Drive them to Think! My Favorite STEM Challenges

One of the key elements of a PBL is to provide a driving question.  That driving question provides the open-ended challenge or problem that we want our children to work on.  Bottom line, the question should be open-ended, require collaboration, critical thinking and teach students new skills.  These building blocks of inquiry are why STEM education goes with problem-based learning like macaroni goes with cheese! 

Driving Questions

Driving questions can, among other things, challenge students to solve a problem, design a better way to do something, build something useful or educate others.  Build, design, create and make are all verbs that bring the element of engineering into your classroom.  Adding constraints to a problem (things that students may or may not use, size/weight limitations, safety rules, etc.) not only adds to the challenge but reflects the reality of every day problem solving.

One of my all-time favorite examples of constraints in problem solving is the square peg in a round hole problem that was given to the Engineers at NASA to help Apollo 13 astronauts.  It has all the makings of a great problem:  It’s real and has real constraints. I use this great  video clip from the movie to have students practice defining a problem and listing the constraints

My Favorite STEM Challenges

Here are some of my favorite STEM challenges that I have used with kids to cover a variety of content:

1.       Build a better ________________.  Your students come across design flaws every day.  Ask them to listen to the complaints of their peers or parents about something that “just doesn’t work right” and develop a solution to the problem.  It could be a machine (like a mousetrap), law (like immigration), toy, or whatever.  They should gather information about the product, propose a solution, build a prototype, and present it to the class.  Example:  I recently had to use an airline travel toothbrush for a week – it collapsed into two pieces every time I brushed. Surely someone can come up with a better design!

2.       Rube Goldberg Contraptions.  The best engineering programs in the world participate in Rube Goldberg challenges.  Share a few Rube Goldberg cartoons, a couple of great YouTube videos and challenge your students to design and build a Rube Goldberg contraption that can do any or all of the following:

a.       Uses both a chemical change and a physical change.

b.      Uses 4 different simple machines.

c.       Uses both a mixture and a solution.

d.      Uses 4 different energy transfers.

e.      There is a whole lot of physics and chemistry that can be learned here.  Video tape their demonstrations and explanations to share with parents and post them to share with the rest of the world.

3.       Build a solar cooker with recyclable materials.  Food is a great motivator!  (and S’mores demonstrate both chemical and physical changes -burnt marshmallow, melted chocolate, broken graham crackers).  Have students research, design and build a cooker that will melt the chocolate for your s’more.  (Just saw that they now sell flat square marshmallows just for s’mores in the microwave-build a better marshmallow?)

4.       Build a SCALE Model of a large object (NASA’s latest MMS satellite, the solar system, the continents) or a small object (a life size lego man, cell, the Jolly Green Giant’s cell phone) using tape on the floor or string outside.  Lots of math involved!

5.       Make a model with moving parts using just paper (research paper engineering), Legos or recyclables of any science concept:  life, water or nutrient cycles, mitosis, meiosis, laws of thermodynamics, etc.  

Build, design, create, make, are all words that are key to putting engineering in your STEM lesson and developing problem solving, collaboration, creativity and communication.   Put the learning in their hands!

What are your favorite engaging STEM Challenges?

Teaching for Life-Readiness

Last Wednesday, I sat in an elementary classroom and thought, “it doesn’t get any better than this.”  I was sitting down to share my experience in this blog on Friday, when I heard “the news” – and I thought it couldn’t get any worse.  I did not have the heart to write about the joy, the smiles and the pride that the teachers and students demonstrated at PS 154 in NYC, when I knew that same joy, smiles and pride were obliterated for some 26 people.  I have participated in many a drill, sitting with kids in complete darkness and silence, trying to console some and make others realize the seriousness.  Even the drills were scary.  I cannot imagine the horror and fear those students and educators all must have experienced, and now the sorrow.   I know my colleagues are struggling with their emotions as they return to their classrooms with an acute awareness of the respect, responsibility, and compassion they feel for their colleagues, students and their families both here and in Newtown, CT.  

 

The kids at PS 154 were celebrating their learning with videos and action plans.  Given a framework, technology, and teacher guidance, they were given the ability to see other perspectives and problem solve.  Imagine 4^th graders researching the issue of child labor and discovering that the children affected were their age and that child labor exists even in their own country.  They developed an action plan that included writing poetry, short stories and filming public service announcements.   They sang Michael Jackson’s “Heal the World – Make it a Better Place” with the passion of true believers.  Their presentations were touching, powerful and could not help but make you smile. 

