To help encourage conversations and dialogue about the role listening plays in learning, our topic/question of the week is: How does the act of listening help both the teacher and the student? Making Progress (Week of 12/3/17) (This is an anonymous Google Form)
Blake's Guiding Lights
Our Students
Blake's Core Values: Respect, Responsibility, Resourcefulness, Reflection
Our Essential Question: How can we cultivate and curate the progression of student learning and growth?
Our Mission: Blake Middle School believes in a living mission statement, based on the concept that our community seeks and respects knowledge, integrity, character, wisdom, and the willingness to adapt to a continually evolving world.
With the first term of our school year coming to a close last Friday as we entered the month of December, I think it's fair to say that time really is going by quite quickly! (Every year, I feel myself sounding more and more like my father!) We have had a relatively quiet weekend - out to dinner as a family on Friday evening and no set plans on Saturday - and it has somewhat felt like 'the calm before the storm'. On Sunday I enjoyed participating in the Angel Run - such a nice way to be a part of the Medfield community and welcome in the holiday season.
Are we making progress???
I think about this question a great deal and it is one that we, as educators, always have at the forefront of our thinking. The form of the question may look a little different (Is this working? Are our students making progress? Does this initiative work or make sense? Have we seen improvement?), but the intent is generally the same. It can often be hard to know if progress has been made as we may have not agreed on the actual progress that we are attempting to make or measure. And, then, we can get find ourselves engaging in circular conversations. Over the last week at Blake and in my own conversations and reflections about my children's education, I found myself hearing, asking, and talking through these questions - a sampling of the contexts is listed...
- End of term 1 at Blake - how do we measure progress for each of our students?
- Report cards - what should reflection look like in advisory?
- Divide and Conquer parent workshops - what are appropriate measures of progress for students?
- Feedback - Standards Based Reporting vs traditional grades - how is progress assessed and conveyed (both programmatically and for students)?
- Meeting with the MS principal job-alike this week - what initiatives or 'burning fires' are common for us and how can we support each other's progress?
- Educator evaluation meeting with Dave Castelline from Teachers 21 - do our evaluators share a common vision and understanding for progress and growth?
- Viewing the documentary Beyond Measure in Holliston with some parents - what other models exist for fostering, assessing, and measuring progress?
- Budgetary planning for 18-19 and beyond - what initiatives do we need to start, continue, or end and how do we need to support these with financial resources? (In essence, how does 'progress' tie in to our financial resources?)
- PBL/UDL workshop with Greg Kulowiec (@gregkulowiec) for our #MedfieldPS educators - discussions during and after this day about the steps individual teachers are making to adapt the learning environment/structure and implications of progress for this work
Laptops Are Great. But Not During a Lecture or a Meeting
by Susan Dynarski in The New York Times
This article prompted a great deal of individual thought, reflection, and debate (with myself and others). It also 'forced' me to hold up a mirror to our own practices and encouraged me to think through the vision I have and the vision we have for our students - seeing if the vision/beliefs reflect our own efforts, hopes, and actions with our students. It is worth the read along with the posts below.
But a growing body of evidence shows that over all, college students learn less when they use computers or tablets during lectures. They also tend to earn worse grades. The research is unequivocal: Laptops distract from learning, both for users and for those around them. It’s not much of a leap to expect that electronics also undermine learning in high school classrooms or that they hurt productivity in meetings in all kinds of workplaces.
Students may object that a laptop ban prevents them from storing notes on their computers. But smartphones can snap pictures of handwritten pages and convert them to an electronic format. Even better, outside class, students can read their own handwritten notes and type them, if they like, a process that enhances learning. The best evidence available now suggests that students should avoid laptops during lectures and just pick up their pens. It’s not a leap to think that the same holds for middle and high school classrooms, as well as for workplace meetings.
No laptops in the lecture hall
by Seth Godin (@sethgodin)
I always enjoy reading Godin's posts as they take on a thoughtful, reflective, and forward-thinking perspective. I particularly appreciate the manner in which he addresses the financial implications of the 'lecture model' and the importance of spreading and sharing the learning on a larger scale.
Why offer a handmade, real-time oration for a small audience of students—students who are expected to slow down their clock speed, listen attentively and take good notes at the very same rate as all the other students? I know why we used to do it. We used to do it because a lecture is a thoughtful exposition, a reasoned, researched argument that delivers a lot of information in a fairly condensed period of time. And before technology, the best way to deliver that exposition was to do it live.
Instead, why not give the lecture, record it and then share it with the students in between classes? Let them watch it on their own schedule, at double speed, or half speed. Let them look stuff up, take good notes and rewind and review the tricky parts. Challenge them to study the lecture and then come to class ready to discuss it. Even better, with the lecture in digital format (either as a video or in writing), there’s zero cost to sharing that lecture with students in Kibera or Geneva...When the very best lecturer in the world is able to give her lecture to 100,000 students in 20 countries instead of thirty or forty on one campus, the experience will inevitably improve. And we can let teachers get back to their real job.
The K-12 experience is thirteen years built on compliance and obedience, a systemic effort to train kids to become cogs in the industrial machine. And it has worked. One component of this regime is the top-down nature of the classroom. We don’t want to train kids to ask difficult questions, so we lecture at them. Alas, this either requires the teacher to merely recite and parrot what the committee-created curriculum instructs, or puts a huge demand on them to deliver original and useful insights on a regular basis. It usually devolves to the former.
