It is Friday night and my daughter is asleep in her bed, my husband is working on his art and I am Tweeting on Twitter about gamification. I am not a gamer but I see my kids wanting to play games every day, so when I read the description I thought it might broaden my horizons. The other educators in this chat have had amazing success with their students’ engagement as a result of gamification. I wanted to examine this method a little more to see if I could use it.
It was obvious these educators have been gamers or using gamification for a while and know what they are talking about. Sunny the moderator was nice and engage me with questions. It was a small chat of about 6 people. I asked how I could use this in a high school English class and I was given the example of a 3D story quest that one educator built. The concept sounds really interesting but I seriously doubt if I would have the needed computer/gamer skills necessary to create a 3D story quest. My other concern would be time, how much time would it take to build a quest? Resources were discussed and a great book to read on the subject was given, Reality is Broken by Jane McGonigal. I may look at these resources to see if there is anything I can use that is already created. These resources may help me find a way to reach some of my students. Just the fact I can tell them on Monday that I was in a chat about gamification will hopefully spark conversation. Maybe they will engage with me and tell me what they are interested in learning. I am not a young educator who grew up with computers always available. I am a 47 year old teacher, who only liked to play Tetris in the 80’s. With that said, I can see the value in gamification and with Twitter itself. Tonight while I was waiting for the chat to start I saw a Tweet from Chad Everett. His students had written their favorite lines from stories on strips of paper and they are on the floor arranging them into a found poem. My mind started going crazy thinking about how I can use this in my classroom. My stress of being on Twitter is still alive, complete sentences please! However, am I going to let that stop me from having conversation with intelligent people from across the United States? No. Will I have to go to a Twitter Anonymous group for addiction? I doubt it. I must thank Mr. Anton for taking me in baby steps through how to use Twitter. I really doubt I would have ever been successful on my own.
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As a high school student, I thought I knew exactly what I was going to do with the rest of my life. I was going to be a lawyer. Well that did not happen. I finished college and taught in a public school for only two years and then I left this career to teach Taekwondo for the next 20 years. Now I am back in the public school system. I do not think I am that different from a majority of our students. Many of us do not know what the next stage of life is really going to be like. Because of my own life, my personal philosophy of teaching is to prepare my students to be thinking, productive adults. I do not believe a standardized test should define my students as being a success or not. Many parents, administrators and politicians focus only on the bottom line of the test scores for the district. I do believe most educators in the classrooms are working hard to get to know their students and then find the best methods to help each student. This profession is full of amazing individuals who want to see all of our students succeed. However, there are so many aspects of our educational system that needs to be improved. In life, I believe in never ending improvement. I feel class sizes are too large and teachers are not given enough time to prepare for the curriculum. If teachers were given these two items, I believe we could see an amazing results. I believe using the Universal Design for Learning will allow us to be on the best track for the future of our students. I could be very wrong but I feel the Universal Design for Learning will encourage our students to be thinking, productive adults.
Last year I made the move to be a teacher at Forsyth. I was extremely excited to become a part of a one-to-one school. Every student having access to information was a dream for me. We could have discussions with the kids adding information instantly. Like most dreams, the reality is different from what I envisioned. I am so thankful that I made the move to a one-to-one school at Forsyth because I have felt supported by my peers and administration. However, in many ways it was overwhelming and confusing.
In my first year, I was given a weekly meeting with the Instructional Technology Coach. She, Tara Roberts, was a blessing. What I appreciated the most was her patients with me as I worked to learn all of the new information. Being located within a 21st Century school doesn’t mean I am always offering a 21st Century Learning experience. My goal is to become an innovative teacher but as a friend reminded me the way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. I cannot completely change everything I am doing. I need to take steps and move forward. I need more time collaborating and learning from my peers, resources available on social media and my mistakes. My classroom is not where I want it to be. Constantly the need for improvement is driving me. Then I have little success that tells me I am on my way. Recently a student was able to find a list of characters from the story we were reading online. This list was very detailed and I believe will be a great asset for this student’s personalize learning style. It is important that I embrace the students’ differences and try to encourage individual learning. What works for one may not help another. However it is extremely challenging with almost 130 students in my classes. Then I walk two doors down and see Mr. Anton’s classes are all 21st Century Learning based and the competitive collaboration kicks in. Last year he completely changed his classes to PBL. Why can’t I make a switch as well? I am not sure my leadership skills are there yet. I need to work on giving the control over to the students and watching them grow. It is hard for me to give up the control. What would it look like if I could find each student’s strength and allow them to occupy that position in my class? This would entail a great deal of trust and it is hard when I still have kids pulling pranks in my classes. Technology is something I am thankful for each day. I will become a better teacher and I will take all of my classes to the 21st Century Learning model. It will just take me a while to eat my elephant since I have so much to learn myself. Trust is a power word. If someone trusts you that is an incredible experience. Enter the teacher with a room full of kids from all different backgrounds. Some will instantly trust you because you are the teacher. Some will instantly distrust you because you are the teacher. Each relationship must be nurtured in order for trust to exist between the teacher and her student. Often this experience is difficult and can be destroyed. After three years at my previous teaching position, the students knew I love them but I didn’t always like their behavior. We had built a relationship of trust to the point they would take risks or expose themselves when I lead them down a strange path.
