8 New Resolutions to Feed Student Motivation

There is no doubt that sometimes it takes a little bit of motivation to get back to work after a long holiday.  Even with goals and resolutions, it can be hard to get going.  It’s funny, the business of learning doesn’t seem like a chore at all to the very young.  They seem to be exploring every nook and cranny of their world, full of questions (sometimes many, many questions, sometimes questions that can really stump you).  So what happens?  Do we stifle those questions?  How do they go from curious and excited to bored and beleaguered? 

How do we keep that intrinsic motivation to learn alive?  What do we need to feed student motivation?

Why not resolve to:

1.        Develop curiosity.  How do you keep their curiosity going in the classroom?  Do you shut students down when they ask questions that are “off topic” or do you allow them to be curious and encourage them to find the answers and ask some more?   Don’t stress over every minute of precious instructional time that you won’t take time to smell their roses.

2.       Make connections to their lives and the world around them.  To some, this may seem like you are “getting off the track” but it actually is a great way to get kids thinking.  One minute you’re talking about prohibition, the next minute you’re talking about the recent legalization of marijuana in Colorado.  It is just that sort of “off the track” thinking that gets them juiced (could not resist the urban dictionary pun) and wakes up their thinking.  How do these two events relate to each other?

3.       Share your enthusiasm!  How do you sell your lesson or activity? As tough as outside forces make the teaching profession, there is just no time to be an Eeyore in your classroom! Start every day, every year, and every class, with boundless enthusiasm.  “You would not believe what we are going to do today!” “Wait until you see what this will lead to…” 

4.       Aim high—that is aim for higher order thinking skills.  Ask the right questions.  Huh?  (explain that) Really? (do you know this to be true?) and So (why does it matter?  So what?)” I always told parents at back to school night that their children were learning rigorous material,  and added “please don’t tell them!”   

5.       Infuse the magic of technology- Many of our students have infused the magic of technology in their everyday lives in a big way.  It should just be a matter of course in the classroom.  To quote George Courso in Inequity in BYOD “Technology should be at the point of instruction and be as accessible in learning as a pencil; it shouldn’t be an event.” 

6.       Provide opportunities for coopertition- I think the word coopertition was coined by someone involved in First Lego League.  Our students should be involved in activities where there is both competition (for some motivation on its own) and cooperation (which makes it more or less risky depending on the student)…either way, it is part of life and motivational.

7.       Mix it up- I know that classroom routines are a must, but that doesn't mean that your class is routine.  My classes were set up with a starter or a grabber (maybe a question, maybe a discrepant event, a short video, a word or two from our sponsor (yes, I do like to say a thing or two), and then a “cooperative exploration” – which was a fancy of way of saying “the day’s activities…could have been simple or complex, 10 minutes or 40, whatever. Structure was routine, class was not!

8.       Keep your sense of humor – I had a principal who started the year off with “if you’re not having fun, it’s time to get out” – of course there was a large percentage of the staff who thought that was a ridiculous statement, after all, education is a serious business.  But, what can I say? Middle school is fun!

'Twas 5 Days before Winter Break

With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore

'Twas 5 days before school break and all through the class

Not a brain cell was stirring, must think and think fast

The objectives were posted on the board with care

In hopes that good thinking, soon would be there.

The children were dressed in bright blue, green and reds

As visions of vacation days danced in their heads

And Marie in her Ugg boots and Jon in his cap

Had just settled their brains for a short in-class nap

When all of a sudden there arose such a clatter

They sprang from their chairs to see what was the matter.

Away to my laptop I flew like a flash

Turned on the projector and sent them to the hash (tag)

The look on the kid’s faces along the back row

Showed a bit of a stirring, a glimmer, a glow

When what to my wondering eyes did appear

But a live online chat and ideas to share

With hot topics the kids were so lively and quick

I knew in a moment that this was the trick.

