Understanding by Design Chapter 1

I first read this book in March 2011, which as some people will know, was when Japan was going through a small crisis. I was living in Sendai at the time, but was not on the coast.

I think I could get more out of it with a second reading.

Note: This website has great information. In fact, there is a ton of UbD information online.

Chapter 1 - Backward Design

Why backward design?
If you don't know where you are going, then any road can get you there. Teaching with the end in sight allows for a focused curriculum.

"Curriculum should lay out the most effective ways of achieving specific results." (14)
"Too many teachers focus on the teaching, and not on the learning." (15)


The Twin Sins of Traditional Design
Hands on without being Minds on + Coverage = No guiding intellectual purpose or clear priorities frame the learning experience. (16)

Students should be able to answer about activities: (17)

• What they are doing
• Why they are doing it
• What it will help them do
• How it fits with what they previously did
• How they will show what they have learned

The Three Stages of Backward Design
1) Identify desired results

Consider the goals, identify the standards, review curriculum expectations

2) Determine acceptable evidence

Think like an assessor

3) Plan learning experiences and instruction

• What enabling knowledge (facts, concepts  principles) and skills (processes, procedures, strategies) will students need in order to perform effectively and achieve desired results?
• What activities will equip students with the needed knowledge and skills?
• What will need to be taught and coached, and how should it best be taught, in light of performance goals?
• What materials and resources are best suited for the learning?

A backward design template
Taken from www.wku.edu/.../designing_lesson_plans_using_backward_design.pdf




Design Standards





Here is another great resource that summarizes some UbD information.

The following was taken from the preceeding.


Enduring Understandings
Enduring Understandings are core generalizations about the big ideas. They are unobvious inferences drawn from the facts. An enduring understanding is an inference that requires inquiry and student-centered construction if it isto be understood. Just stating an Enduring Understanding does not mean that a student will understand it. Enduring Understandings include overarching understandings which focus on transferable, recurring ideas as well as topical
understandings that focus on a very specific idea in a content area or course. They relate to the real world and help to answer the question, “Why do we care?”


Guiding Questions
Guiding Questions direct whatstudentsstudy and investigate about a subject’s enduring concepts, important generalizations, critical content items, and processes and skills. Guiding
Questions are open-ended: there is no “single” answer. Guiding Questions are arguable and require a well-reasoned response. Such questions are generative in nature: they spark
inquiry and raise other questions. They are recurring questions that can and should be revisited. Guiding Questions lead students to the big ideas, or enduring understandings and core
processes. Just asthere are overarching and topical understandings, there are overarching and topical guiding questions. Teachers use guiding questions to organize programs, courses, and units of study.

What is Fluency?

What is language fluency?

Google Define gives two definitions:

The quality or condition of being fluent, in particular. The ability to speak or write a foreign language easily and accurately.

The first definition is not very relevant (nor very good), but the second is better.

How can you measure this? Is it measurable?

I have seen (and taught myself) people who I felt are very fluent, but once I went to teach them, because the vocabulary and grammar was new, reverted to what they knew and struggled. I think it is important to continue to try to expand on your knowledge as a language speaker, foreign or even mother-tongue, no matter your level. I think there is always something to be learned or improved upon.

The purpose of language is communication, so with that in mind, what is the best way to achieve the second definition (The ability to speak or write a foreign language easily and accurately) as a teacher?

From my own experience, fluency is extremely subjective. Someone who might appear to be "fluent", can easily flounder when put into an unfamiliar situation.

I am still trying to figure out the best way to teach young students vocabulary as I feel that is the best way to become fluent.

Can fluency be measured? No way. But we can measure learning.

The Homework Myth Chapter 9 - Idle Hands ...

I don't hear parents telling me they like homework because it keeps kids out of trouble. I have, and do hear, that parents like homework because it keeps kids busy.

I really wonder what these kids do at home. I did not have video games until later in elementary school; Legos are how I spent most of my time. I wonder what would happen if my students played with Legos more. Saying that makes me remember that in the beginning of the school year I wanted to give my students more time in school to do that.

