Just a Dream

Note: This started this post intending to write about something else, but these thoughts came out.

Note 2: Today I read this post.

This looked like something out of the Wizard of Oz. 

When I first read that Google Reader was being shut down, I was not too worried. After thinking about it, I started to get worried about the other Google services I rely on. It was not too long ago that my starting page on my browser was iGoogle.com. I am still sore about that being discontinued.

As a side note, I was thinking about it, and here is the Google services I use and their replacements.

Sites -- Wikispaces

Blogger -- Wordpress

Docs -- MS Word :(

Drive -- Dropbox

Gmail -- Yahoo Mail

YouTube -- Vimio?

Products I Would Like

Video Search
Tonight I was watching a long video. I was not interested in watching the whole 45-minute clip, and I found myself clicking ahead on the time bar at the bottom of the video player. Then I thought, it would really like a way to search for a keyword in the video, and then when I search for it, the video is brought to about 5 seconds before that point.

There will be many videos that have the same words repeated over and over, but maybe for those there could be a list that pops down below the search bar where the instances and the time are shown.


A Better Collaborative Site
I am currently doing a project that incorporates (1) TimeBridge for scheduling meetings, (2) a Ning, (3) a wiki, (4) a Google Group, (5) Google Docs, (6) a Website, and (7) Email. Seven different tools to collaborate. There must be a better way of doing this.

I would like to see Google bring together several of their products to make a better site for collaborative products. I think they have several good ones, but it would be great to be able to:

• put documents into a site where they are displayed [without clicking a link]
• have a drop down of any relevant notifications like the Google Plus button in the upper right hand corner
• be able to have attachments
• have different layouts
• have customizable widgets like iGoogle did
• be able to use Google Hangouts

 I think these ideas sound good, but I am sure that there are people working on better products. I just have to wait.

One and a Half

Today we ventured into fractionland.

I usually do random pairings, but today I paired my students up into teams and gave them some Play Dough. Then I gave them 5 minutes to mess around with it.

I then them to make five balls with their allotment. The balls were their dango, a kind of Japanese snack. And I told them to share the five dango evenly between them. I got this problem from a book recommended to me, Teaching Student Centered Mathematics: Grades K-3.

The first question from my students was whether they could tear them apart to which I said they could do whatever they wanted. One bright girl asked for the plastic knife I was holding onto for a later demonstration. Thinking that her observation was worth a reward, I gave her the knife.

I wish I had found enough knives for each group before hand, I had tried but there weren't any in the kitchen, because after each group had ripped their dango into two, their instinct was to roll the small part they had just torn off into a ball as well. Using paper would have eliminated that problem, but the students enjoyed playing with the Play Dough, and that was worth it this time. Next time though, I will prepare some paper so they have to cut it.

After the first problem, I continued by giving them a few more problems where they had to share different numbers of dango between different numbers of people.

While working out the problems, the vocabulary I want them to learn naturally became a part of the conversations so I was able to write them on the board. I have an idea in my head about how I want to do vocabulary this unit, but right now we/I am just collecting the vocabulary that arises from our conversations.

Towards the end of the lesson, I asked one student to come up and tell me how he got an answer. I drew the five circles on the board for him and he proceeded to show me how he divided one of them into fours. I thought this was good thinking, so I started talking to the class about the different names of the pieces that were drawn on the whiteboard. I was hoping to dispel a misconception they had about how when you divide something into two, you get two, rather than two halves.

While we were talking about wholes, halves, and quarters, a new misconception came up. One girl kept saying "one and a half" for "one-half". Fortunately, the other students helped me quickly corrected that mistake before it could spread.

The Homework Myth - Chapter 6

What We Haven't Learned About Learning

This chapter made me uncomfortable to read. I found myself cringing when some of the common, but poor, teaching practices were brought into question since I have used them.

The first part of the chapter deals with time; or rather, a lack of it. And yes, I always feel like I do not have enough time in class to do what I want to do. I try not to be a taskmaster having the students work on things under a gun. When we write, I give them two days (two periods) to go from the brainstorming stage to the final product. I really enjoy watching my students talk to each other about their writing or walk up to the whiteboard together to figure out how to spell something. When helping another student spell, I heard, "Sound it out. What sounds do you hear?" (This is all a part of an unfinished post.)
* I also don't like to force them to write at least ~ sentences/pages. When I blog, do I always write at least ~ sentences/pages? I do however, want them to do their best. Maybe sometimes a few sentences is their best. I just came across this.

I find myself smiling while watching my students interact in helpful ways like this, then I get scared that I am not preparing them for what is to come; standardized tests. For the ISA test, the students only get about 45 minutes to plan and write. I find myself putting more and more pressure on the students to get finished. Maybe I should have a discussion with them about why I want them to get finished.

