Plan Now: Start Small, Think Big and Celebrate!

Well, I started my summer off  in the Mecca of PD- at the ISTE 2013 Conference.  There was sharing and problem solving, presentations and conversations, tweets and chats.  I am wondering if my PD Certificate will cover all that I learned:

on the bus
 in the elevator

in the cafes

in the ballroom with 5000 thumb wrestlers

in the open space classroom of the exhibit hall

                                                      in the frozen tundra of a classroom for 500

                                                      on the plane, in the van, and even in the classrooms.

Here is what I learned:

1. Passion is catching…that’s right, you pirates out there, passion does not just get passed to the kids, but we can share it with each other!
2. Giving teachers a voice and a choice is invigorating.  Again, this is something that we know works with kids.  Surprise!  Educators respond well to taking control of their own professional development, seeking out what they needed, finding what they were interested in and looking for answers for their kids and their districts.  What is good for the goose….
3. There are tons of great ideas, activities, tools, collaborators and colleagues out there happy to share so that you do not have to reinvent the wheel!

So now what do you do with all your new found knowledge? How can this lead to change in your classroom, your teaching, and your students?  It can seem overwhelming.

Small Changes, Big Differences

In a July/August 2013 article “Small Changes, Big Differences” in Teaching Exceptional Children (Council for Exceptional Children), Barbara Ludlow states that change happens with many small improvements over time.  She points to the Japanese term, Kaizen, which is a combination of the characters for “change” and “good.”  She says that term expresses the belief that change comes from the efforts of workers rather than researchers or leaders.  Applying that philosophy to education the change would happen in the classroom with the workers being both teachers and students.  Barbara adds that not only does change come about with small continual improvements, but that those same small changes should be celebrated!

So how does that translate to us?

“Small improvements over time” means that you can take that huge pile of ideas, activities, and suggestions and start small.  Tweak a lesson, a unit, or a procedure with the things you have learned.  Make your classroom an endless cycle of continuous improvement and celebrate those improvements.  Change does not have to be overwhelming and in fact is happening on a regular basis at the hands of millions of practitioners in schools every day.

So, start your plans now, start small, think big…but don’t stop there – celebrate your successes and share!

Implementing BYOT: A Great Critical Thinking Activity

I love to visit classrooms this time of year. Both students and teachers are excited and hopeful about what they will be doing in the coming year. This year the Mt. Olive Middle School will be implementing a new BYOT program. Starting in November, students in grade 8 and 9 will be able to Bring in their Own Technology and use it in their core content area classrooms.

This of course brings up a number of issues from all kinds of perspectives. Melissa Blitzstein, teaching a new course called 8^th Grade Seminar (focusing on research and writing skills) and Cynthia Cassidy, Media Specialist (ultimately involved in the implementation) decided this was the perfect opportunity and high interest complex topic they were looking for to kick off student researching and writing! What a great way to involve students in authentic and relevant problem solving!

They recognized that successful implementation of a complex undertaking like BYOT, requires a true collaborative effort by parents, policy makers, IT personnel, curriculum specialists, teachers and administrators, each of which have different issues and concerns that need to be addressed. Although there is information about other districts' implementation, every district is different. Different demographics, budgets, staff members, etc. all play into the program’s success.

Why not let students take a crack at it?

Blistzstein and Cassidy developed a great activity based on these Key Points in English Language Arts from the Common Core Standards:

· The ability to write logical arguments based on substantive claims, sound reasoning, and relevant evidence is a cornerstone of the writing standards, with opinion writing—a basic form of argument—extending down into the earliest grades.

· Research—both short, focused projects (such as those commonly required in the workplace) and longer term in depth research —is emphasized throughout the standards but most prominently in the writing strand since a written analysis and presentation of findings is so often critical.

Students began the project by researching BYOT programs and their successful implementation then selected a perspective to represent in the collaboration. Roles included 8^th grade student, parent, teacher, and US Department of Education. Cassidy and Blitzstein posted the problem and perspectives in the SCAN tool at TregoEd. When I walked into the classroom, the students were highly engaged in the discussion using the private online discussion tool which walks them through SCAN (See the issues, Clarify the issues, Ask, what’s most important, and Now, what should be done?). Of course, you do not need the tool to have students go through the process, but it is a powerful way to get ALL students in on the conversation!

Students at work!

They had written logical arguments based on their perspective and were using sound reasoning and relevant evidence to support their claims. Their issues ranged from cheating and possible theft of devices to bandwidth and teacher training! Their research had added depth to their understanding of the situation – giving true authenticity to “Research –short focused projects (such as those commonly required in the workplace)” as this was precisely the work that had to be done “in the workplace.”

Developing a plan

As I circulated around the room, many were working on the last step where they were creating some great suggestions for policies and actions that will address the concerns that their classmates had brought up. They were talking about insurance policies, collecting IP addresses, classroom rules and board policies. They understood that they now had valid input in the district discussion and would have an understanding of both the “what and the why” of district policies that would be put in place. They had a plan! (We can only hope that those who were tackling this problem in the district were using the same process. District leaders trained in TregoED’s Situation Appraisal would find the process would result in great decisions and a sure fire implementation plan)

High interest=high engagement

It was exciting to see how engaged kids were in the research and the writing when given a high interest problem that touched their lives. They took their roles seriously as they knew their input would be heard through Ms. Blitzstein.

How have your students been involved in the success of your BYOD or BYOT programs? Do your students take part in school problem solving?