Should We Ban Technology In Classrooms and Meetings?
by Patrick Larkin (@patrickmlarkin)
Larkin's brief post addresses the importance of encouraging self-reflection and increasing the metacognition of both our students and staff. As a former English teacher, he also references a framework developed by the NCTE: I can’t help thinking about the Framework for 21st Century Curriculum and Assessment developed by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). This framework includes “students’ self-evaluation and reflection on process and product integrated into the learning process and contributing to students’ continued growth.”
My final thoughts on this center around the idea that we need to take away the opportunity for the individual to make the choice on which method works best. As students get to the later stages of high school and move on to college, shouldn’t they have the chance to choose the tool that works best for them? If people become aware that their productivity drops when they take notes on a device, will they still choose to work in the same manner? Isn’t the process of figuring out what works and what doesn’t a critical part of the learning process?
In short, we need to be careful that banning is not our default reaction. We will teach students a great deal if we help them be more introspective about what works best for them.
Note Taking Editorials – Groundhog Day All Over Again
by Beth Holland (@brholland)
Beth has worked with our teachers over the last few years and is my 'go to' for thoughtful reflection, research, readings, and pedagogy. After reading the NYT article, I sent her an e-mail for her thoughts and was thrilled that she set aside some time to blog - worth the read and reflection, as always.
When the New York Times published Laptops Are Great. But Not During a Lecture or a Meeting. last week, I knew that I was about to live through the same set of conversations all over again. With her editorial, Susan Dynarski, a professor of education, public policy and economics at the University of Michigan, joined the ranks of previous academics to ban devices and extol the virtues of pen and paper. I have been carefully following these editorials, as well as the underlying empirical studies fueling their publication, for several years. As I wrote previously, note taking has become my most “innovative” blog topic.
We argue that the writers of these ban the technology editorials assume a traditional model of education without questioning what could be possible given advances in technology. Further, these editorials equate learning with memorization, consider learning to be an individual rather than a social endeavor, and fail to consider that individuals learn in different ways.
...when a student employs successful note taking strategies and harnesses the capacity of digital technologies, then that student can engage in deeper inquiry and focus on analysis and synthesis rather than just capturing content...know that the authors state that their results only relate to lecture-based classes where students use devices for note taking. Further, they do not make any inferences regarding the effectiveness of technology to support learning in classes where the teachers deliberately use devices to support instruction. Finally, they do not make any claims that using devices decreases a student’s ability to take notes...Again, instead of banning devices, what if we help students to develop the skills to take control of their technology and create conditions that support them as learners...If we want our students to understand social cues, to be able to look someone in the eye and actually listen, to recognize when to take notes and when to just pay attention, then we need to help them develop those skills and we also need to model them.
Technology is only going to become more ubiquitous, and digital skills will continue to be valued in the workplace. Instead of banning devices in classrooms, we need to harness their potential to help students develop the skills that they need to be successful learners.
How To Change The Story In Your Head That’s Stopping You From Succeeding
by Ryan Holiday (@RyanHoliday)
Although not directly related to the 'laptop' debate, Holiday's post is one that encourages reflection and helps to shift one's thinking and gain perspective. By referencing Coach Bill Walsh's 'Standard of Performance' (What should be done; When; How), he intends to debunk the 'success path' of attempting to 'change the world'. Some nice examples are shared and the implications for our students, staff, and school are clear - focusing on small steps/details and 'doing the right things' will help it all 'fall into place'.
Trying to “change the world” was not the mission with which most great or successful things started out with. It’s only our ego, afterwards, that creates these stories. And it blinds us to the traits which actually create success.
We want so desperately to believe that those who have great empires set out to build one. Why? So we can indulge in the pleasurable planning of ours. So we can take full credit for the good that happens and the riches and respect that come our way. Narrative is when you look back at an improbable or unlikely path to your success and say: I knew it all along. Instead of: I hoped. I worked. I got some good breaks. Or even: I thought this could happen. Of course you didn’t really know all along — or if you did, it was more faith than knowledge. But who wants to remember all the times you doubted yourself?
The same goes for us, whatever we do. Instead of pretending that we are living some great story, we must remain focused on the execution — and on executing with excellence. We must defer the credit or crown and continue working on what got us here. Because that’s the only thing that will keep us here.
There is much to be discussed here (and I look forward to whatever discussions take place), but a few take-aways for me...
- Let's make sure we are talking things through
- Let's ask this question - How will we know if we are making progress? (What will it look like?) - before asking if progress has been made
- We need to share and hold one another accountable for 'doing the right things' - what are those right things and what will it look like if we are doing them?
- Are we (students, staff, families, community) 'pulling our oars' together towards the attainment of our mission?
- Have our students gained a better understanding of their own learning?
- Are our parents/guardians and families have a better understanding of their students (strengths, weaknesses, and growth)?
- Are we increasing these understandings? And, are are taking steps towards increassing these understandings?
Although I wish I could say our work will be 'done' at some point, I know that is not the case. But, I do believe we are making some progress - it's not perfect and we certainly have room for growth, but I commend the collective energy and commitment - it is not and does not go unnoticed. And, as always, I welcome the dialogue and suggestions from all - let me know how I or we can help one another.
I look forward to the work that lies ahead for all of us.
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Take care.
Nat