Consider What Students Need -- It May Not Be What They Want!

Every teacher and parent knows one universal truth:

“One role adults play in children’s lives is directing them toward that which they need, even if it isn’t necessarily what they want.”

That is the kind of thing that you can say to almost anybody that is responsible for children and they will nod in agreement.

This week  I had several conversations with educators who shared that something they were trying out in their classroom wasn't exactly what their students wanted to happen. With my lens in technology, you can be sure that these issues revolved around pushback from students in using tech for teaching and learning.  I believe that we should take our students opinions and ideas into consideration when developing our learning environments and plans.  However, my challenge to these teachers, and to all of us is to ask two simple questions:

• Why are the students pushing back on this practice?
• Are they getting something they need, even if they don't want it right now?

I'll use an example of one of my former students.  I did a lot of project-based learning in my English classroom, and we used technology quite often (NO, not every day! And that is okay!).  She was adamant that my teaching style and use of technology did not fit her learning style, that she learned more in other classes, and that she hated having to use technology in her classes.

I spoke with her regularly about what I could do better, what I could change, how I could better meet her needs as a student. I asked her why it was not working, and I even made some of those suggested changes. But I did not back off of my students taking greater ownership of and responsibility for their learning. I also did not back off of my belief that learning to use the tools we had available gave my students a voice beyond the footprint of my classroom walls, and taught my students how to use technology to be creative, collaborative, productive, and efficient.

In her senior year (when she was no longer in my classes) we were talking and she shared with me the underlying issue to why she complained so often (and loudly) about my class. In summary, she was frustrated in my class because I changed the routine of school. She was really good at playing the game at school. She sat attentively. She showed up on time. She took the notes and completed the homework. She answered questions when asked. 

Her frustration with my class was that those things alone were not enough to get her the results she wanted -- an A in my class.  She was good at writing papers and taking tests. When she had to learn how to use iMovie to make a movie trailer in class (it was much harder then than it is today), that stretched her skills.  When she had to moderate her group book discussion and record it for a podcast, that was a new skill that she had never developed before. When she had to write reflections as she read a novel on the class blog, and then comment on other people's reflections by challenging their thinking, that intellectual discourse in a public venue was new and uncomfortable. She said, "Your class was really hard. I actually had to think about doing what I was doing before I did the work."

The lesson I took from that student is that sometimes our students push back on what is happening in class, and we need to listen and consider what they are really saying. And sometimes we need to weigh that against what they are getting from the activity, use of the tool, or instructional method we are using. 

When the instructional benefit to students is essential your students' success or growth, sometimes we have to offer students what they need, even if it isn't exactly what they want.

Shortcut on iPads for Long Email Addresses

If you have ever sat with younger children (Pre-K through first or second grade), watching them type a full email address into a field on the iPad can be a lengthy process.  They do their best, but especially in cases where they have a long address that they do not type regularly, instructing a classroom of students to type the address can be painful.

Learn to use the Text Replacement feature on their iPad and you can speed up this process immensely.

Here's how:

1. On the iPad, click on "Settings" and then "General" and scroll to the "Keyboard" menu.
2. Click on "Text Replacement"
3. In the upper right, click the "+" button
4. Have the child enter their full email address into the "Phrase" field
5. Have the child enter the secret shortcut text into the "Shortcut" field

See It In Action:  

Once this is set, it will save time in your classroom or when you work with young children. 

*Teaching Tip: Be sure to check the student's/child's spelling before finishing this process. While it can be changed later, if the goal is to "set it and forget it" you will want to be SURE to get it right the first time.

Growth IS the Focus - Leveling Up Professional Practice in 2016

Happy New Year!  Gearing up for my own return to work with students and teachers after a much appreciated holiday break, I have been reflecting on the goals I will carry with me into my work with educators and students each day.

In the world of educational technology, it is easy to get caught up in trends, passions, new tools and innovative products.  I am guilty of this myself!  This can lead us on tangents that are exciting, fun, empowering, and energizing, but all of these can also become distractions to the real goals we have for our instructional environments, teachers, and students.