All in all, it is not a matter of more time, but a better use of what I have.

Kohn also talks about time as being spent on practice. He sets up the mantra "More time = more learning which leads to mastery" to be shot down. Learning a subject is not like baseball or karate where the more rote practice you have, the better you can become [given that you have the talent].

Quote of the Chapter

Giving practice problems to students who lack understanding can have any of several effects:

• It may make them feel stupid.
• It may get them accustomed to doing things the wrong way.
• It may teach them to fake it.
• It teachers them that the activity being practiced is something people aren't supposed to understand.

The Homework Myth - Chapter 5

The Homework Myth - Chapter 5
The Questions Left Unasked

I started this chapter thinking that section two would be something I would want to skip over, since I have the feeling that this is the part of the book where Kohn will present arguments for homework and show why they do not make sense. He has been doing that through the first four chapters already.

However, I like this quote on page 87, it was inspired by Robert Frost:

Too many of us, including some who work in the field of education seem to have lost our capacity to be outraged by the outrageous; when handed foolish and destructive mandates, we respond by asking for guidance on how to best carry them out.

Kohn goes on to talk about the "hidden curriculum";  students are taught to sit still and listen to what the teacher says, and in doing so gain rewards (88). I am writing these notes as I read, so he may or may not talk about his later on, but I teach my students to sit still and listen not because what I am saying is paramount  but because it is a respectful way to communicate. Have you ever tried to have a[n important] conversation with someone who takes a phone call in the middle of it? Have you ever done that? Is that how we want our kids to be raised? There are some people, some conversations, when I do not mind them walking around, or answering their phone, but it generally tells the listener, "You are not important". [And yes, Kohn is referring to answers on tests.]
* Later Kohn asks, "What would happen if the students didn't raise their hands--and had to figure out how to avoid interrupting each other?" I need to implement this.

Semi Aside
A few years ago, I think in my first year teaching, while in a math lesson or some other lesson (it must not have been so meaningful if I forgot it) I made a mistake in what I was doing. I remember one student said, "Are you a teacher? How can you make a mistake?" It was shocking to realize I had a group of students who did not see me as human. Did they really think I was the all-knowing fountain of information? I now tell my students in the beginning of the year that everyone makes mistakes, it is all right to make mistakes, and we learn from making mistakes. Mistakes are OK.
/Semi Aside

I also like the quote from Norm Chomsky, about how the best way to deceive people into thinking they are a part of the thinking process is to have an open discussion about it (89). I wonder if I have seen that before. If I do see this, will I have the courage to voice what is actually happening?

On page 95, Kohn talks about the weight of backpacks and how there are no questions about why they have become so heavy. I have actually asked some of my students about their bulging satchels, and they look at me as if they are doing something right by carrying around such a heavy bag. I should be more direct with parents about this one. Some kids want to carry a lot of books, but just a few is OK - not all.

What if there was no homework at all?

The Homework Myth - Chapter 4

This chapter is all about how researchers misuse of data whether it be someone else's or their own.

While reading this chapter I began to question everything. When Kohn wrote about how researchers ignore evidence and misrepresent their own made me want to research some of his citations. Unfortunately looking through Google books, the two citations I really wanted to check,
Classroom Instruction That Works Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement and Harris Cooper's The Battle Over Homework: Common ground for administrators, teachers, and parents, are both listed with limited text available.

Not that I am doubting what he is saying, but it would be interesting to see how accurate his research is.

In Chapter 4, Kohn sets up his argument for the rest of the book by pointing to several reasons to give homework (72)

• A disregard for research findings, sometimes even on the part of researchers
• A reluctance to ask challenging questions about common practices and institutions
• Fundamental misconceptions about the nature of learning 
• An emphasis on competitiveness and "tougher standards" in education
• The belief that any practices students will encounter later, however unproductive, should be introduced earlier by way of preparation
• A basic distrust of children and how they choose to spend their time

There was a good quote in this chapter that I didn't write down and now I can't find it. 

All in all, this chapter was a good reminder to not take evidence at face value.

The Homework Myth - Chapter 3

Did I really put this book down for a month? Now that I have some time, I am going to try to read a chapter a day for this week. That will put me right around finishing up next week.

Chapter Three - Does Homework Provide Nonacademic Benefits?

In my own practice, in addition to reinforcing or practicing what has been learned at school, I have thought of the traits of responsibility, time-management, independence, among others as reasons I have justified assigning homework. Who wouldn't want to our kids to develop into adults with these traits?

