The other day I was feeling extremely baffled with Wordpress. I couldn't figure out how to get it to do things I wanted to do. Editing and moving images around is one big one, getting widgets to work is another. These things I can do in no time using Blogger.

Angry Guy With Axe by jonny_automatic

I have been using Blogger for my personal blog for almost a decade now and it has become almost automatic for me. I know the ins and the outs which allow me to add widgets, links, edit HTML, tweak, mess around, do whatever, however I want.

Earlier this week I got really frustrated with Wordpress. Knowing how to do it with another program, but not being able to replicate it was frustrating. I eventually was able to find a solution with the help of Google and a work-around by switching templates, but the process got me thinking about my own students.

What would they do in that situation?


Would they know to do a search for an answer?
Would they know how?
Could they problem solve to find a work around?
Would they take an ax to the computer?

The Homework Myth - Chapter 2

Chapter 2 Outline

Limitations of the Research
1. At best most homework studies show only an association, not a causal relationship
2. Do we really know how much homework kids do?
3. Homework studies confuse grades and test scores for learning

Cautionary Findings

4. Homework matters less the longer you look
5. Even where they do exist, positive effects are often quite small
6. There is no evidence of any academic benefit of homework in elementary school


Additional Research
7. The results of national and international exams raise further doubts about homework's role
8. Incidental research raises further doubts about homework

21st Century Connections

When I first started teaching I used a notebook to write down my daily thoughts. It allowed me to reflect on where I was and where I was going. I unfortunately did not keep up with that notebook.

I took a course on teaching and learning in the spring of 2011. One of the focuses of that course was how both students and teachers can reflect on their learning. So as a requirement, I started posting to my blog.Then at the end of the year, I started using Twitter, a few months later I started following #pypchat, found other teachers online, and my PLN was born.

When I started, I thought of social media as traditional media where the content was delivered from the top down with most people not having an input. Then I started linking my different sites so when I would post something, it would show up in multiple places. I am still not the member of my PLN that I want to be, but that may come in time.

It also might not.

It depends on what I put into it.

So far, I owe much to my PLN. It is an idea factory that has helped my teaching. Seeing what the power of community could do for me, I wanted to tap the power of the collective in my classroom. My hope is that my students will take something away from what we are learning at school, and apply it, or learn more about it at home. I am hoping to ignite a passion for learning. We are using Blogger which has an "email to post" feature that I am hoping will make it easier for the students to blog from home. I am starting out by just having them blog journal entries, and I am encouraging them to upload pictures related to our current unit from home.

The next stage is to have them start commenting on each other's work. I am hoping I can build them up to learning from each other through what they post.

But what should I do about the ones who are not participating?

So far, there have only been three students who have uploaded pictures to [messed around with] the blog, but I am hoping that showcasing their work to encourage others to do the same. They love talking about themselves.

So, how are my thoughts changing? I am much more interested in getting my students "out there" than I ever have been.

Image Credit - "telecom" by netalloy, taken from openclipart.com on February 11, 2013.

Teachable Tangents

We were just starting a lesson in writing last week when I was eliciting ideas from my students.

"Tell me something about colors," I said.

After a few responses, someone said, "we can't see without them!"

Another student had remembered a comment I made earlier in the unit about not being able to see without color and jumped on the opportunity by yelling out, "that's not true!"

Hearing this I decided to ask them how they can find out if it is true or not. So I posed the question, "how can we find the answers to this and the other questions we have asked in this unit so far?"

I gave them each a sticky note and let them jot down their ideas.

I really enjoy taking these tangents as we go through our learning journey. It is nice to be able learn in an almost seamless way.

Barriers to Learning

Erecting barriers to participation deprives teens of access to these forms of learning. Participation in the digital age means more than being able to access “serious” online information and culture. Youth could benefit from educators being more open to forms of experimentation and social exploration that are generally not characteristic of educational institutions. (Ito, 2009, p. 2)

"Mathafix-Echelle-Mur" taken from OpenCilpArt.com

I often hear about schools that ban certain websites. I am sure that all of them do it, but it makes me wonder if banning social media sites is the right way to go.

