Fair Isn't Always Equal but it is Differentiated

"Life is never fair, and perhaps that is a good thing for most of us it is not." 

~Oscar Wilde

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Life isn't fair.  Wish I had a dollar for every time I heard that.

I was intrigued by the title of the book but I have to confess my school district purchased this book for me a long time ago and I have yet to read it.  It might have seemed fun but not exciting enough for me to take it home and I am a bit nerdy...so that has to say something.

Assessment didn't sing to me.  It sounds like a test.  Test are clearly not fun but this is what the book club chose...so I picked it up and dusted it off to have a go.

More confessions- My principal told us that this book was the center of strife and controversy.  I teach history that was music to my ears.  I read the first chapter already.  It was not what I thought it would be. (So far that is the a common theme for our PLC choices). I thought a lovely whip about writing perfect test or rubrics. What I found in this introductory chapter is an interesting methodical approach to assessing the progress of learning in your classroom.It is not a one size fits all band aid but is instead a challenge for teachers to realize that their beliefs about assessment drives their teaching systems.  

What struck me in the first chapter is the dedication to the defining what differentiation is, looks like and feels like. He points out that differentiation doesn't make learning easier it puts the learner on level footing to proceed on their learning journey.

I think the safest way to sum it all up is to show the news footage of the Limping penguin.

Differentiation is giving students the scaffolding to overcome themselves to continue on the path to knowledge. Just like that little guy, they may need a special shoe, glasses, that special seat, or  translator. If the ending outcome is them learning by having those aids does it cheapen their education? I don't think so. 

What are your thoughts? Please feel free to share your initial personal grading philosophy or how you look at differentiation in the comments below. 

One Partnering Project under my belt

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Waist deep in the swamp is no place to think about a nap. For the last six weeks my students and I have been in the middle of our own adventure into the partnering experiment. Anything new is cumbersome, awkward really.  Every step forward feels heavy and like there wasn't any progress being made.  The vision up ahead is foggy.  There are tons of questions and no real answers until they are revealed through experience. Not a comfortable place to be for teachers.

Back story:

For the last six weeks the students have been emerged in a project like no other that I have ever done...class documentaries. Each class is in charge of a different unique industry. The classes are divided into production teams each with different responsibilities. (The layout is linked here.)  It was a rocky start neither of us, student nor teacher could figure out how we fit in this relationship. Things started to get better after some practice. 

Weekly update:

The classes started the week all in very different places.  Some were close to being finished with filming, while some had not started filming.  Some had worked out very clear lines of command, while others all tried to be the boss, or all tried to say someone else was in charge. No matter where they started this week they did make huge gains.  Film footage was shot, voice overs recorded, and interviews were given making it a very productive week for all of us and the videos are all coming together.  

We did run into several bumps along the road this week.  We had one day of power outages where the surges in the power knocked out the breaker and the person that knows which breaker goes where has been out all week.  Work was interrupted for a full day because the students had to do their mandatory 8th grade registration. And then in one class they have it set up so one person has been taking all of the footage and putting it on his computer and he was out for two days.  Nice.  Despite all of it we progressed.  

Friday was a looking like it was going to be a dead day for over half the students.  The film and edit teams are working like crazy monkeys but the rest of them are starting to get to the point where they don't have anything to do. 

 I decided that during our class meetings we would be a little metacognative before we started the day.  I asked them to be completely honest about the project.  I told them this was the first time I did a project like this and wanted to know feedback so I could make it more successful for the coming years. I asked them to tell me the positives and negatives for this project. 

Positives: (According to the students.  In as close a I can remember their actual words...I might have cleaned up their grammar...a little.)

• "We get to work together. Like everyone of us in the class has a job and we had to talk to each other to get answers and get our own work done." 
• "It was like we were in the real world working on a project.  You know we had a job and we had to divide it up in order to get it done."
• "We had to use technology to complete our project and it wasn't just some stupid PowerPoint."
• "I never have been able to do something like this before it was cool to be able to set my own daily goals because I could see what I had to do and what I got done each day."
• "It was cool see that some of my classmates could do stuff, like with technology or acting and they were really good."

