to do it.”  Archaeology sounded like a great place to start.  

Saving Amazon boxes, I created little archeology stations.  I buried the images I was supposed to project in the sand.  We watched a short video on what archaeologists do for background knowledge. Armed with twine and paintbrushes, students had to marked their “dig site” into 16 squares. They used the brushes to carefully move the sand around searching for artifacts from the Mayan, Incan, and Aztec societies. Students were engaged and engrossed in the activity and started sorting images by civilization. They told me they were able to learn about tools, clothes, and daily life using the images they were able to discuss what it might have been like to live back then.

I was proud of our students for being very honest in this talk. I feel like once you admit something is hard for you the weight falls off. We have developed a close and trusting community in a short time because I am not sure how many adults would admit in front of other adults what is hard for them, yet these students went right for it. I am glad students got to hear other students talk, as now they realize they are not the only ones who think something is hard.

We made two generalizations about our class today.
1. Most students face challenges.
2. Most students persevere when confronted with a challenge.

Not one student in here has told me they cannot do something. They are using the growth mindset vocabulary I was trying to teach. That was evident this afternoon.

I welcome you all to have conversations with your students and colleagues about what is hard for them and tell them what things are hard for you. It is an enriching conversation to have! Dave Burgess says, “Here is the secret: We are not passionate about everything we teach. It’s OK! Let the freedom wash over you. Now that the secret’s out in the open, let’s talk about it.”

Gasp! The Truth Behind Technology Door #1

On the first day of school my principal asked a question, “What do you think of when you hear technology in education?” I thought about this for a moment, listened to what answers my colleagues gave, and then raised my hand. “Technology is a tool to enhance the curriculum.” 

In other words, curriculum drives the instruction and technology is just a tool to get us there. Many people think technology needs to be a separate course or something we teach in addition to the heavily loaded curriculum plate we serve daily. Someone once asked me how I teach my students to use the variety of tools we use and access. The answer is pretty simple as the students teach themselves, I just create the experience. 

They are empowered to use technology to show off their learning, engaged in activities, and are in control of their decision making process throughout the learning experiences created. I have learned more from my students about using different tools than I would have had I stood in the front of the room instructing.

I have shared a big secret with my fifth grade students. Using technology as a tool is like a small fish in a big pond. There are much bigger learning outcomes happening than how to use Google Drive, Twitter, Blogger,Sway, or Padlet. It can be used as a tool to create Depth of Knowledge levels 3 and 4 experiences for learners. 

Students have discovered the power of collaborative learning through using Padlet and the Google Drive. They have worked with students from our own class in MA to students in Michigan on various projects including the Global Read Aloud. These tools teach students good digital citizenship skills and what it means to be living in a global connected world. 

Twitter has provided an authentic audience for student work and access to experts when I cannot answer students’ questions (Yes, I admit to them I am not the expert of everything). Blogger has been a way for students to write and reflect, using higher level thinking skills to share ideas about Wonderopolis. The blogs are then tweeted to the universe, and students wait patiently to see what happens. They are amazed at the retweets, replies, favorites, and comments they are getting. One parent even told me her daughter’s confidence has been building due to these blogs. 

Sway provides a medium for students to present and share work globally, breaking down the walls of the classroom. They are currently reading from their science books, creating a news report about their chosen topic, and collaborating with a team to make a short news report to share with audiences about their topic. Communication through writing, reading, video, and the web gives students valuable life skills.  

Teachers need to start thinking about how their lessons would evolve with the integration of technology. What doors open for students when they change the tool used to create? What do we really want our students to know and be able to do for the future? 

Thinking back to my principal’s question on the first day of school and what I have learned after a few months of experimenting with various tools is this: Technology teaches students to be global citizens, to collaborate and connect with others, to communicate using various methods, to create for an authentic audience, and to make decisions. Students are engaged in their own learning process, asking bigger questions, advocating for things, and taking risks with their thinking. I am learning with my students. In fact when my niece asked me the other day if I was really a teacher I told her “No.” Her mouth dropped. I smiled and said, “I am a learner.” A teacher stands in front of the room and instructs. I sit with my students and learn. That is the truth behind Technology Door #1. 

Classroom Websites Vs. Social Media: The evolution of commucating to the home

In 2002 I convinced my administrative team of the importance of creating classroom websites as a communication tool to home. We bought School Center and for 14 years I worked tirelessly to empower and inspire other teachers to create classroom websites, . I can think of sleepless nights getting photos uploaded to share with parents, adding documents to connect school to home, or pages, that showcased the enrichment opportunities for learners in our room. 

In the spring of 2015 I learned we would be switching to a district wide platform using Sharp School. I was informed that everything we did using School Center would be transferred over, even though I knew deep down nothing would look 100% the way I wanted it to. (See the new site here.) 

Over the course of the migration something shifted in my philosophy. I was waiting for the site to be created using the new platform and in the interim began using Google Photos to share classroom photos (parents love being able to see and download photos to share with family or on their own social media sites) and Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to connect with families. 

When I got the call that my photos would not transfer over I thought about it for 30 seconds and said delete the pages with the photos. The voice on the other end of the line was mildly surprised by my reaction as I think it was expected I would be frustrated by the fact that things were not migrating perfectly. 

In the time it took for them to migrate the website over I made a new discovery about the POWER of social media in the elementary classroom. I no longer needed to spend countless hours pushing information through a website when I could quickly share a post or a tweet. Parents began following our classroom accounts and loved the real time information being shared as they felt they were part of the experience. 

Students rushed home to see what new photos were posted on Instagram (student names are never used). I gave students hashtags using their agent numbers and first name so they could communicate with authors and experts on Twitter when I did not have the answers.  