Kohn presents the arguments for homework as:

• Homework shows the parents what the students are learning at school
• Parents helping their children with homework helps parents demonstrate their interest in their child's' learning
• Homework has character-building potential

Kohn counters with:

• Homework can be confusing for parents as well as the students
• Parents can show an interest in their child's education through a discussion
• There is no evidence that homework has any positive academic or personal trait-building effects 

It all falls down on a lack of unbiased evidence in favor of homework. Realistically, does homework really work? I have assigned [what I know think of as] mindless homework. I still see a need for drills-based homework for those students who need it, but that too, I am assigning less and less. I have instead started to assign projects for my students to do at home [uploading pictures to our blog, making something, etc.] related to our units, or another subject.

This reminds me of a few years back. I was doing weekly spelling tests. I was using Words Their Way and I had four spelling level groups working on different lists. Every day I would meet with these groups and go over the spelling pattern, and I had a different activity for them to do with the spelling words. I felt it was a good system I had going.

The problem with it was that I tried, a few times, giving the students the spelling test a few weeks after they took it the first time. All test scores were down which told me that the students were not really learning, but rather memorizing for the test.

How do you give homework? How do you do spelling in your classroom?

Self Aware

self-aware
self-conscious: aware of yourself as an individual or of your own being and actions and thoughts; "self-conscious awareness";...
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

As a wrap-up to our unit on Light and Color, I invited a middle-school student to teach my class about pointillism, which was the subject of her art project. To prepare for her visit tomorrow, I brought my class to the computer lab to look for some pictures we could color.

[caption id="attachment_71" align="alignright" width="240"] Self Aware Robotics by The Rocketeer[/caption]

As I was going through the search process with my students, I thought of how far they had come in a short time. I thought of how much my perception of what they were capable of doing had changed.

I meant to get my students started learning how to search at the beginning of the year, but for various reasons, I did not.

Since signing up for COETAIL, I have started to push my class forward in their digital literacy skills. We are doing searches as a class, I am having them look for information on their own, we are using technology more in class, and I just joined the Flat Classroom Project.

I am becoming more aware of what my students are capable of, and where I want them to be.

Using Google Drawing

I originally wanted to be a high school history teacher when I thought about teaching. I thought it would suit me. Today I had a chance to observe a high school history lesson as a part of our internal professional development.

The lesson was about why maps change. It started with some questions to check for understanding - the lower-level Bloom's stuff then moved into an activity where the students were comparing and contrasting maps on paper. At the end of class, the map was beamed up onto the whiteboard and the students annotated it using whiteboard markers.

Then it had to be erased for the next map.

I suggested that the teacher try using Google Drawings for a lesson like this next time. The class could have been broken up into groups with each student at his or her own computer. The map could be shared with the students and they could all be working on the same map at the same time.

Another way to do it would be to have two maps shared with members of each team. Each team annotates their own map, then presents it at the end of the lesson or time frame.

It might also be a good idea for the students to be assigned a color, so you know who is writing what.

This got me excited to think of the possibilities of what can be done. Finally, I figured out a way to use Google Drawing.

Link to Document
Map: By http://maps.bpl.org (Geographica restituta per globi trientes) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

I need to do something like this with my class.

Putting It All Together

Color Cycle by Karthikeyan A K

Accessed from OpenClipArt.org

In an attempt to better help my students, I have been thinking a lot about how I use the Internet. I am thinking while I am tweaking a photo.

When I first started using the Internet, I mainly used it for email. I then moved to being an information and news junkie. I also started using the Internet to find guitar tabs, and to make them.

A few years ago I bought a DSLR camera and I needed to learn how to use it. As I didn't have anyone I could talk to face to face, I learned everything I know now about photography online.

I have learned through a variety of blogs, forums, and videos. So most of what I have gathered I have had to read.

I have to raise the bar on what my students can read [both on and off line] and I need to bring them up to a level where they are comfortable gathering information online.

I think I need to do weekly search sessions. Maybe I can have my students do one search session a week on a topic about our unit. I could set it up to have them gather information, and even use Haiku Deck again.

It might be good for me to continue to do the same lesson as I did in class 1 until they get it down.

Using Haiku Deck in Grade 1-2

I was thinking of a way my students could present the information they gathered about the nocturnal animals we researched. At first I considered using Kidpix, but then I remembered that we have Haiku Deck on our iPads. I had never used Haiku Deck, but when I looked at it, I was immediately drawn to the pictures [from Flickr] you can use.

Once they learned where the buttons were, Haiku Deck was easy for the students to use.

Not only did the students make great presentations with it, but we also had some great discussions while making them.

• Presentation slides have titles as well and they should be in larger font
• The fewer the words the better
• You do not want to cover up the picture with text
• The animal they researched does not have to be on each slide
• Citing work is "a way of saying thank you" - Jeff Utecht

There were others which I forgot, but it was fun to do this with my class. 