More rapid than eagles their thinking it came

I whispered and smiled and called them by name

Now SCAN tool, Edmodo, Today’s Meet and Wiki

On laptops, on Ipads, on mobiles with twitter

To the top of Blooms Pyramid, to the top of the class

Now think away, think away, think and think fast

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle mount to the sky

Up to the tallest heights the ideas they flew

With creativity, critical thinking, and communication so new

And then, in a twinkling, I saw on the screen

The comments and thoughts of each one of those teens

As I stood there amazed my thoughts swirling around

In came the principal with some thoughts profound

She was dressed all professional from her head to her foot

And her tablet was open to observe something good

A bundle of energy we had in the class

She was so impressed she got in on the task

Their work, how it sparkled, the ideas so fresh

The comments were helpful, their words start to mesh

They supported their arguments with evidence and more

Their writing more confident than ever before.

I spoke not a word, let them go with their work

And watched as they collaborated as I just did lurk.

And after the bell rang, not one child rose

Too engaged to hear it, I had to suppose

I sprang to the door as the kids cried out loud

And assured them their work was saved to the cloud.

I heard them exclaim as they moved out the door

When can we come back and do this some more?

Changing the World, One Twitter Chat at a Time

Okay, I admit it, I got caught up watching the Morning Show and the discussion that Matt Lauer had with the Dick Costolo, CEO of Twitter.  While Matt recognized that being able to use pseudonyms allowed for political speech where it is oppressed and therefore had the potential to change the world, he was concerned about nasty tweets and negativity (apparently he has had some hurtful ones).  Doesn’t that sound like the fear that teachers sometimes express regarding the use of technology, and particularly social media in the classroom?  I loved Dick Costolo’s answer “it is incumbent on us, as operators of the platform to make sure that everyone can come to Twitter feeling it is a clean, well-lit place.” That is exactly what we have to do as educators, in our regular and our digital classrooms. It is incumbent on us to teach our children civil discourse and digital citizenship.  It is no different than expecting them to be polite to each other face to face (except that students cannot twist the truth when confronted with comments that are in black and white).

 While Lauer and Costolo’s conversation veered off to the entertainment industry (“Who does Costolo wish would sign up?” “Melissa McCarthy, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler”),  my mind went in a different direction, to the other side of Twitter.  I have to admit, I do not follow anyone famous (I do follow James Taylor on Facebook, I enjoy seeing him pop up in my newsfeed between my teacher friends and my sister with pictures of him baking pies on thanksgiving, etc….after all, years ago, he sang “you got a friend” to me….of course there were a couple thousand people in the room, but I am pretty sure he was singing to me…but I digress).  The people I do follow share news, resources, ideas, and laughs.

Costolo admitted that the language of twitter (#, @, RT, etc) can turn some people off, but the content is powerful – the media, photos, and content that people share is what is important.  Recent twitter chats on critical thinking via the #njed group (headed up by @wkrakower) and #TXeduchat (led by @jennifermiller9) are an example of this great content-content that I think can change the world.  They were fast paced, fun, invigorating, stimulating, and validating conversations.  I have never seen a nasty tweet amongst my colleagues (granted, I don’t have as many followers as Matt Lauer, but he only has them because Justin Bieber asked his followers to follow Lauer), and as Costolo stated “there is a certain creativity that comes with being limited to 140 characters.”

Some examples:

So combine #greatminds, creativity and thought provoking questions (after all, the conversation was about critical thinking) and you have true learning, sharing of resources, practices and insights.  How can you lose?Although I love Amy, Melissa, and Tina, I am pretty sure that adding them to twitter will not change the world.  Get the right educators on there, and I think we have a shot.

Join the #njed chat on Tuesday nights, 8:30 ET 

The Packet is Dead! (or at least it should be)

Remember the packet?  I mentioned “the packet” the other day in a workshop could see that everyone knew exactly what I was talking about.   The packet – a number of “worksheets” stapled together that students can work on independently -in theory, not so bad, in practice, not so good.  Not too long ago, there was a Youtube video, of a student ranting against the packet- (warning – “strong language”).  The video went viral, mostly because everyone understood what this student was talking about! 