The question we have to constantly ask is, "How is this helping us move toward our goal of improving instruction and learning practices?" And we have to be really honest about the answer to that question!

As I was saying, I have been reflecting on where I will put my energy as I return to school. For me, I have found that the focus and the message that I will carry into my work focuses solely on one major idea: Growth!

No matter where you (or those you support) are in your/their journey to learn to use and meaningfully integrate technology into professional practice, "growth" is a goal to which we can all subscribe. And the beauty of setting growth as a goal is that growth, while at first just a goal, becomes a habit. It must start out with intentionality where we strategically put ourselves in a position to grow and try new things (especially in the world of educational technology).  However, with each small step a new world of opportunity opens up for us and eventually growth just becomes a lifestyle.

Trust me when I say that I did not start on my own journey thinking I would one day be an advocate for the use of technology in the classroom (I would take a day on the water, out in nature, and far away from a computer any time). For me, I noticed that my students with the least interest in what I was teaching (I believe it was the interpretation of lyrics as poetry at the time) were drawn in by the movie project I offered to them as I was first trying out some video editing software that came on my new personal computer.  My initial growth step (learning to use video editing software) led to an encouraging discovery with students, which led to some study and exploration, which eventually carried me on my own journey of learning to use the technology meaningfully.

If you are somebody who needs a model to help guide your personal growth, I strongly recommend a close look at the SAMR Framework.  It is the most useful, practical, common sense framework to explain both how we generally adopt new technologies, as well as how we can meaningfully integrate them to improve instructional practice.  A simple Google search will turn over lots of great starting points, but I appreciate Kathy Schrock's guide to SAMR.  It's a great starting point.

If you are still in need of a good professional resolution for the new year (or the remaining school year), consider setting "Growth" -- specifically growth focused on how to meaningfully bring tech into your classroom -- as a front-running idea! I know I'll be pitching that same idea to the teachers I connect with daily.

Tech Into Ed Site Re-design

It's been a while since I have done any real housekeeping on the site so I spent the last few days on a sight redesign just to freshen up the place.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the new look.  Same content, same focus, same mission -- just a little bit more streamlined to ease navigation.

1:1 Program Headlines That Should Make the Paper (but Perhaps Never Will)

I blame nobody for this reality, but it is worth noting.  The media tends to pick up and publish/promote the most salacious stories, or that highlight the worst choices people make.  It is rare that the opposite is true.

This post is intended to celebrate those Waukesha One success stories that are huge celebrations, even if they will not make the 10:00 PM news.

Students Able to Adjust Text to Unique Needs

Second grade students engaged in a close reading activity (an activity designed to reinforce a focus on collecting the details from a body of text) utilized tools on their iPad to adjust the text to their unique needs.  Each of the students uniquely experienced the text  based upon their preferences.

Notably, one student's text was drastically enlarged on the page.  According to the student, she was having a hard time seeing the smaller words.  By zooming in on the text she was able to focus on the passages and uncover the details.  The teacher did engage the student in an informative conversation regarding whether the student typically had a hard time seeing the printed page otherwise, providing the teacher greater information about the student's performance.

For just a moment audio could be heard as one student, who later said that hearing the audio while he read helped him to better understand the text, rushed to plug his headphones into the iPad.  The onboard text-to-speech function is used by some students for this purpose.

One student finished early and was found exploring another related article in the app.  Apparently his interest in dinosaurs had been piqued and he was curious the names and color of other dinosaurs that existed.  This student did not have to leave the classroom and no other students were disturbed as he furthered his exploration on the subject.

Instructor Continues to Teach While Student Receives Formative Feedback

A kindergarten student struggling with formation of the number "8" received immediate formative feedback as he utilized an app on his iPad that was designed to assist students with handwritten letter and number formation. The feedback was offered via the app.  The app  forced the student to continually practice the formation of the number "8" until he had correctly written the letter.