The Homework Myth - Part III Restoring Sanity

Chapter 9 - Rethinking Homework
Kohn's three kinds of assignments to give at home

1. Activities naturally suited to the home - interviewing parents, replicating an experiment done at school, etc.
2. Family activities that we don't normally think of as homework - cooking together, playing games together, helping out the family -- just have the students keep a journal of their activities.
3. Reading - let the students choose the book and share what they read with the class. Assigning pages, logs, or a set amount of time to read, isn't helpful. 

Kohn also talks about student choice in this chapter. I am not very good at giving students a choice. For the last project we did, The Nocturnal Animals Project, really the only choice my students had was which animal they would research. I prefer to have a framework from which the students work from, usually all in the same medium (videos, picture posters, poems, etc.) but the students choose their own content.

Maybe I could outline the required parts instead saying the desired outcome. My next unit is about ecosystems, so maybe I could assign different groups/individuals a part or an animal to study and they could decide how to explain what they learned themselves.



Chapter 10 - Making Change
Suggestions for change

• Design what you assign
• One size doesn't fit all
• Bring in the parents
• Stop grading [homework]
• Address [cultural and or socioeconomic] inequities

The Time is Now

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="188"] Photo Credit: MrSchuRe [/caption]

Everyday at school I have to remind both my own students, and those in other grades, what to do when they get into a disagreement with another student. I remind them of some steps I picked up from another teacher to help students remember what to do in those situations.

1. Say stop
2. Walk away
3. Tell a friend
4. Tell a teacher

I think that it is very similar to what kids should do if they think they are being bullied online.

1. Say stop
2. If it continues, tell an adult

Let's talk about it
Cyberbullying, as defined by Wikipedia is as follows:

• actions that use information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group, that is intended to harm another or others.
• use of communication technologies for the intention of harming another person
• use of internet service and mobile technologies such as web pages and discussion groups as well as instant messaging or SMS text messaging with the intention of harming another person.

Examples of what constitutes cyberbullying include communications that seek to intimidate, control, manipulate, put down, falsely discredit, or humiliate the recipient. The actions are deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior intended to harm another. Cyberbullying has been defined by The National Crime Prevention Council: “When the Internet, cell phones or other devices are used to send or post text or images intended to hurt or embarrass another person."^[1][2]

A cyberbully may be a person whom the target knows or an online stranger. A cyberbully may be anonymous and may solicit involvement of other people online who do not even know the target. This is known as a 'digital pile-on.'^[3]

I think that cyberbullying should be taught in schools, as "offline" bullying is, in conjunction with it being talked about at home. I am a little disconnected from the issue teaching in early primary. I mostly deal with the offline kind.

The problems we have at the school I am working at seem rather trivial compared to some of the problems I have heard about at other places. I can see some of these problems beginning to sneak into our bubble of a school. While I do not think that we have had any cases of cyberbullying in our school, I think it is only a matter of time.

I think that now is the time to talk to kids about it so they are prepared and are able to handle it when/if it happens to them.

Students might also not know that what they are doing is not OK. They might think that what they are doing is only a joke and not realize that it is harmful.

When discussing Internet etiquette in class, I poured a glass of water on the ground and I had them try to figure out how to put it back in. This brought up some great questions and led us to conclude that Internet etiquette is (or should be) the same as offline etiquette. You should even be more careful online since your actions can be tracked and recorded.

I think that schools should be safe places for kids. They should not have to worry about being harassed by other kids.

I think schools should take action when students attack other students online. There is a fine line here, and it is where judgement calls need to be made.

What does an attack look like?
How do you know it is not a joke?
When does a joke go too far?
Would it be OK for a student or teacher to share disagreements about the school online?

I am going to evade these questions for now and say that judgement calls should be made on a case by case basis. It is interesting that a few months ago I thought there was no way that a school should have that kind of power.

Isn't it OK to wield that kind of power to protect the good of all?

When should we talk with students about cyberbullying then? I have been trying to do a class search lesson a week where we take a question the students have about what we are studying and see what answers we can find. I would like to extend this to talk more about staying safe online.

How Does Your Class Write?

When I write best, I write in the quiet with no distractions. 

When I was teaching the grade 3-4 class last year, I imposed this onto the class during when they would write in their journals as well as most other writing periods. For the most part it worked OK. I found myself being a taskmaster sometimes when the students would talk. I guess it was more than sometimes.

It's a fine line between collaboration and chatting. 

This year I have been more relaxed during writing times, encouraging my students to discuss their writing with each other. 