However, not all packets are created equal.  Some very good project-, problem- and challenge-based learning activities start with something like a packet, but questions, challenges, and resources send students far beyond the packet.  The thing is, there are simple ways to get students to work independently, creatively, collaboratively, and thinking critically.  Why not avoid the packet all together?  You can present interactive problems with links, collaborative discussion areas, brainstorming centers and student workspaces using simple technology tools.   

Take a look of these sample projects and launch your project with the same creativity and learning objectives you expect from your students (and look like you are some kind of techno-geek in the process).  

These simple tools offer students (and parents) 24-7 access to the project that they can never lose:

Wiki – this wiki is a great example of how a problem can be presented, resources linked and places provided where students can work and share with other students.  This problem was presented to teams of teachers in the problem-based learning style. 

Livebinders- I am a great fan of Livebinders because they are so simple to use.  You can insert documents, provide links and resources all in one nice neat package (note I did not say packet!))  This one presents a challenge to students, provides links, resources, rubrics, and even a place for them to share their finished products.

Blendspace  provides a place for you to insert text to present the challenge and then places that you can link websites, photos, videos, etc. to give students different perspectives to study.  This is a great way to share informational text for common core standards. 

Ted-Ed provides a really simple interface where you can start students out with a challenge via video (or just provide a video to get them thinking) and you can then supply “The right questions” to get them thinking and learning.  You can provide links to information, and collaborative sites to enrich the lesson or project.  Here is my most recent critical thinking problem on graffiti presented Ted-ED style.

Google web site and docs – This is a great mock-up of a class web page made by the people at ITSCO for their AMLE work session.  They used a Google site with links to separate Google docs for the students to work on in small groups.  They provided a large group timeline for the entire group to work on and an exit quiz using Google forms for assessment.  What a great way to leverage all of these free Google tools to provide resources, a collaborative space and assessment.  The ITSCO people did a great job with all of their mini workshops at AMLE, you can check out their other workshops and resources  with this link.  Top quality work!

Web page I attended a PBL workshop last year, where Mr. Cooper was kind enough to share his website with us.  He shared some great examples of how a teacher might use a website to present students with a project, provide resources, etc. (Note:  he has a place where you can “print the packet” for those of you that ask “what if a child does not have access to technology at home?”) 

Want apps?  Check out apps for challenge based learning which provides suggestions for apps for launching and supporting a challenge based learning project from start to finish.

Setting up a SCAN scenario for discussion can be a great way to launch a problem-based learning experience with your students.  You can attach links customized to reading levels, and get them to see a problem from different perspectives before they get started.

Although, I might not express myself in the same way as Jeff Bliss has in his viral youtube video (although, I am pretty sure I might have in high school!) I agree that “if you want kids to come in here and get excited for this, you gotta make ‘em excited!”  PBL’s and technology are a great way to achieve that goal.  Ditch those packets, as Bliss says “you gotta take this job serious, it is the future of the nation!”

Witchful Thinking: Trick Them into Learning on Halloween

Lily Jones confesses to be a Halloween Grinch in her latest blog post, but there are plenty of creative teachers devising ways to mix the fun of the holiday in their witches’ cauldron.  The last #njed twitter discussion had my tweeps coming up with applications for every grade level and subject area. 

Ideas from the pumpkin patch

@principalarc had kids decorate pumpkins based on lit characters.  Here are some guidelines for that activity.

@mrnesi remembers predicting the volume of a pumpkin – other suggestions include counting ridges, seeds, graphing, averaging, and estimating with pumpkin seeds.

Or the candy store

Although some would rather not ruin their festivities with negative aspects of candy, you can do a lot of math with a bag of it:  count and graph, weigh for accuracy, look at nutritional information, calculate the calories in your trick or treat bag.

Or costumes from the old trunk upstairs

@wwpscience Theme it for the class. If reading a book with the class, costumes of characters. I gave credit for dressing up as scientists.

Dress as literary characters, scientists, historical figures, etc.