These children demonstrated what is best about our children and the importance of school in their lives.  They were developing the capacity to think outside the box, demonstrate empathy for those less fortunate, and develop actions.  Through this simple activity, the teachers had given those students hope and confidence that they have the power to create change and overcome adversity.  This is truly what education is all about, “life-readiness.”

In the face of all this sorrow and despair, these children have given me a reason to smile.  What went on in PS 154 is happening all over this country.  Our children are our hope and it is an honor and a privilege to help prepare them to take on the world.

My thoughts and prayers go out to those families that have been shattered by a senseless act of violence.  Peace be with you all.

CCSS lesson: Arguing the School Calendar

It’s easy to get kids writing an argument when they are passionate about a subject and who is not passionate about the school calendar?  Just open up the discussion on year round schools or what religious holidays will be observed can spark a debate.  Adjusting the school calendar for emergency days adds the complexity of previous plans and often emotions run high.  With the recent Hurricane on the East Coast, many schools have been closed to two full weeks.  Why not have your students do some critical thinking and problem solving around the topic of Emergency School Closings?

Perspectives

To get the argument started have students take on the role of parent, Board of Education, teacher and student and read the articles below:

Informational text Resources:

Parents Debate How to Fix the School Calendar

Chester Schools Debating Calendar Change

Schools Across NJ Juggle Calendar

Charter School Holds Online Classes during Power Outage

NJ School Boards:  Guidance on Rescheduling School – the 180 Day Requirement

See the Issues

As an individual, have students list the issues they come across for their point of view as they are reading.  List all class issues.

Clarify the issues:

Ask students to clarify the issues that have been posted.  Students should refer back to the articles to see if there is an explanation as to why the issue is important. 

Ask what’s Important

As a class determine what issues are most important to consider when coming up with a solution.

No, what should be done? 

Work as a class to determine what should be done to adjust the school calendar keeping the most important issues in mind. 

Get them writing:  Ask students to describe and defend the new plan making sure they acknowledge other options and points of view.

Online SCAN Tool:

Increase student engagement and participation in this discussion using the SCAN tool at TregoED.  The private online discussion tool walks students through these steps, allows them to comment and collaborate on the solution.  “School Calendar and Emergency Days” is a free SCAN scenario this month featuring these points of view and including links to the articles. 

I guess if you live in a sunny spot with no weather issues you may never have to face the problem of emergency school closings…perhaps you may want to have your students look at the issues involved in the “Year Round School” Scenario. 

This same problem solving strategy can be used at the administrative level.  Check out “5 Steps to Help Your School with Post-Disaster Management” to see how this strategy can work for you.

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?

911 Memorial Activity Reaches the Common Core

Next week, I am going to the 911 Memorial in NYC.  Learning about the vision, debate, study, engineering and design of the memorial is a great opportunity for deeper learning for our students.  Just looking at the symbolism that is incorporated into the design – waterfalls into footprints that never fill, trees from the Flight 93 site in PA and the Pentagon, the Tridents from the original building, five buildings spiraling up like the torch of Lady Liberty- and how it comes together to complete the monumental task of healing this deep wound in the earth with a balance of awareness of the tragedy and hope for the future is a great lesson.  The question of what was to be done at the site brought about great debate and was only resolved when all parties perspectives were considered.  This is an example of great problem solving at its best with science, engineering, art, language arts and social studies content all rolled into the task.   

What a great opportunity to use the problem solving strategy...SCAN.  Imagine looking at the devastated site 11 years ago and trying to determine what should be done?  Imagine the perspectives that had to be considered.  Business leaders, families who lost loved ones, city workers, artistss and entrepreneurs all had unique perspectives on the best way to honor the victims, the heroes and American resilience.  What a great way to demonstrate how a simple strategy like SCAN (See the issues, Clarify the issues, Ask what's most important, and Now, what's the plan?) can help solve complex problems.

Reaching the Common Core

Why not have your students select a perspective and "write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence." (CCSS) The 911 Memorial website has wonderful resources where your students can find information and teachers can find a great diversity of lessons plans all linked to the Common Core Standards.  Lessons range from the historical impact to the making of memorials.  You can easily move them from stating their position to collaborating on their own solutions.

There is also a series of videos by the Discovery Channel about how the master plan for building the Memorial came about.  You can watch the video through teacher’s hub video writing prompts or directly though Discovery (with commercials).  I love this video about the building that is being designed around a wedge of light that will appear on 9/11 at precisely the time the second tower fell.  Think of all the science and engineering that had to go into the planning of that!   