New school and new students, I am having to work hard to prove I am worthy of their trust. I left at the end of the year really wondering if I would ever be able to gain this level of trust with my new students. Empowerment and engagement feeds trust. Feeding their minds and their souls allows students to grow exponentially. My question that arose while reading Part II is how to handle the unintentionally learner who is trying to destroy the trust within the class? Often they know all of the rules and push the limits right to the end and then stop. However, the damage they inflict is constantly present. I understand and am willing to continue to try to reach those students to find a way into their lives. As long as they are in my class it is a constant battle to build trust with the whole group. My classroom is in constant change. I steal most of my lesson plans from other teachers much more innovative than myself. Honesty with my students goes a long way. I often will say, “We are going to try something different. Let’s see where this will take us.” I feel by having these conversations with the students they feel a sense of ownership and willingness to participate with the class. I also feel my administrators will support me when I do take a risk because I communicate with them constantly. Couros talks about characteristics of the innovative leader in his book and I can see some of my strengths and weaknesses. I believe I am empathetic and genuinely care about what the students are dealing with on a daily basis. However I don’t feel I have a strong visionary characteristics. My confidence in myself is not to the level that I would feel comfortable saying, “Hey guys, I have this great idea for our school and I have broken it down into all of the components needed to see it through to success.” I don’t trust that I am capable of being competent in that perspective. Well, well, well, maybe I just stumbled upon why my kids aren’t as trusting. Maybe my not trusting myself is rubbing off on them. This blog certainly has brought up a lot of questions and conversations I will need to have in the next few weeks and months. As I work on these master level classes, I am trying new ideas almost daily. The drive to be a better teacher is strong. I keep going back to the word trust and I think for myself that is the key for my success. Couros, George. The Innovator's Mindset: Empower Learning, Unleash Talent, and Lead a Culture of Creativity. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print. Tweet to me means the sound Tweety Bird makes on the Looney Tunes cartoons. For several years I have heard that there is a great resource for educators to connect on the internet called Twitter. After attending a seminar with the guest lecturer, Meenoo Rami, she explained what an amazing opportunity Twitter offered educators to connect with each other and exchange ideas. Without any really direction or knowledge, I tried it. It did not go well. Why were educators writing grammatically incorrect sentences? I couldn’t understand what was being said. So when my assignment was to participate in an EdChat I was not excited.
However, my experience with Twitter was better because I had practiced with my instructor, Mr. Anton, in our class. I logged onto the 21stedchat and wow did the tweets start flying. I did not keep up with the group. Many of the members obviously attend regularly and knew each other. The abbreviations confused me and I did not understand everything. I wish I would have asked more questions but I was so slow. The ideas were interesting but many were geared towards elementary schools. Integrating electives into the core classes was the main topic of the evening. Many of them actually play music in class, I don’t. It has always difficult for me to pick music they would like and that would be appropriate for school. My way is to allow them to listen to their own music when they are working quietly. After hearing the educators say how it pumps up the whole class I think I will try it. As my classroom is moving towards an atmosphere of collaboration I was interested when someone posted the article Eight Ways to Assess Your Collaborative Learning Tasks. (Taylor) This article is a good conversation starter for me. Taylor’s article did not have all the answers for me but it did allow me to create several questions. There is great power in words. There is even greater power in words when thoughtful conversations are occurring. I see the value in become a member of the Twitter world but I am out of my comfort zone. I will continue to participate because I know I need to learn and be a part of thoughtful conversations that can improve my teaching skills. It would be nice if Tweety Bird were at least the Twitter mascot or something. Taylor, Natalie. "Eight Ways to Assess Your Collaborative Learning Tasks."LinkedIn. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2016. Sitting in a high school classroom late on a Wednesday evening isn’t everyone’s idea of a good time. When you add in a room full of intelligent educators then you have a good time. Last Wednesday I was able to discuss and bounce ideas off of teachers who I find much more innovative than myself. The topic for the evening was Universal Design for Learning, learner-driven instruction and student voice and choice in the classroom. Many ideas and thoughts were given by a wide range of educators from kindergarten to high school.