 

Or the science lab

Great experiements @dandanscience offers spooky science experiments

 @mrnesi – feely bags- record notes, make predictions.

Did I miss your subject area?

Of course, Jerry Blumengarten, better known as @Cybraryman1 has got you covered with his wonderful collection of links and resources for every aspect of Halloween. 

There are tons of potential writing prompts for Halloween, but what about the critical thinking component?  Are you hitting the common core?

Ratchet up their thinking

Let’s circle back to our self-proclaimed Grinch, what if your town was carefully considering cancelling Halloween?  This is the premise of the free SCAN lesson, “Should We Cancel Halloween?”  The scenario starts:

Due to some recent vandalism in your town, the town council is discussing canceling trick or treating this year.  You have been invited to the town meeting to decide what action should be taken.  After listening to the concerns of parents, students, police and council members you will help develop a plan of action for Halloween night.

Of course, using the SCAN tool, students would take on the roles of those in the meeting, visit web resources to gather evidence to support their point of view and discuss and clarify the issues online.  From this collaboration, they would decide what should be done.  Throw in a little civics with a discussion around whether the government has the right to cancel a holiday!   A little critical thinking, a little creativity and a little common core all swirled together in a witches brew!

To access this lesson and learn more about the SCAN online discussion tool, check out this short video.

Teachable Moment: 3 Things the Government Shutdown and Graffiti Have in Common

What does the government shutdown have to do with a graffiti artist in NYC?  First, both arise as teachable moments, an unplanned opportunity to connect social studies, language arts, and the arts to real world current events.  Second, resolution of the issues will take the ability to see other perspectives and compromise.  Third, they are both “complex situations” with plenty of different perspectives that can teach students to think critically about such questions as:

• How do rules protect individual rights as well as meet the needs of society?
• What are the responsibilities of a good citizen? 
• What are the responsibilities of our leaders?
• What are the lessons that can be learned from current events?
• What role does social media or the media, in general, play in our perspective of events?

No time like the present

Many educators feel they might not have the time to talk about current events, but with increased expectations for critical thinking, evidence-based persuasive writing, and literacy skills in all subject areas, hot news stories can hook your students and encourage them to develop critical thinking around the issues. 

Embrace, deface or erase?

Look at the issues surrounding the famed (or infamous?) British graffiti artist, Banksy, who is taking up an “artist’s residency” this month in New York City.  Each day in October he is “installing” art in a New York City neighborhood.  The art, sometimes whimsical (he has painted “the musical” under some other NYC graffiti so that it read Playground Mob – the musical) or complex as the painting of horses at war with night vision goggles, or beautiful as this truck transformed into the ultimate diarama.  His graffiti/art is drawing crowds and creating quite a buzz in social media as people strive to discover and share it before it disappears.

Ask your students

Is this person an artist or a criminal?  Should his art be covered up or protected from other graffiti behind plexiglass?  Should we embrace or erase?  Are the people defacing his art any different? Being outside the law is part of his popularity, should he be stopped?

There is a great lesson in the SCAN library that can give your students a head start in their critical thinking.  The Graffiti:  Freedom of Expression or Vandalism? Scenario in the SCAN tool at TregoED.org provides 4 different perspectives, guiding critical thinking questions and a private discussion area for your class.  (The SCAN library holds over 100 other free scenarios that teachers can use with their classes.  For a short video about the tool or how to set up a lesson go to http://tregoed.org/teachers/new-to-scan.html.) 

You can add these links to your lesson to provide background research to help students develop their perspective:

Video news clips:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50156760n

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0b90YppquE

http://news.yahoo.com/video/banksy-goes-rogue-nyc-233840768.html

News stories:

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/elusive-graffiti-artist-banksy-hits-nyc-20474753

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/urban-artist-banksy-dots-boroughs-creations-article-1.1477611

http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/9/4819726/banksy-interviewed-about-new-york-art-show-better-out-than-in

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/08/20871038-banksys-nyc-street-show-draws-fans-and-defacers?lite

Don’t miss this opportunity to use this event as an opportunity to think critically about our laws and responsibilities as citizens as well as consider how compromise, civil discourse and different perspectives all come to play in the resolution of the problem.