We received an invitation to Skype with Kevin Carroll about our Red Rubber Ball In School project due to tweets we sent out about the work we were doing. The Global ReadAloud brought learning alive as we got to Face Times with students in Texas about living with dyslexia, which the protagonist in our story was learning to navigate herself. Parents began communicating through comments and connecting using the various platforms too. 

None of this happened on my classroom website. We have all been empowered and enriched by so many new experiences! So my current classroom website sits collecting dust as I have not touched it since my evolution into the realm of using social media as a tool in the classroom. 

Parents can still go on it and see the information I posted, which is still important. However the use of the website has become different. It is now a tool for yearlong information to sit, and the live learning is shared through social media. 

This experience has not only taught me the importance of teaching, modeling, and guiding digital citizenship skills but also the value of educating parents (and my peers) as well. Social media is here to stay. Students need to learn to use it effectively, safely, and efficiently in order to connect them to their world. In a war between websites and social media, I think social media captured our hearts creating an even tighter classroom bond between me and my agent community and our website serves a completely different purpose than it did in 2002. It is 2018. Things change! 

Follow me on Twitter @rlfreedm

Spoonful of Sugar

Students walk into a classroom, eyes full of wonder. They see computer pods set up and running, enticing their curiosity for how they will be used. Parents have received emails about setting up a Google Drive account for their child. Mobi views, a document camera, and a SMARTboard all sit ready to be powered up for another year of assisting with student learning. Students do not see how hard their teacher worked setting up all the existing technological tools in the classroom.

They do not witness the sweat that pours down as the teacher works tirelessly in a room stifling with heat and humidity in August. They certainly do not see the teacher pull wires out of bags, connect everything, and test it only to realize not everything works as perfectly as it did in June before the year came to a close. Hours could be spent fixing everything so it is ready for that first day when the children come in buzzing with anticipation. That same teacher spent time crafting emails to parents, writing out directions for various tools to be used in the classroom. Time was also spent designing new activities and project based learning opportunities that use technology as a tool to enhance student learning. The teacher also had to create Pearson, IXL, Prodigy, School Center, and BrainPOP accounts for the new students coming in the fall. That same teacher might have paid out of pocket for the new 3D doodler that stands in a makerspace in the classroom that did not exist a year ago.

The student’s experience in the classroom is powerful, but there stands in front of them a man or woman who worked diligently to bring them 21st century learning. There was no magic wand that set everything up, no spoonful of sugar to make it all work seamlessly, and limited assistance in making the learning environment shine and sparkle for that first day. To all those teachers out there who have spent their precious time preparing for a new school year please know every second you put in is worth it! You are making the life of a child better! That is the real spoonful of sugar!

The Center of Gravity

Who should be at the center of gravity in the classroom? The teacher or the student? In the old education models it was the teacher, but in the 21st century classroom the teacher needs to let go of control and put students in control of their own learning. 

Often teachers struggle with how to teach students to research especially in the elementary grades. They end up assigning students a research project on biographies or animals; however, in 2000 I decided my third graders could choose their own research question. I felt they would learn to love research if they chose their own question rather than having it assigned. I would trudge to the public library and get a book for each chosen topic. Times have certainly changed and technology has allowed students to explore their research questions in deeper, more meaningful ways.
 
I read an article by Catlin Tucker, featured Keynote speaker at a MassCUE fall conference, called “More Than A Google Search.” She talks about the importance of teaching her 9th graders research skills. She described many of the things I have taught third, fourth and fifth graders, causing me to reflect on the importance of starting to teach young students search skills at an early age. 

Using BrainPOP as a resource, we watched videos and held class discussions on Internet searching, online safety, online sources, citing sources, digital etiquette, and plagiarism. On the SMARTboard I took the time to show students how to do an online search. We talked about using Boolean operators to limit our searches, power of key words, citing sources, the credibility of the URLs we are viewing (.gov, .org, .edu, .com), and how certain sources like Wikipedia are not trusted sources of information but can be used for fabulous images to support our research.
 
Armed with search skills, the learners set to work on a student designed research project called the Why Files. Catlin says, “The beauty of a student-designed research question is that it will lead to a more meaningful research project because students are able to focus on a topic that interests them. Asking good questions is a hard skill to master. But it is absolutely necessary to lifelong learning.” 

Children need experiences that give them real world exposure. They benefit from inquiry-based learning that requires them to access a variety of skills and strategies, and they need to be in charge of their own learning to develop a love of research.

Students began their work with fierce wonderings. They were asked to think about big questions that they do not know the answers to. We formed PLCs in the classroom based on questions being asked. Students then developed topics based on their initial question, and then formed higher-level questions about their topic. 

Examples of things students wondered about were ‘What happens after a star explodes? What are the differences between white and brown sugar? Why do pigs live in mud? What happens if two different types of blood mix together? Why should we study genetics? What are the threats to the rain forest?' 

In those questions alone I saw future veterinarians, doctors, scientists, engineers, teachers, and astronomers!  Students took notes and developed an expository piece that was turned into a Google site of their collaborative research. They reflected on their work, thinking about content, group skills, and leadership attributes. As Catlin says these “students were no longer consumers of information, but were also generators of information.”

My challenge to elementary teachers is to get students asking questions and answering them. John Dewey described the old education as an approach in which “the center of gravity is outside the child. It is in the teacher, the textbook, anywhere and everywhere you please except the immediate instincts and activities of the child himself.” It is time to place the students in the center of gravity and have their interests and purposes as a point of departure. I can promise you it is a lot more fun orbiting their universe than being at the center.