The classroom teacher, concurrently working with a small group on individualized reading instruction, continued his focus on the students in the small group.  His focus on the students in his group was not interrupted.

The student seemed proud of his newly mastered skill.  He opened another writing app, Explain Everything, and drew the number "8" five more times.  The student then showed the student next to him.  She was working on the number "6" at the time.

HS Students Eager to Play Five Minute Review Game at End of Period

Students in a high school science course were eager to participate in a five minute review game using Kahoot! The review took place at the end of the period.  

With six minutes left in the period the teacher asked if the students would like to use the last five minutes to review content.  "It will take about five minutes so we need to hurry."

All of the students in the classroom opened Kahoot! on their iPads and logged in without instruction.  The teacher later said that they have used this review game several times already to review so the kids were "pretty familiar" with it.

With five minutes left in the period the game began.  Some students were excited by the points they scored in the game by answering correctly (the fastest correct response gets the most points).  One student was frustrated by an answer she believed to be incorrect.  The student beside her informed her that the answer was accurate and corrected her confusion without interrupting other students or stopping the game  The teacher allowed the student to support her peer.

Elementary Student Supports Peer by Recording Read Aloud

Two elementary students in the library were witnessed conversing about books they were reading.  One student admitted that she liked the book she was reading, but said, "Don't ask me to read it out loud.  I'm not good at that."

The other student said, "That's okay.  I bet you are getting better.  Here, let me record you reading and then you can see."

The student then pulled out his iPad, turned on the video camera feature on the iPad, and began recording as the other student read aloud.

After recording, the students reviewed the recording and the supportive student said, "See, you did a great job."

Rollout of Devices Complete; Schools Learning from Each Other

Waukesha One, the personalized learning work that the School District of Waukesha has embraced, and the related decision to provide every student with an iPad to support that personalized learning is well under way.  Just this fall the final schools rolled out devices and the district is now are 100% rolled out.

As a result of the distribution process format, schools that were earliest to roll out had the steepest learning curve.  Since then, though, leaders from across the district have shared their wisdom, their experiences, and their support related to device rollout, family communications, instructional advice, and resources.  The focus on site-based ownership of the process encouraged a larger pool of local experts to share their stories and suggestions with others.  The final schools rolling out this fall were among the most ready, eager, and accepting schools of Waukesha One based on this mentorship and sharing.

Both schools were led by principals who had previously experienced iPad rollouts at other schools, yet the rollouts felt unique to the culture and personality of their new schools.

Great Lesson Ideas: Powerful Teachers Utilizing Powerful Tools

Great Lesson Ideas: Powerful Teachers Utilizing Powerful Tools

Collectively, teachers are the MOST creative and resourceful people I have ever met.

In my work with staff members in the last two weeks, I was once again blown away by the ideas that have been shared with me by SDW teachers who are working with students.  It is evidence that when you provide educators with powerful tools they find amazing ways to use them.

In an effort to inspire others, to jumpstart ideas, and to celebrate the interesting opportunities Waukesha teachers are giving to students to show what they know, I will share two of my favorite instructional practices that utilized technology.

Building Interactive Learning Modules in Explain Everything

Several teachers at Hadfield shared that they are building interactive learning modules for their students using Explain Everything on the iPad.

In this case they are teaching letters and letter sounds to Kindergarten students.  In order to create interactive lessons that include BOTH an instructional mini-lesson and a place for students to practice in the same file, the teachers are creating the lesson using Explain Everything.

On the first slide of the Explain Everything presentation, they are placing instructional videos (some that they have created or that they have found online) directly on the slide.  These are SHORT videos (just a few seconds to a few minutes) that teach the skill or introduce the concept.  In some cases they have even placed two or three related videos on the slide (Keep in Mind: Video files can become very large if too long, so select short videos if you want students to have success in getting the files downloaded onto their iPad)

On the following slide(s), the built "prompts" or wrote directions for the students to follow to practice the skill covered in the video.  This could be directions such as:  "Use the pen tool to practice writing the letter 'D'"  or "Type/write/record words that begin with the letter 'M'."

