Shutdown Food for Thought: The Wrong Question

An article posted Monday by Bridge Magazine posed the clickbait question, "If work doesn’t count, will Michigan students bother during coronavirus?" as its headline. I've heard a lot discussions over the past few weeks that centered around this very question, and it is very disheartening to me for a number of reasons. The first, and most important, reason is that it devalues education and learning. It implies that all we do is sell our ketchup popsicles to rooms full of kids in white gloves. Maybe I'm the nerdy outlier or my opinion is flawed by the rose-colored glasses I tend to wear, but learning is awesome. Learning is innately human, and it's going to happen without our intervention. We, as educators, are here to make that process more efficient and enjoyable for our students. My daughter's face when she looks up at Venus each evening and recognizes that it's in a little bit different place and figuring out that it's because planets move differently than the stars around it, like Orion's Belt, that are also moving, is all the proof I need that learning is enjoyable to kids, and I could list example after example here to prove that. Somewhere along the line "education" and "learning" split from each other, and now that's beginning to show pretty plainly if we have to ask ourselves the question posed in this headline. If what we are doing doesn't inspire our students, then what we are doing is wrong.
Second, this question implies that education is merely a means to a grade. In the testing and evaluation era of education as we have come to know over the last 20 years or so we've lost sight of why we're here. We've developed into a culture that struggles to see the value in anything without a letter or a number attached to it to prove how well we know it. Sit back and consider the things you've sought out to learn recently... I'm guessing that you didn't receive a grade for it, but you did it anyway. No one gave my son a grade on the construction project we completed last weekend, but he learned to read a tape measure and work with fractional measurements to make it fit together at the end.
Third, "packets..." blech. I seem to be seeing this word thrown around more and more recently, and I throw up in my mouth a little each time. At best, worksheets and packets are a way for students to practice skills and demonstrate their learning, and at worst, they are nothing more than busy work that emphasize the misconceptions above that learning itself is tedious and boring and about nothing more than a grade at the end. Packets aren't teachers. They aren't meant to teach new skills. We can't pretend that sending home reams of printed paper will teach students anything.
The question asked by this headline is the wrong question. It shouldn't matter that "WORK doesn't count" because LEARNING still does, and it always will, whether there's a grade attached to it or not. If what we have to offer as educators is relevant, meaningful, inspiring, and worthwhile, our students "will bother" with it.

Shutdown Food for Thought: OHDELA Lessons

As we begin this first week of Distance Learning, I've been thinking back a lot to my first year out of college. I graduated and began teaching at a point in time where teaching jobs were tough to find. I couldn't get a "classroom" teaching job, so I began my career as a Math Teacher at OHDELA, the Ohio Distance and Electronic Learning Academy. We were an Online Charter School housed in an office building in downtown Akron next to 5/3 Bank. My "classroom" was an office cubicle. It was like spending your entire day in a teacher's lounge; no students on site. If you're a fan of "The Office," it was almost identical to that environment. Even back in the old-days of 2004, we were experimenting with live instruction through video conferencing software and different methods of online learning. A lot of fun to be a part of, but after a while I started to really miss working directly with students.

But, set all of the flashiness of cutting edge technology aside, and you realize really quickly that Distance Learning is really a game of motivation via personal connections. I can still remember analyzing data and seeing how strong the correlation is between the number of contacts made with a student and their success rates in our classes. We tracked every single phone call, email, video chat, etc. religiously for each student, and sure enough, the more contact the better the students performed.
At first, we're going to have to be active in reaching out. Students aren't going to flock to our office hours like flies to... well you know. It might take some phone calls. It might take some emails or personal invitations to video chat platforms like Meet or Zoom for our students to get them comfortable with the idea. Most of our time in these first couple of weeks is going to be us trying to make contact. Once that personal connection is established, the communications start to flow both ways. I know it's a lot. We carried rosters between 250-300 students in our courses back in the OHDELA days. But, take it from me, it's worth it. When you hear from that student who dropped out of her public school and enrolled online because of bullying issues shares with you before her graduation that you were the person who turned things around and made it possible for her, all of the sudden the hours and hours spent on the phone seem pretty well spent. I can still remember Whitley from back then, even though I only met her in person ONCE. Connections are still there even if they are made remotely.
10-15 years down the road, your students are probably not going to remember what it was you were teaching them during this upcoming 8 weeks, but they will remember that you reached out, made a connection, developed a relationship, and made a difference.

Shutdown Food for Thought: Here We Go

Good morning, and Game on!!!  Our District is rolling out our official start to our Distance Learning program today. 

I hope everyone had a great weekend and that all of your hard work over the past couple of weeks pays off beginning today as we kick off on this new adventure.  I've been really impressed by the glimpses I've had of what you've been putting together as you've reached out with questions.