Make another connection

Use these Best Resources on Compromise and Best Resources to help Understand the Federal Government Shutdown compiled by Larry Ferlazzo and posted on his blog “Websites of the Day” to take student thinking one step further.  How do those same essential questions apply to this situation?

NOTE:  The SCAN lesson library and discussion tool is 100% free to educators. This SCAN lesson was inspired by MaryAnne Molishus elementary class project http://scan-werecriticaltothinking.blogspot.com/2012/02/current-events-prompt-critical-thinking.html. 

Everybody's Doing It - Using Books to Create Communities

There is no doubt that people get interested in things when “everybody’s doing it” – that is the basis for going viral…everyone is watching OR those hard to come by toys that become a craze at the holidays (I am hearing that the rainbow loom bracelets are going to be hot this holiday…I feel driven to purchase them even though I have no one to give them too!).  Harry Potter is a great example of “viral” reading –all ages got in on the reading because we wanted to know what the hubbub was about.  That’s the idea of community book reads – get people talking, making connections, and reading! 

I have joined an adult book club, that is, a book club made up of adults, not reading adult books, well, we are, but not that kind, but, well, I digress.  Anyway, we are a diverse group (except that many of us have been in education in one form or another), different interests and experiences which makes our discussions very rich.  I can attest to the fact that having just one book in common, we have indeed become a community, we have a built-in connection, camaraderie, relationships, because we have something to talk about, something in common, something to connect with.  And we are forced to think outside the box (that is the TV box). 

Going beyond the Language Arts Classroom

Extending a common book choice beyond the classroom walls, to the entire school community and beyond can help students, teachers and other adults connect.  Whether they like the book or not is immaterial (some of our best book club discussions are the books that we do not all love!). Building a community is easy when you all start out with similar interests, ideals or experiences, and building a community is essential in the classrooms!

Going beyond the School Building

Extending a community book choice beyond the school to parents and community has great relationship-building potential.  The Black Rive Middle School in Chester, NJ has selected Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt as a community read.  They will be using it as one of the foundations for advisory discussions – a great way to connect kids to kids and kids to adults.  Parents, too can benefit from having read the same book as their child – gives them a topic beyond “what did you do in school today?”. 

So how do you get started?

Looking for a good book?  The Library of Congress has resources for the “One Book” program.  It lists books that have been used by state or community over the last years.  The lists go by state – apparently it is no longer active, but there are some great ideas and reads listed there.

Want to start a formal discussion?

Just type in the title of your book and “book club discussions” and you will get a set of standard questions to get you started.  I use little sticky note tabs to make places in the books that I am reading that catch my attention to share with the group.  In my book club, some question-types make you glaze over (more appropriate for that language arts classroom), however, everyone seems to like the questions that ask you to connect the book to your own life – making the book relevant works with all ages.  Litlovers.com is an excellent resource for questions, etc.

Need something to get kids interested?  

Get kids hooked by looking at the Banned books list. Here is a list of activities that you can get kids reading and thinking about around banned books:  Banned Books:  The Forbidden Fruit

Want to start a virtual discussion? Try these tools:

Collaborizeclassroom.com is another great platform for discussions, check out this great facilitators guide to get you started.  

Google hangouts can be used for real time book discussions AND you can often get authors to “hang out” with you there!  Mary Beth Hertz suggests this and other ideas for Google hangouts in her blog on Edutopia.

Google groups can also be used to form a group for discussion outside the classroom. 

Connected Educators

Why not try out getting connected to other educators by joining a nationwide book discussion.  Sign up at njamle.wikispaces.com to join us.  We will start a discussion on Dave Burgess’s book “Teach Like a Pirate” on October 15^th.  We’ll even get Dave to join us!

What books would you recommend for community reads?  What tools would you use to facilitate them?