To share the files with the students there are two options. 

From Explain Everything you can share the file with others, but you MUST select "Project" file for this to become an interactive lesson for the students.

The teachers at Hadfield are using AirDrop to share the files with their students.  If students are in the proximity, this is a great option.

Another option is to send the "project" file to Google Drive, and then place the link in your Blackboard course to share with students.

How about checking on the student work?  Well, this can be done a number of ways.  A teacher can physically move from student to student, group to group, and look at each student's progress and evidence of thinking.  You could also have students package up the lesson and export it as a "movie" 
to their YouTube account (they all have one), or as a project or movie file that is shared JUST with the teacher via Google Drive.

Value Added

1. This format closely links a mini-lesson of direct instruction on a skill/topic with some sort of immediate practice.
2. The video allows the teacher to bring in other instructional supports - video from another source, a different way of teaching a skill, or even another student who can explain it to students in another way.
3. The direct instruction mini-lesson is now reviewable -- the student can play, pause, and rewind the instruction until they truly understand (or can perhaps better speak to the teacher about what they do not understand).
4. Once a library of these types of lessons are built up (consider building these with other teach-alike colleagues), you now have a variety of resources students can choose from (and we know kids value having choice).
5. No instructional, subject, or age boundaries exist -- this works K-12 (and beyond) and any topic/skill can be broken down and instructed in this method
6. The kids can share their thinking with any size audience.  In this case, every student is asked to make their thinking visible (to at least the teacher), and can actually share that thinking with a much larger audience if appropriate.

Carousel Stations with QR Codes

A teacher at South High School shared a strategy used to get students talking/thinking on a variety of perspectives and focal points on the same topic.

The teacher setup looked like this.  In advance, the teacher identified several websites, resources, or Google Docs that would serve as "prompts" for his students to discuss.  In this case they were all focused on the topic of heroes, heroism, characteristics of heroes, etc.  Then, using a QR code generator (here's an article with links to some of these types of sites), the teacher created QR codes, printed them, and set them out around the room.

When the class arrived (with their iPads already installed with a QR Code reader app such as i-nigma), the class was broken into small groups and asked to travel from station to station (in a carousel style, making one full rotation during the 20 minute exercise).  They then scanned the QR code, watched/listened/read the video/audio/prompt, and then followed the instructions at the site to begin their small group discussion. 

To make the thinking of the group visible, the teacher had a place that each group could demonstrate their thinking/conversation so that the group following could make connections with other student's thinking as well.  This could have been done digitally in a Google Doc, but I appreciated that it was physically written on the board/paper to create an anchor chart of the class's thoughts/reactions.  This was especially helpful in the follow-up conversation the teacher facilitated with the group.

Value Added

1. Every student was asked to engage with the topic by shrinking the group size from 25 to groups of 2-3.  In small groups there was less room for students to "hide" behind the answers of students more willing to talk to the teacher.  Every group needed to write something on the thinking sheets.
2. The expert (teacher) was de-centralized to begin the lesson.  The students could not wait out the teacher or simply agree with the teacher's perspective.  In this case they were presented with a prompt or idea.  They had to form some sort of response to it that was original.  This is the act of thought that we desperately need our students to engage in.
3. The instructional practice of a Carousel Discussion can be continually used and the media/prompts where the QR codes point can be easily changed. This means it will work throughout the year for a wide variety of new topics.
4. This format, mixed with intentional grouping, can give the teacher the ability to give students just what they need instructionally when they need it without drawing obvious attention to that differentiation.

Making the Most of the Tools You Have

Tonight I'm going to be leading a webinar on the Intel Teach Live series called The Dangers of App Overload.  If you would like to register to join and follow along live, here is the link: https://engage.intel.com/events/1269

Before I write any more, I want to say thank you to Naomi Harm (@naomiharm) and Vanessa Jones (@vkajones) for the opportunity to connect and share tonight.  It is an honor! Thank you for the opportunity.