Over the past few weeks of working from home and being separated from everyone I've noticed a strange feeling arise.  Somehow this whole experience has made me feel closer to many of you even though I haven't left my house.  In sitting and thinking about it, I think it might be because we are now all welcoming each other into our homes.  If you've been in my office hours, booked a time slot, or watched any of my videos I've posted, you've had a nice little tour of my home.  You've been in my dining room, living room, garage, on my deck, even in my bedroom.  You've seen my kids in the background, and maybe said "Hi" to my wife.  In one session, my wife even popped her head in to explain a feature of Zoom to a teacher because I guess she didn't think I was doing a good enough job. :)

I mention this because as we start working with our students, even though they're not in your classroom, you have an opportunity coming up to develop a really close personal relationship with your students.  As you begin holding office hours and talking with your students, don't be upset when life is happening behind you.  Every time I've seen a kid or a pet show up on camera in the past month, everyone's face brightened a bit with a big smile.  We're all humans; we all sometimes have socks on the floor or dirty dishes on the counter.  We have a great opportunity for our students to see us as humans.  For many of them, they need that human connection more than anything right now.  Especially as we start things off this week, don't worry about the content as much as the connection.

Shutdown Food for Thought: So Happy

I'm sorry, Jenna, but I just have to share my joy with everyone...

Yesterday I talked to Jenna (on my way to Meijer to risk my life for dinner for the rest of the week) about what to do "next" after you use Google Meet as a workaround to record videos and screencasts. A bit later as I was making said dinner I get an email from her that she recorded a "How to" on the process we talked about on the phone. 

This... is... awesome!!!

Thanks to Jenna for taking the time to help others out. I couldn't have done it better, and I'm sure everyone appreciates hearing a different voice than mine. Jenna's video is added under the "Video Tips and Tricks" section of the Resource Site as a follow up to mine that mentions using Google Meet in this sneaky little way. But, I've attached it here for your viewing pleasure also.
Once again, I couldn't be happier to be a part of the Raider family (as well as my totally awesome Tech PLC)!

Shutdown Food for Thought: To Record or Not to Record?

I've been talking to a number of teachers lately about video creation. In addition to talking to those teachers, I've also been busy creating some videos and screencasts to post on our Resources site. In doing so, I'm reminded of a dilemma I reached a few years ago as I was transitioning my classroom into a Flipped, or Blended, classroom.

My first recommendation for you... Don't be afraid to use what's already out there. The internet is full of amazing people doing amazing things and recording themselves doing it. For a lot of content, a great video already exists either on Khan Academy or YouTube. Use what's there, assign those videos to watch. I love the Isaac Newton quote "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants." because it applies so well to our digital age. I try to use content that already exists as much as I can to save on time and headaches of creating that content, that way when something comes up that I really want to make my own or make apply to Portland specifically, I have the time and energy to do so. The creator in me still gets stuck in this argument with my smarter self. I want to create my own stuff, but trying to record and create everything just isn't practical, and it's not the best use of time and energy.
If/when you do record your own videos, play with it a little bit first to develop some comfort with how it looks and feels and to "find your voice" for lack of a better term. My voice is typically very relaxed with a tiny smidge of humor and sarcasm (if you haven't noticed yet) unless my audience changes (like in the Parent video on our Resources Page). Sal Khan definitely has a "voice" to his videos as do others like ProfRobBob. Do a quick test run first also, just to make sure you know where to click, how to move the camera, etc. And don't overlook sound. I remember an article I read years ago that really stuck with me because it was surprisingly true. We'll all sit and struggle through a video with poor visuals as long as we can hear it clearly. But, no matter how perfect the visuals are, if the audio is bad, we won't watch more than 20 seconds before giving up.
Try to find a balance. We're just getting started on this journey. Don't overwhelm yourself and set a pace that you can't keep. Use the internet as it was intended, and stand on those giants' shoulders.

Shutdown Food for Thought: Where to Start

As of my writing this, we are still waiting for some sort of official word letting us know what Distance Learning looks like. This drives us nuts as educators because we have been ingrained from Day 1 that our Lesson Plans need to be done and done well. Believe me, I share your anxiety, concerns, worries, stresses, etc., and that's coming from someone whose first job was teaching at an Online Charter School. I also very much share everyone's concerns for our students who do not have access to technology and internet service. This is one of the problems with this type of education. I think I mentioned Liz Kolb a few emails ago and her comments on how virtual schools tend to widen the achievement gap between our socio-economic groups.
With that being said, my recommendation for you as you start thinking about what your class might look like going forward is to consider the way you teach in your classroom. I'm guessing that you deliver instruction and activities that meet the needs of MOST of your students first. It's the "MOST" of your students who determine how you plan and deliver your lessons. After that planning is done, you go back and look for ways to differentiate that instruction for students who aren't in that "MOST" group. You add supports, alternatives, and accommodations for students who need them because what you have isn't accessible to them. You add extensions for students who need more than what the "MOST" get because you don't want to hold them back from soaring like they can.
We are in the process of trying to assess the level of access our students and families have to digital content. We don't have that finalized yet, but if I was a betting man, I would be willing to bet that MOST of our students will have access to digital content. Not all of them, but they are now our "MOST" group. If you are struggling with the unknown and can't handle not thinking about some sort of plan for how this whole thing will work (first of all, you're not alone), come at it like you would for any lesson. Plan for teaching the MOST of your students first, then we can circle back and differentiate.
I so wish I could just give everyone a checklist, but I'm with you in the unknown group. However, I'm confident that wherever we land, we'll do everything we can to provide the best education possible to each of our students because that's what we do, and we won't settle for less than that.