Help each other spell words they don't know. Their preferred method is going up to the whiteboard or chalkboard to write it there. Come to think of it, I think they are copying me.

There are also times when students will just get on with their writing.

Why did my thinking change?

Since my students are young and inexperienced EALs, I could not help then with all their questions, so this all happened early in the year when I would tell students to ask a friend for help.

There are times when I want to see what my students can do on their own. But even when the students are helping each other, I can evaluate who is helping and who is being helped. I can hear their questions and answers. We are now working on reading our writings to each other after we finish and giving helpful feedback.

They have come a long way this year.

I Can't Claim Ignorance

I try to use my own pictures as much as I can on my blog and in class. Unfortunately, I cannot say that I have been the best model for my students when I do not use my own work in class.

I have created videos and used music that was not mine without citations. I have used pictures in presentations without giving credit where it was due.

I claim ignorance.

Photo Credit: Yuba College Public Space via Compfight cc

But with the reading from this week, I have a much better understanding of what is expected of good netizins and some of the laws surrounding copyright laws.

Now I even [kind of] know the copyright laws in Japan which has this clause according to Wikipedia:

• Educational use: Teachers at non-profit educational institutions are permitted to reproduce copyrighted works for the purpose of teaching, as long as such reproduction does not infringe on the interests of the author. For example, a teacher may duplicate a television program or audio recording, but may not distribute copies of educational software without express permission. Works can also be reproduced in examinations at educational institutions, but the author must be remunerated if the exam is performed for-profit.

Working at a private school where students pay tuition, should I be paying closer attention to what I am doing? Does this law only apply to Japanese work?

I guess I have further reading to do.

I was surprised to read about U.S. copyright laws relating to education in the U.S. In the article, Teachers Should Know Copyright from Wrong, Star Lawrence writes:

Fair use in the classroom is often dependent on the subject matter of the content. Ensign says a teacher may not be allowed to show the film The Lion King to the class simply because it was raining and the kids were squirrelly. It could be shown only if the class were doing a study of Disney films or were engaged in the study of a related subject.

I cannot even play a movie for my class for fun? Really?

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a global law covering copyright? While it would be easier for users, I cannot imagine it ever coming about.

BUT

Who would write it?

The U.N.?

How could we possibly get all countries on board with it?

While it would be nice, I don't think it could happen.

My students know that stealing is wrong. Most people do. I think that it is up to us to explain how taking words and work is stealing even when it is so easy to do online.

Being online gives one the feeling of being anonymous but you are not. And even if you were, stealing is stealing.

[Opensource is] More Than Just Images

Happy Face by Me

While looking for more waysI am violating copyright laws to legally use copyrighted materials, I came across this post on Edublogs explaining copyright law for educators.

Ironically, while I was looking through Compfight for an image to use for this post, I saw an ad for a stock photo site that featured a photo that looked very similar to one I have taken. It could be a coincidence, but I emailed the support team to find out. After doing some searching of where I may have posted that image, I don't think it's mine after all.

I wasn't so concerned that the photo was being used, but rather that it was being used for profit.

Let that be a lesson for me.



Searching for More than Images
As I was reading some COETAIL posts for this week, I continually read about how people are really happy to have been introduced to CompFight.

While it is a handy tool, I kept thinking to myself, "It's great. But what happens when I want a video?"

Creative Commons on YouTube

Then I wondered, "Sometimes I really need some good clipart. If only ..."

Openclipart.org

"That's excellent. Now I am making a movie for my class and I want to add some music to spice it up ..."

How to use YouTube Audio Swap

How about music? (most via Making it Educational)

http://www.freeplaymusic.com

http://www.jamendo.com

http://www.freesound.org/browse

http://soundcloud.com/creativecommons

http://vimeo.com/musicstore

http://www.purple-planet.com



One More Question
There is one more thing I am still unclear about. What can I use for my class? I make my own materials sometimes. A few months ago we were studying fairy tales and I downloaded some images of some characters for the students to cut out and color. Was that OK? Should I have put a link on each image so the first graders could find it for themselves?

Fair Use of Images in the Classroom: How Far is Fair? by Christine L. Sundt has led me to believe that as long as what I use stays inside the school [not reposted on the web], it should be OK. After all, I am not selling anything.