I am sure that there is the fear that students will spend all their time on a site like Facebook. Another one might be all the problems that come along with social media, like online bullying. Maybe there are schools that fear law suits because of bullying.

I wonder though, how students can learn how to behave responsibly online without the access to these sites. They will learn to leverage the sites to gain knowledge, but I would bet that their friends and classmates can show them different, and maybe more efficient, ways of using social media sites.

Can you teach someone about responsibility by taking it away?

I am interested to hear how other schools deal with social media. Do you ban all sites? Some?



Itō, Mizuko, et al. Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2009. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning. Web. 6 Feb. 2013. <www.macfound.org>.

The Homework Myth - Chapter 1

As I get older, my memory isn't what it used to be (or what I think it used to be) so I am finding myself reading things and not taking away all that I should. Inspired by Mr Dwyer, I am trying to use my blog as a reflection not only on my pedagogy, but also on what I read. 

Chapter 1 - Five Common Complaints About Homework

1. A burden on parents
What Kohn says in my words -
Parents come home from work and are often tired and have to help out their kids. Often times parents are unable to help because they do not understand the directions.

What I think -
I don't have kids, but I can understand coming home tired. I do feel for the parents of my own students because we are an English-peaking-school in Japan and many of my parents cannot speak English. The ones that can I sympathize with because reading directions in a foreign language to an assignment in a style of teaching that you were not raised in must be tough.

This year I have been trying to figure out how to flip my classroom. I think it would be beneficial for both the parents and the students to have a video of what it is I want them to accomplish at home. I know a video of something in Japanese showing me what to do is often easier than reading something like this. 

2. Stress for children
What Kohn says in my words -
"If parents feel pressure from school authorities to make sure their children are buckling down and keeping up, then that pressure is passed along to the kids."

For students, school is like going to work. So imagine going to work for seven hours, coming home, and doing overtime. That is what it is like for kids. In addition to that, kids whose parents are pressuring them into doing well, sometimes do not do as well on tests. (p. 10)

What I think -
I vividly remember being in junior high and becoming very frustrated with my math homework. It was an immense amount of stress because of one or two problems. I don't remember what kind of math it was exactly, probably some sort of pre-algebra, but I remember this one time when I could see that the answer I was getting was wrong. (Maybe it was one of those odd-numbered problems where the answers are in the back of the book.)

I see children attending juku, or after school school (that's not a typo), in Japan from kindergarten. The parents' hope is that they will become successful or intelligent through it. Who can disagree with that hope? But one thing I wonder, and it is probably cultural, is where is their childhood? How can kids learn what to do with themselves when they have nothing to do? Do these kids, many of whom have juku or a sport almost every night have friends outside of them?

I don't know the answer, but while I think it is good for kids to be active after school, I am not sure about after school school. A question I think will be raised here is: why is the need for homework so great? Why aren't these being done in school?

I do think that getting into the habit of doing something "educational" when kids get home is a good thing, but I want it to be from them. I want my students to learn something while in school, especially if it is something new interest for them, a new passion, and start doing it outside of school.



3. Family Conflict

What Kohn says in my words -
Parents playing the role of enforcer adds stress to an already stressful relationship. Parents often greet their children with, "Do you have any homework?" He also states, "On those rare occasions when it was the child who raised the topic first, ... he or she invariably did so either to announce the relief that there was no homework ... (p. 14)."


The way Kohn finishes the third critique is powerful. (p. 15)

As a rule the point of homework generally isn't to learn, much less to derive real pleasure from learning. It's something to be finished.

What I think -
The last quote hits home. I have a student whose mother works at school in the office. Almost every day I hear them talking about homework. I would rather hear her daughter tell her mom about the exciting things we did at school. I want the girl to tell her mom what she learned and how it connects to her life.