The best part of all of this was that some of them went home and downloaded Haiku Deck to their own iPads. I can't wait to see what they come up with.

What is Freedom?

"What is Freedom?"

I was asked the above question this morning. My first thought was, "You are in second grade.Your life is freedom!"

Then I asked, "Do you know what free means?"

"You mean doesn't cost anything?"

"No, the other free. Like you have choices."

"Oh! You mean like free time?"

Yeah, it's kind of like free time.

Course 1 Project

This is my course 1 final project as it stands now. I have already started the process, and I can see that finding information is a challenge for my students, so I just made a custom search engine for them.

It is an easy process. Simply go to google.com/cse and insert the webpages you want the students to search. The hard part for me was finding a place to put it. I decided on using our class Google account to take advantage of iGoogle until it is shut down in a few weeks.

One of the goals of this lesson is to have the students learn how to search better. As they are in first and second grades it is more of teaching them search for the first time so I want them to get started on the right foot. This is a different era from where I started with the Internet directories.

Anyway, this is just a draft, so all comments are welcome.

The Sort of Learning

One of the first activities I did with my students in our current unit, Light and Color, was to have them sort different objects. My idea was to have them be sorted by opaque, translucent, and transparent objects. As with any good sort, they came up with categories I did not even think of.

Tuning In through Sorting Objects

I love sorting activities just for that reason. I never know what will become of it.

The Changing Landscape

Have (and if so, how have) teaching and learning changed with the introduction of new tools?

Grigorovich M-5 aircraft (front view) by liftarn

Last summer I read the book The Wright Brothers: The Remarkable Story of the Aviation Pioneers who Changed the World. It is a great read and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a glimpse into the turn of the twentieth century.

The book tells the story of how the Wright Brothers started their career by starting a newspaper. At that time in the United States, there were independent printers on every block. Many of these were muckrakers and sensationalist publications.

Soon though, newspapers started to consolidate. Being a consumer became the norm.

I can see parallels between the early days of the newspapers, and the Internet as it stands now. Already we see up and coming sites being taken over by larger, more established sites.

Hotel Icon Has Internet In Room by Gerald_G

There are differences between that era long ago and what we are experiencing now. There is a lot of content being produced. People take pictures, tweak them, and post them. People post to forums and comment on blog posts and newspaper articles. While comments are not listed in the creating level, many ideas are created and shared in comment sections.

When will we start using new technology in new ways?

I am interested to see what direction the Internet will take. I think there will always be outlets for people's creativity. People will always blog, or post ideas in some way. More and more news outlets are allowing their readers to weigh in on conversations (which I think in many cases leads to a decrease in credibility).

Is the Internet heading towards more of a consumer culture, like in the twentieth century where people produce less and consume more? 

What are the major barriers to more people becoming producers? Governments? Corporations? Lawyers? 

Our own lack of imagination?

Maybe it will take more people being more connected to the right nodes in their networks to lead by example. And maybe it will simply take time for the landscape to evolve like the way Jeff Utecht says email evolved.

###

Blog posts that inspired ...

Lindy Buckley - Better Than Blutack

Crawford Heiz - Connectivism and the Production of Consumers

Jeff Utecht - How Can It  Be March?

A Simple Plan

I am one of the teacher advisers for the school's student council. Our student council has students in grades 5-6 up through high school. A few years ago we experimented with having students in the grade 3-4 class join, but that lasted one year.

FreeHand ROSES by aungkarns

Every year we sell roses to the entire school community. The ordering process starts with a [paper] letter sent home with a [paper] order form. The students and staff then bring back the order forms and they go into either of the teacher advisers' boxes. Then the orders need to be tallied, sorted, and the money collected needs to be checked.

This year the letter to be sent home was sent out late. We were not going to make the flower shop's ordering deadline so we needed to estimate what people might order by looking at last year's order.

I picked the flowers up from the flower shop the evening before we were to pass them out. We counted them the following day and it turned out that the number of flowers we ordered was short despite having a surplus for the last few years. We were to we needed to get to the flower shop in the middle of the school day to pick up more flowers.

When I got back I was very relieved and felt that it was all over. Then I started to hear about orders not being filled and filled incorrectly. I ended up adjusting orders by taking flowers from teachers to replace the colors that were missing. We were still short on flowers, but many teachers were not concerned with getting their full orders.

There are many things I could have done differently to ensure success: getting the letter out on time, helping the high school students get organized before counting, and making sure the orders were double-checked before being sent out to name a few.

I was still surprised the high school students were not able to do the counting and sorting on their own. So maybe what I could have done differently starts in my classroom. Maybe I should be exposing my students to more situational, multistage problems like this where they have to use skills like tallying, sorting, adding, checking, and estimating. 

The solution starts much earlier - all the way back to first grade.