September 11th is a great time to have your students "think historically" to gain an understanding of how this area has risen from the rubble to include the tallest and strongest building in American history and a memorial to honor those who were killed at the site.

Looking for more?

Other teacher and student resources for studying 911 can be found at the George Bush Library or the Edsitement Launchpad of activities.  

10 Great Resources for 9/11 Activities has been updated!

You can get kids looking at security issues that arose from 911 through different perspectives using the free online discussion lesson:  Patriot Act:  Security or Freedom at TregoED.

 

10 Simple Challenges for Hands and Minds

As a mom (of two “active” boys), teacher (of thousands), Science Olympiad and Robotics coach (my self described "Geeks"), scout leader and neighborhood kid magnet (I make a mean pancake),  I have accumulated a great many simple and fun (learning) activities appropriate for home, camp or school.  I always had some kind of “experiment" going on my kitchen counter (and not much else!).  My boys were never one to sit still and do a craft, but if that “craft” became an experiment…they were all in.  Living at a lake we crafted habitats and trapping devices (nets, buckets, jars, boxes, etc) to collect, examine, identify and study the multitude of critters.  (I am sure there are still plenty of turtles with a dab of nail polish on their shells).   For those days when we just couldn’t get outdoors,  I established quite a repertoire of activities that all kids enjoyed (and learn from).

My Box O' Fun

These activities were great for those days when we had outside disruptions (assemblies, field trips, etc) but you wanted your kids engaged and learning.  I called them discovery days at school – where the focus was on engineering, experimenting and re-engineering.  I kept a “box o’ fun”  in my classroom that contained treasures like file cards, old film canisters, plastic water bottle lids, masking tape, cardboard cereal boxes, oaktag, marbles, straws, wooden skewers (my husband could never figure out where they went) and any other thing that could be used as building materials.  Ruler, measuring tapes, stop watches, etc. all added to the fun. 

All I had to do was list a limited number of materials, post a challenge on the board and give them a limited amount of time before they would have to test and share their solutions.  Here are some tried and true problems that I used (any materials can be substituted):

Safe Transport

Materials:  file card, 12 inches of masking tape, two wooden skewers, four plastic bottle caps (you can also add things like scissors, stop watches etc)

Challenge:  Build a vehicle that will transport a Lego man (plastic frog, eraser, whatever) safely down a ramp.  We measured distance and speed, averaged runs, changed ramp angles, talked about variables, graphed data, etc.  (Caution, principal may visit to see what the hubbub is about!)  Motivated by bragging rights, lots of learning occurred – and of course you could challenge them to improve on their designs!

Straw Rockets

Materials:  Straws, clay, tape, cardboard

Challenge:  Make a rocket that will travel the farthest distance (or land closest to the garbage can, etc).  Although there are commercial straw rocket launchers, you can make one (or the kids can) easily out of a juice bottle with these directions.

Even simpler straw rockets can be made with bendy straws and launched the old fashioned way with these directions. http://manmadediy.com/chris/posts/1168-how-to-make-a-bendy-straw-rocket-launcher

Balloon Rockets

Materials:  Balloons, string, tape

Challenge:  Make a rocket that will travel fastest along a string.  Students can hold the string at both ends.  I liked to get a couple of stop watches from the PE people to time the rockets as they go. There are even links and questions found here.

Want students to study payload?  Change the challenge and have them launch the rocket straight up as in this Rocket Transportation activity.

Parachutes

Materials:  one square foot of saran wrap from the cafeteria, 3 feet of thread (home ec room), tape and paper clip weights.  .

Challenge:  Build a parachute that will spend the longest time aloft.We used the stair wells and stop watches for testing

Boats

Materials:    one square foot of aluminum foil and pennies or golf balls, container of water for floating

Challenge:  build the boat that will hold the most pennies (or golf balls).

Catapults

Materials:  Popsicle sticks (rulers, etc) tape, rubber bands and cotton balls.

Challenge:  Build a catapult that will launch a cotton ball the farthest.

Writing S’more

When we learned about robots, I had the students write the “code” for making a s’more –if I could build the s’more from the directions, they could have it.  Of course they had to write every step…you cannot just “pick up a marshmallow”….you fingers have to open and close on it, etc. Great way to introduce students to programming.

Write it, Build it

Materials Vary:  Legos, clay, toothpicks, Lincoln logs

Give students two identical sets of 10 Legos (or whatever) and have students build something out one set.  Have them write building directions for their partner.  Give the partner the directions and other set of identical legos and see how close they get using the directions.   