The Homework Myth Chapter 8 - BGUTI

The only kinds of study skills that students would have to do homework to acquire ... are those useful for doing more homework.

This chapter starts off with this great quote. I also like the chapter title - Better Get Used to It. At this point in the book though, I have to say that I am torn as to how I feel about the subject.

While I was reading I thought back to my own days as a student. I did homework as it was assigned up until 9th grade when a friend of mine asked me why I was doing it. So I stopped. I kind of wish I hadn't. Who knows what would have been different, but I would like to think that I would have been better off somehow.

I also thought of how Kohn talks of "family time" as a reason for why homework is bad. But what about those families who do not have "family time"? I don't have kids of my own, so I don't know what it is like for families at night. I do feel for parents who have difficulty making forcing their kids to do homework. I am sorry if I have been (and I have) the catalyst for that fight.

But I am sitting here now at around 8:00 at night wondering what my students have been doing since they got home. Are they reading, watching T.V., playing online, playing with their toys? I asked my class today what time they go to bed, and one girl said 8:00. One boy said 6:30. He said that his dad wakes him up at 5:30 every morning though. For sure I have one boy who goes home and plays video games all night, all though his mom said that he has been more motivated to read and study more English. His mom also seems more interested in helping him. I wonder though if it is OK to assign homework to keep kids busy. Won't they find something else that is easier [and more fun] to do?

Are passion projects the answer? It is not something that i have tried, but I would like to.

This chapter also discusses a few other reasons given by teachers for giving homework: establishing good study habits to prepare them for the future, and giving them the skills to cope with bad situations. Ugh. I have used these justifications myself. I was a part, well an observer, of a conversation some of my in-laws were having last night. One father,a doctor, was [drunkenly] telling his 6th-grade son to get motivated and start preparing for the standardized tests. I wanted to cut in and ask him how he expected to motivate his son this way. I also wanted to ask him how he really felt about the tests. I'll bet that he would say they are terrible, but it's the way it is.

He is right: it is what it is. How can it be changed, especially in a country as resistant to change as Japan is?

Who's Responsible For This?

A long while back an email came into my inbox from Education Week with a subject that read, "Webinar: Surging IT Service Requests and Helpdesk Support". I just now finally got around to watching it.

I cannot say it was that interesting. It was about how an IT support company deals with a huge school district in Kansas City and manages the support requests. While I was listening to it, I was thinking of the comments I have seen from some IT Coordinators when they become an IT Coordinator. Basically, the first thing many say (and I think I would say too) was that they were not a support desk.

My school is centrally organized; meaning that the IT Coordinator works with the leadership team to formulate policy. He has to work hard since it is his job to make sure everything is running smoothly. The problem with organizing the infrastructure this way is that when something goes wrong, everything is dependent on one person and it can take time to fix. It is also difficult for one person to keep all the software updated.

Photo Credit: Raymond Brettschneider via Compfight cc

One idea I got from the webinar was how that school district made some students and teachers "Tech Advisors"; people that can be turned to for help before calling for support. I really liked this idea. I think it could not only help students gain knowledge and computer skills, but I think it would also give them a sense of ownership. Instead of teachers reminding students to not eat in computer labs, I can see students policing themselves.

I wonder what it would take to get this started.

What does tech support look like at your school? Do you have students helping out?

Who Benefits?

One of the most frustrating things I find online is a lack of information about authors. When I read someone's blog, especially a professional blog, I want to know who they are. It helps me make a connection to them. I want to see what grade they are teaching, what they are teaching, and where they are teaching.

by onlyalice via compfight.com

I understand why people do not want to share information about themselves. Websites are pushing for more and more "openness", and the media is [fortunately] reporting on the increasing privacy breaches that websites have. We are in a time unlike any other where we can find information very easily, and unfortunately like other times in human history, people exploit it for their personal gain.

I think it is up to us as users to decide what we put online.

What about the times when information is posted by other people?

Have you ever Googled yourself? I know everyone has. When I Googled myself I found a few sites that have information about me posted for anyone to see. What was unsettling was that in order to remove or edit my own [mis]information from these sites, I would need to register.