The general consensus of our group was that Universal Design for Learning is similar to differentiated instruction. This is not a new idea and most of us work to incorporate differentiated instruction into our classrooms. We know not all of our students will be able to understand the material in the same manner. I think where the two differ is the Universal Design framework includes “Multiple Means of Action and Expression and Multiple Means of Engagement.” (CAST) I can’t lie, it scares me to give them the freedom to navigate through a concept. I am used to being the one in control and now I need to really think about how I can hand them the reins. I tried this with one of my classes on Thursday. I gave them a big picture question and then allowed them the freedom to choose the medium and the content. Many of them wanted more structure. About 1/3 of our student body does really well adhering to the teacher driven instruction. For the most part, this is all they have known for the last 10 or 11 years. Following the lesson, I spoke to Mr. Brian Anton, my instructor and fellow teacher at Forsyth High School. The conclusion we came to was I didn’t give enough scaffolding. I believe there is a fine line for how much freedom to give them. I need to do more research and to have more conversations with educators who are embracing these concepts and doing it well. Teaching for me is goal driven. I need to give my students the opportunities to become thinking, productive adults. I see how important it is for me to give them opportunities to follow what they are passionate about and to really learn to research and find answers for themselves. My concerns is that I still stay standards minded and I give my students the tools necessary to succeed on the standardized tests. Whether I like it or not, many scholarships and college acceptance is dependent on the numbers at the bottom of the ACT or SAT. After looking at FHS’s EOC scores in Social Studies, I was encouraged to believe we can do both. Mr. Anton embraced a Project Based Learning style last year at our school. FHS had a 9.1% growth while the state had a -.02% decrease. I teach English not Math so I may not be looking at the results accurately but I can only see our increase as a testament to the potential these concepts offer. So next Wednesday you will find me sitting in a high school classroom with some really interesting educators. I will be excited to be there because I have the opportunity to listen to them. I want to continue to learn and grow. I want to be a better teacher for my kids but I have to make sure I am giving them the necessary tools they need to succeed as thinking, productive adults. CAST(2008). Universal design for learning guidelines version 1.0 Wakefield, MA: Author. One of my greatest passions in life has been Taekwondo. I dedicated over 20 years of my life to practicing this beautiful martial art. I learned many valuable life lessons but the one that has helped me in all aspects of my life has been to allow myself to be coached. My willingness to listen to others and really take their advice made me a better black belt. I did not allow my mindset to become fixed. My goal as an English teacher is to have this growth mindset as well. I believe I can become a better teacher and I believe every student can learn. Each August I walk into my classroom believing I will do a better job of leading my students to be productive, thinking adults. However, if I do exactly what I did last year with no changes then I have failed my students.
From the Education Week article dated October 11, 2010, Elizabeth Rich defines 21st Century learning as, “. . . generally used to refer to certain core competencies such as collaboration, digital literacy, critical thinking, and problem-solving that advocates believe schools need to teach to help students thrive in today's world.” For a long time I only associated the use of technology with 21st Century learning but it encompasses so much more. The use of collaborations, critical thinking and problem solving are crucial to the definition. George Couros discusses our responsibilities in his book The Innovator’s Mindset. “We forget that our responsibility isn’t solely to teach memorization or the mechanics of a task but to spark a curiosity that empowers students to learn on their own. To wonder. To explore. To become leaders. We forget that if students leave school less curious than when they started, we have failed them.” (pg. 4) This year I am consciously using more collaboration time and I changed the layout of my room to support this collaboration concept. The desk are grouped into sets of three and I labeled each table red, white or blue. This allows me to have them work in smaller groups and then larger groups depending upon the lesson. Today I had my students choose a leader to discuss their reading assignment from their group of three tables. I was very excited to see students step. However, my smaller class did not seem to do as well. I will have to look closer and see why one class was successful and another not so much. I am blessed to have an administration that encourages my willingness to try new ideas. My school is encouraging 21st Century learning in several different ways. This summer our library was remodeled to include four collaboration rooms. Our students can go into these rooms to work in small groups or video projects. The glass walls allow for supervision while the students work together. I am very excited and can’t wait to incorporate them into my lessons. The most encouraging aspect of my school is the faculty. It is amazing to be able to work in an environment where I can bounce ideas off of my peers and know I am going to get honest feedback from them. Many of my peers are curious and share their curiosity with the students. Couros states, “Compliance does not foster innovation. In fact, demanding conformity does quite the opposite.” (pg. 5). I don’t believe I foster innovation in my classroom, yet. I want to be there and I want to find my balance but it is a huge step. I need to continue to have conversations with my peers who do have innovative students killing it in their classes. I like going to work at my high school and not everyone can say that about their job. I have always been a teacher, now I just have to wear shoes and I can’t wear my pajama like outfit. My Taekwondo background gave me the opportunity to see the value in fostering a curiosity about life and learning. I want my students to leave my classroom with this same curiosity. |
AuthorMy name is Lisa and I teach English Language Arts at Forsyth, MO. Archives
May 2017
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