Stop-Motion Animation:

Looking for a little techno-fun?  Kids love stop-motion videos.  Show them some great examples (from youtube) and ask them to create their own to demonstrate a concept they learned this year.  Stop motion videos.  Here's how to make them with Windows Movie Maker

What's in your bag o' tricks?  Do you have simple challenges to add to the list?

3 Great Questions for Discussions Around Bullying

Remember when driving drunk was a minor offense?  It was legal to harass someone?  Moon someone??  There is no doubt that while many new laws have made our lives safer and more civilized, there are many people who think that the rush to legislate personal decisions (like helmet and seat belt laws) curtails our rights and should be left up to the individual.  Others think that clearer laws are necessary to keep up with the times. 

Recent headlines have turned this debate towards bullying, specifically cyberbullying.   This is a great opportunity to turn the question over to your students to help them develop respect for different points of view, think critically and speak and write persuasively.  This week Dharun Ravi was sentenced to 30 days in jail for webcam spying on his college roommate who killed himself in the aftermath.   There are many different perspectives on the outcome of this trial, and many thought that the charges did not fit the crime.    

Should more laws be written to deal specifically with cyberbullying?  Viewpoints range from “not every tragedy should lead to prison” to “privacy invasions last forever.”Why not have your students examine these different perspectives – legal, psychological, cultural- as they apply to bullying?  Room for Debate  is a discussion forum of the New York Times that can provide your students with great written essays from knowledgeable professionals reflecting these perspectives and more on Cyberbullying and a Student Suicide. 

Should offensive opinions and hurtful statements be protected by the First Amendment?  How about having students look at bullying through the lens of the First Amendment?  How do you distinguish between free speech and bullying?  Where is the line between free speech and harassment? Do state bullying mandates leave any wiggle room for common sense?  This Edweek article “Groups Urge Balance Between Censoring, Stopping Bullies”  can provide students with highlights of the recently published guidelines “Harassment, Bullying and Free Expression:  Guidelines for Free and Safe Public Schools."

What do you think should be done about bullying? 

How about having your students look at different student perspectives?   Common Sense Media provides the lesson “Taking Perspectives on Cyberbullying” featuring video clips of the Friday Night Lights TV show, providing a lesson plan complete with student worksheets and  video clips.  (caution:  may only be appropriate for older students due to clip content)

You can have students practice civil discourse on these issues practicing good digital citizenship using the SCAN tool at TregoED.  Just register and set up the free cyberbullying lesson for the private URL for your class.   Students will read the cyberbullying scenario and discuss the issues and possible solutions guided by the SCAN problem solving strategy (See the issues, clarify the issues, Ask what’s important and Now, what should be done?) from the built in different points of view.  SCAN is a great way to teach students civil discourse and empathy as they represent the point of view of parents, teachers, administrators and bullied student and collaborate on solutions.

The question remains, do we need to use the criminal justice system to battle cyberbullying or would teaching civility and respect be a more effective solution?  Either way, discussing the question can help students practice those attributes, while they learn to think critically, read and write on this relevant and authentic topic. 

Can you prepare kids for testing AND teach them to think?

A friend of mine was substituting in a classroom yesterday with students taking a practice NJASK test.  The students were writing in response to an article about changing Pluto’s status from a planet to a dwarf planet.   She was left speechless after reading the students' responses.  They wrote things that were totally off the topic, drew ridiculous conclusions, and most did not answer the question, etc.  She noticed that the students were using an acronym to help them with the mechanics of writing.  The mechanics did not seem to be the problem.  She was really shocked at the student’s inability to come up with reasonable content in their writing.

Community Reading Assignments
In discussing this with a colleague, it was mentioned that a neighboring school starts each week with an article that every student, teacher and administrator reads.   This seems like a pretty powerful practice to me, especially if teachers and students were using a critical thinking process that gave them a common vocabulary to discuss it.  What a great way to get kids reading, give adults connections, start conversations, develop critical thinking (and of course, raise those test scores)! 

SCANning Complex Situations
Having a set of common questions for all complex situations is a great way to get students in the habit of thinking and helping them develop content for their writing.   Who might have a point of view or opinion on the topic?  Who are the stakeholders?  What are some of the issues?  Which issues are most important?  What do you think should be done?  These higher order thinking questions are the basis for SCAN, the critical thinking strategy from TregoED.  (See the issues, Clarify the issues, Ask what’s important, and Now, what should be done?)  Getting kids reading informational text and SCANning is an excellent way to give kids practice for high stakes testing.  Giving them articles with relevance and of high interest is part of the equation.  Many of our students know how to write, they get the mechanics, but how do they learn “what to write?”  That takes some critical and creative thinking.