Why would I register to a site and give them my email address, first and last names, and birthday? But, that is their [slimy] business model. The only thing I can think of doing is paying another business to scour the web and take down my information for me. I suppose I could try to email them and ask nicely I suppose, but for me, that is like clicking on the "unsubscribe" link on a spam email.

I have stopped sharing my birthday on all sites. The birthday is a vital piece of information, and I hate that sites use it as a way to identify you as you. But as I write this I am wondering if I am changing my birthday in a way so that I will not be recognizable at all. Maybe I should rethink my strategy. If you have not read about the reporter whose digital identity was stolen, you should.

Pictures

I remember a few years ago when my coworker came up to me and said they saw me at the staff party. "But you did not go, how did you see me?" I replied.

It turns out that another coworker was taking pictures, posting them on Facebook, and then tagging the people in the pictures. For me, that was breaking my trust in them. I talked to the person, and that person said it would not happen again, but I know it has.

This got me thinking about my teaching blog. I use my blog to reflect and share my teaching practices, but what I did not realize was that I was also sharing student photos. I did not have a name associated with them, but I had recognizable pictures for all to see out in the open. I am trying not to do that anymore.

Where do we go from here?

I am  trying to model for my students how to cite information, and I am talking more to them about how to act online. As I dive into this more, I think I will show them Mark Zuckerberg's social profiles and ask the following question:

Isn't it interesting that the people running the companies who want us to become more open on the Internet, aren't exactly open themselves? And if it is so good to open up, why don't they do it too? Who benefits from the openness?

http://www.facebook.com/zuck, https://plus.google.com/104560124403688998123/posts

Displaying a Different First Page in Google Spreadsheets

While I was inputting my comment links into my COETAIL Google Spreadsheet this morning, I found that it does not have the same functionality (duh) as Excel. What I thought would happen last time I saved it, was that it would open on the last page I was looking at; in this case Course 2.

When I opened it up this morning, it opened to Course 1.

Since I like things easy, I tried looking online to figure out how to make the spreadsheet always open to where I want it to. But after some searching, and not knowing the correct terminology probably, I could not find what I was looking for. With some tinkering though, I found out how to do it.

Step 1 - Open your spreadsheet.

Step 2 - Go to the bottom of the page where the tabs for the different spreadsheet pages are.



 Step 3 - Simply click and drag the tab of the page you want to display first to the far left.

It is that easy and I did a headsmack when I figured it out.

Filtering With Google Search

I often use the "search tools" button when I am using Google's search engine. I like being able to filter by time to eliminate outdated information.

This morning I did a search for a french toast recipe. When I clicked search tools, trying to find a way to get recipes in Japanese, I found that recipes can be filtered in multiple ways by Google: ingredients, cook time, calories, and cooking time.

Awesome!

Google has been pushing out some great functionality with its search engine making it much easier to get more accurate quickly. Now I want some way to know on what searches the extra functionality is available.

The Homework Myth - Chapter 7

I just came across an article on Time.com about homework, and about this book. It's funny to see AOL cited as a source.

The "Tougher Standards" Fad Hits Home

Google.com defines rigor as

rig·or  

/ˈrigər/

Noun The quality of being extremely thorough, exhaustive, or accurate. Severity or strictness: "the full rigor of the law".

The Role of Homework

Affluent students are more likely to have parents who are able to help them with their homework. 
At my school, where most parents are non-native English speakers, I see a form of this. For us as a private school, most families are affluent. So parents who can help their students fall into two categories: those with time, and those who do not.

Parents with time fall into two subcategories: those who can speak/read English, and those who cannot. So what happens when kids whose parents cannot help them?

Over Christmas break I sent home a packet of English review worksheets hoping to help the students review  at home. I was afraid they would forget English over the holidays. All the students were able to complete the packet except for one boy. He brought it back with maybe one page finished. But there were also notes about vocabulary and the directions scribbled on it by his mom, so I could see that she was attempting to figure it out.

So I have instead tried to have them do projects at home that are connected to what we are learning at school (however, I want to try letting them create their own projects they are passionate about.)

Not Enough School Time
Kohn also addresses another reason teachers are giving more and more homework; a lack of time to cover (I do not like that word in terms of education - it does not imply anything useful) everything that teachers are expected to cover.

I definitely feel this one. I have often thought of how I would like an extra hour of class time a day.