One thing I do get on my students about is reading at home. I don't think that will change. I want to say that reading is a habit they should become interested in, but I know that shoving something down someone's throat won't necessarily make them interested. However, as these are non-native English speakers, the more reading they do now, the more it will help improve their English.

They should also be reading in their native languages as well!

Can you imagine what a kid who does not like reading is doing while trying to sludge through books in different languages?

I still think it is necessary, but ...


4. Less time for other activities

What Kohn says in my words -
The time doing homework is less time for doing other just-as-important activities.

What I think -

This is what my question meant in #2 - "How can kids learn what to do with themselves when they have nothing to do?" When I was a kid (I can hear my grandfather in that line) I did things outside that children who are spending time indoors are not able to do. How many children who go to juku in Japan have made a fort out of sticks and trees in a forest? How many have a chance to play outside in the sand? How many are spending their time after school being kids?

I don't know what these kids do. I do know that I do have control over what happens in my own classroom though.


5. Less interest in learning

What Kohn says in my words -
Homework is something kids hate, and is a learning extinguisher.

Quote - A passion for learning "isn't something you have to inspire [kids to have]; it's something you have to keep from extinguishing". (p. 17)

What I think -
Who in the homework cycle likes it? I know the kids don't. The parents must not. I don't like it when I am checking things off to make sure they did something - especially when I have a hard time feeling is necessary.

The times the stakeholders in the child's learning have enjoyed the homework was when it was fun, challenging, or something of interest to the kids.

At the end of the chapter, Kohn talks about attitudes different stakeholder have about homework. One that he talks about is how the parents feel it is important for their children to have something to do. I've heard this one, and I felt good because I was giving the students "something to do". But, really, the two parents who told me this have two great kids. One is an avid reader. Isn't me just giving her something to do getting in the way of her reading? I have a hard time believing - from what I see at school - that she wouldn't pick up a book on her own. That's what I want her to do!

The other is in dire need of improving his fine motor skills. I am sure he would much prefer to play with Legos to doing whatever homework I had assigned. I would actually have him work on his fine motor skills as well.

I am not sure if I will be able to become a teacher who walks away from homework because of this book, but this will definitely have me think more deeply about what I am doing.

Let's Begin

I am very excited to begin COETAIL.

I took the leap into the COETAIL program because my coworker was taking it. But even after that, I was wondering if the program would fit me in a Grade 1-2 combined class filled with students learning English. One other coworker reassured me about the program, and then I saw another Grade 1 teacher sign up and I was convinced.

I am interested in learning more about when and how to use technology in the classroom. I am using it now, but I know I can get better. That's what it is all about.

Let's begin.

(Cross-posted to my COETAIL blog.)

A Student, An iPad, A Softbox, and A Mentor

With the Grade 5-6 class down the hall studying Light and Sound, and my Grade 1-2 class studying Light and Color, there was bound to be some collaboration. Mr. Dwyer and I made plans to do a class exchange for a day.

But when I saw the self portraits his students did with the iPads, I wanted my students to do the same thing. It seemed like a good peer mentoring opportunity.

With the student numbers in our classes, there was one unlucky Grade 5 student who was paired with me. Photography is a hobby of mine, so I have been thinking about the kind of self portrait I want to have for a while. So I showed a portrait in the style I was thinking of and took my budding photographer down the hall to a room with few windows. The school soft boxes just happen to be stored down there.

I explained to him that we needed to look around the room for a spot with an uncluttered background. There wasn't really a good place, so I told him if the light is strong enough on the subject, the background will be dark.

His first few shots were throwaways. The first two were too bright, so we moved the light away. The next step was to move him and the iPad closer to me to make more prominent in the frame. One common mistake people make when shooting is to have the subject too small. Fill the frame they say.

Finally he added a monochrome filter and added a border to the shot and we were done. After he sent the picture to me I cropped it down.

Not bad for an iPad 2.