Technology Makes it Easy
How can teachers fit one more thing in the day?  Why not use social media and discussion platforms to deliver the articles and start the discussions?  Leveraging student enthusiasm for writing in social media platforms, complete with the ability to share and respond to others' writing is a great way to get students enthusiastically contributing.  The benefits are many – students are more engaged, writing for an audience of their peers is incentive for more careful writing, reading other students work gives them models to work from and it is great way to practice reading and writing short constructed responses

The SCAN Tool
Of course, using the SCAN tool at TregoED is the perfect way to get students practicing the steps of SCAN as the questions are built right into the discussion platform.  You just select a scenario (or attach an article), students pick a point of view and they enter the discussion with screen names and avatars.   Using a couple of SCAN sessions within your content area can give students a better understanding of the content area and familiarize them with the questions.    Each one of the steps progresses up the scale of higher order thinking and with student’s playing different roles they support their points of view with gusto!  SCAN has a library of lessons dealing with current events, social issues, history, and science.  These problem-based topics are perfect for getting students to look at other perspectives on hot issues while teaching them a critical thinking strategy. 

Collaborize Classroom
Collaborize Classroom also offers a discussion platform where it is easy to link and article and use the SCAN questions to start the conversation.  Bottom line, kids like to write in this kind of platform, share what they wrote and comment on each others' writing.  Practicing critical thinking with relevant informational text is a great way to get students prepared for those dreadful questions asked on high stakes testing without making them “practice taking the test!"  Technology can make it relatively painless!  A win-win!  

Teachers Value Increases with Technology

I heard a story the other day about a man who slipped a disk when he was young and had extensive surgery resulting in a six inch scar and a six month recovery period (and a whole year out of PE!).  Ten or so years later, he slipped another disk.  This time the surgery was not as extensive, the scar not as long and the recovery period was shortened to a week or so.  Recently a friend of his had the same surgery.  This time it was out-patient, a half-inch incision and back to work two days later.  We all know that there have been great advances in medicine through the wonders of technology, but even more amazing was all three surgeries were by the same doctor.   Of course, we expect our doctors to keep up with all the latest techniques and technology – or be the target of malpractice suits.

The gentleman telling the story (and main character) was Jon Landis, a former educator and Development Executive with Apple Inc. at the recent NJAET conference.  Although I may not have gotten all the details of his story perfect, I did get the point.  His point was that technology has drastically changed the way that we all work and learn.  Teaching is no different.  Technology is not replacing us but making us more valuable.  We cannot stay in the classroom and ignore the communication revolution that is all around us.
Landis pointed out that "your value as a teacher is no longer your ability to deliver content, content is free, content is ubiquitous, content is good."  We may have been replaced as content providers,  however, our job is even more important now.  Students need to be able to digest content, not just spit it back out.  We need to help our students understand the context, take it apart, and reassemble it into relevant connections and original thought.  No easy task.

He is right, of course, content is ubiquitous.  One need only look at the various free offerings from Kahn Academy (over 3000 videos to “Watch. Practice. Learn almost anything for free.”) or through iTunes U (with a growing library of courses and the ability to create your own) to see the overwhelming amount of content our students hold in the palm of their hand.  Class time, then, needs to become the time that students “play” with the content, contextualize, collaborate, apply and synthesize.
This is where having a good grasp on strategies to get our students thinking critically and creatively comes in to play.  We need to become the problem person, not the answer person.  Our classes need to be creative, with hands-on activities and engaging discourse.  I have found that online discussion platforms strengthen engaging discourse by democratizing conversations, allowing every student an equal opportunity to contribute.  These discussions can engage students in powerful ways, providing rich introductions or extensions to course content.

There is great power in using TED talks and activities to get students thinking about further applications and connections to course content.  Integrating tools such as SCAN (with the built in critical thinking strategy and representing different perspectives) and Collaborize Classroom  (with a full library of higher level thinking activities and interactive discussions) gives our students the opportunity to take an active role in their learning and provides teachers with a simple to implement lesson upgrade.

The bottom line is that, we, as teachers need to embrace the technology (As Landis stated “the internet is not a fad”) and adjust accordingly.  Just like our students, we need the time to “play” with all of the great content we receive on good teaching, time to practice, collaborate, and upgrade our lessons.  Start with some simple tools, one lesson or unit, one homework assignment, but get started.