The Chain of Assumptions

Kohn's chain of assumption (132):

1. Our primary concern ought not to be with the intellectual proficiency of individual children, but with aggregate measures of achievement. And that achievement can be measured with standardized tests.
2. International comparisons of the results of those tests reveal that the achievement of the U.S. students is shockingly low.
3. Assigning more homework will make children learn better and therefore raise those scores.
4. Our education system and our economic system are -- and should be -- linked. Prescriptively, the primary purpose of education is to train future employees to pump up the economy.
5. What counts most with respect to economic as well as educational matters is competitiveness; our chief goal should be to do better than other countries.

Winning Versus Learning

Instead of competing, why not try collaborating?

Quote of the chapter (133)

Trying to summarize all our students with a single number is rather like looking at an average pollution statistic for the United States to determine the cleanliness of 'American air'".

How to Embed Photos From Flickr Using the HTML Code

Ron Starker brought up a good point. Flickr's guidelines state:

... pages on other web sites that display content hosted on flickr.com must provide a link from each photo or video back to its page on Flickr.

So, how do you do this?

Step 1 - Locate the Photo You Want

joshua tree by me

Step 2 - Find the HTML Code and Select the Size Photo You Want

Highlight the HTML code and click CTL+C to select it.

Step 3 - Embed the HTML into The Blog Post

Go to your blog and click on the HTML button in the upper-right side of the post box. In here you can insert the code by clicking CTL+P.

Step 4 - Add the Photo Citation

Take a look at Jeff's post about citation. Click on the photo and you will see an icon of a camera show up. Click on that and you can then edit the photo details.

Hopefully this helps clear up any confusion rather than create more.

When and where should we be teaching students about their digital footprint?

footprints by sixmats via flickr.com

I don't remember when I started thinking about my own digital footprint. I do know that when I first started using the Internet I tried to be invisible. Why would I want anyone else to know who I am?, I thought.

It wasn't until a few years ago that I started my own online presence. I was taking a course that required me to reflect on my teaching and was required to start a journal. I seriously considered using a leather journal that I have and used in my first year of teaching. But, I decided that a blog would be better.

That blog helped me become more comfortable with having an online presence.

By the time I had changed my beliefs, I was an adult.

The question that stayed in my mind all week was: How can I explain to first and second graders an abstract concept as a digital footprint?

I decided to try to think of an analogy or a narrative to which they can more easily relate. Here's what I came up with.

Using the internet is like changing with the curtains open. If someone tries hard enough, they can see what you are doing.

I have not tried this yet, but please let me know if you have any suggestions for analogies or narratives I could use.

What's Your Recycling Wish?

When we started this unit, I was thinking big. I really wanted the students to know where our garbage comes from and I wanted them to see that humans waste too much.

I was thinking of actually dissecting a garbage bag. My plan was to dump out a bag of garbage from my own home and sort out the contents. I imagined my kids categorizing everything as they rummaged through the waste. I imagined us going out to the blacktop outside where we have recess and making a huge circle in chalk. My students would tally and sort the garbage, then at the end, we would make a glorious pie chart.

It never came to be.

I consulted with our Kindergarten teacher (the best Kindergarten teacher you will never know) and we came up with a different plan.

I made these sheets that I put above our waste and recycle bins. The garbage bin has a picture of a landfill on it. Each week, every time someone throws something away, the students make a tally mark.

Above the recycling bins, I have different pictures of possible products that can be made. The students make a tally next to the picture of the product they would like to see made.


Putting it Into Practice

Last week the teachers did some spring cleaning around the school and we are in the process of throwing away a lot of junk that has collected.

I was able to take them to the garbage piles and I planned on discussing the importance of reducing what we use. Instead, we had conversations about how we could reuse the garbage.

Then in our elementary assembly we were discussing the environment. I was very proud of the answers the students gave at our last elementary assembly. A few of them showed that they have a firm grasp on the big concepts of our unit.

Chrome App - Stay Focused

There are some websites that I get sucked into. By the time I realize that I have been wasting time, an hour or two has gone by.

I just came across a Chrome extension called Stay Focused.  It allows you to set a time limit per day in which to browse certain sites.

This looks like a good extension for parents who want to limit their child's' time on the Internet or at least certain sites. It could also be used to get kids to go to bed.

I suppose I could use it too.