This blog post below is inspired by my reflection on and preparation for tonight's webinar.

Something I hear more often in my work than I would imagine, and something that forces me to reflect on the question of how well we are using the tools we have available to us for teaching and learning is this comment that I will sometimes get a version of from teachers:

"So, I used to use this tool that I could use for lots of different projects.  Is there an app for that now, or something that is just like it?  It was called Photo Story. It was great."

Now, for those of you reminiscing about Photo Story, here is the reality.  Photo Story has not been updated since 2006.  As late as 2013 I can still find posts of people successfully installing and running Photo Story, but after that I'm not sure that there is quite as much success (except for those of you still rocking the XP).

If you don't know Photo Story, it basically allowed users to create a Photo Slideshow complete with instrumental music, transitions, voice overs, and text.  By today's standards that maybe doesn't sound that impressive.  Remember, this software was available at a time when merging and mashing media was, well, complicated.

Anyhow, the bigger picture is this.  When I engage teachers in the question of why they loved Photo Story so much, the response is generally pretty consistent.  

1 - It was easy to use.

2 - It was easily adaptable.  

3 - It was reliable.

Teachers could learn the software once and then apply it to almost any media project or presentation.  Want to tell a digital story?  Use Photo Story.  Want to create an engaging version of a science lab report?  Use Photo Story.  Want to impress your parents and students with photos and music from the spring concert?  Use Photo Story.

The landscape looks VERY different today for teachers.  Back then there was definitely a lot of software available at the time when Photo Story became popular. The trouble was that the software was most often not free (at least the well designed, easy-to-use stuff was not often free) and it was a laborious process to have it even installed on computers.  Today, there is an ever-flowing stream of high quality, innovative, well designed free software, and it is all a button tap away from being installed on your tablet for use in your classroom. Apps are easy to acquire, easy to use, and there are generally several to choose between.

This leaves us with a new challenge, and it  relates closely to the topic of digital distraction. It is incredibly easy to find new tools, use new tools, and replace new tools with newer tools.  

Buggy app?  Switch to a new one.  Not fond of the advertisements?  Switch to a new one.  Clunky layout?  Switch to a new one. Friends (or students) using something else?  Switch to a new one.  We are switching our tool set so frequently that the reality is we never really get to be truly proficient and productive with the tools we use.

So, maybe our new tools are easy to use. That's generally a given as no app can make it very long in a design-conscious marketplace.

Are they adaptable, though?  Well, if Photo Story could be considered adaptable, so could nearly ANY creative app today.  Whether it is iMovie, Pages, Notability, Explain Everything, the Google Apps Suite, or anything else you can imagine, the adaptability of the tool is in the mind of the user (and in my case, the mind of the teacher framing the instructional goals).  These tools have the power to be used for a wide variety of instructional reasons.

The last question, though, is if these apps are reliable.  And that is an interesting question.  Software and apps today are more reliable than ever.  Developers get more feedback from users today (or at least can get the feedback and data if they choose to) more quickly than at almost any other time in history.  So, the apps themselves are very reliable.  The follow-up question, though, is if we, the end users, are committing to the tools reliably.  If we are fickle consumers and users of these apps, especially the apps that we use in our classrooms with students, then we will NEVER get to a point where we can determine the reliability or the adaptability of these powerful tools.

As educators, we must focus on how to make the most of the tools we do have readily and reliably available to us.  Teachers are the most creative people I know.  They can make meaningful lessons out of almost any set of resources.  We now just need to slow ourselves, commit to the tools we do have, and then make magic happen in our classrooms.

I hope that in 10 years some teacher says to me, "Hey, do you know of any apps that I can use with my kids that is just like Explain Everything.  That app was great.  My kids did so much with that!"

Then again, in 10 years I hope that no teacher is still saying to me, "Do you know if Photo Story is still available for download?" :)