Positives...according to me

• They were genuinely learning.  The third week into the project they had to take a test (I had to have major grades) and the portion of the test that covered their industry they scored in the 90th percentile where as the portion that they learned the traditional way (notes and such) was pretty hit or miss.  
• They went deeper into the subject than I would have ever gone.  Because of interest, and their need to make the video's more interesting they were researching non-stop for three weeks and were loving it. You could see a clear level of confidence as they became masters of their topics through the level of their own conversations and decisions in the video making process.  
• I worried about the rigor of their research initially but once those that tried to be a bit lazier got their information to their peers they were told to keep looking. Peer pressure used for good, not evil.  Now I can securely say that many of the students know way more than me in their topics and that I am completely comfortable with that. It is a little strange...that doesn't bother me.  I know many teachers love being the ones to know the most in their classroom.  It is a burden I was comfortable in giving them.
• I love how they learned more than stuff in this lesson.  They had to master scheduling, organizing groups of people, communication of ideas to peers, different types of technology and making them communicate, the workings of storytelling, the power of camera angles in relating a story, communicating with professionals outside the world of education and working with people they would have never chosen to work with if given the opportunity. The list goes on.  Now did they master all of these...some students did.  But each student did step outside of their comfort zone and learned some part of these. 

It was not all unicorns, rainbows and cotton candy in my classroom.  There would be days where I would not want to come back, or for that matter enter my classroom. But they would be overshadowed by the good days. Their list of negatives were interesting...because I could see the same problems that they did and I think I could have given them some prior support if I had suspected the situation would have come up. 

Negatives: (according to the students.)

• Directors- They were the ones chosen to be the main leader for the class project.  They were charged with passing out assignments, they were the ones that made sure we had a clear story arc and the ultimate ones in charge of how the story looks. 
• "Some people thought that they were going to do all the work and we didn't have a clear idea of what to do."  
• "Some people wanted to be the ones to be in control of everything so they wouldn't give anyone else some stuff to do."
• "Some directors didn't say much and we did whatever we wanted to."  

To fix this: I think next time when they are in the first week of research I will start the meetings with the directors to coach them on ways to organize groups of people.  And I will give them different leadership techniques that they can employ with different types of people.  

It will be good also for them to have contact with other directors to discuss problems and concerns. I will try to nourish this relationship with a forum for them, and by encouraging them to text each other.  I may try to give them different texting activities to help them become more comfortable with contacting one another.

• "Some people walked around and pretended to work but didn't do anything."

To fix this: Out of my 160 students I know of 3 that fall into this category.  And honestly they did do their research.  They wrote and did what their groups told them to do but when it was get to the stage where students were trying to tie up loose ends and get everything finished these guys felt really comfortable doing nothing.

• Their grade is a 360 degree review.  (I grade them, they grade themselves, and the groups they assigned themselves grade them.)  I am pretty sure this will be the most fair assessment of what they did in class and will catch those that were not proactive in getting work done.  
• I think next time I will also have assignments set aside for them to do if not working.  Alternate assignments that will take a day that I can hand out after so many redirections that will show learning and will keep them working.  

• "Technology doesn't always work.  We didn't have any of it for a while and then we struggled to get files converted so it would work."

To fix this: Is there a fix?  I think this is another good lesson to learn...sometimes stuff doesn't work like you think it should.  It is okay, there are other ways to get things done and it is all part of the learning. 

At the end of the class meetings I asked them if they liked learning this way...not necessarily with documentaries but with projects where they all worked together to achieve a bigger goal.  The response was an overwhelming "YES!!!"  I have to say I said "yes" too.  

So while the editing teams worked on putting the story together the rest of the classes sat and brainstormed what we knew about the Civil Rights movement and Government.  We made a master list on the board of ideas for our future project.  

Next week we will be putting all that information together as we plan what we have coming.  We will need discussions about the criteria for our next project. And will create the rubric together.  

With this project under my belt I am excited about the future.  Parts of this project created a ridiculous amount of work for me.  Like when I had to create test for them.  That meant 6 different test, not to mention three types of modified test and answer keys.  Whooo weee...exhausting...but so worth it.  Next time I think I will keep a binder for the classes to help keep up with all of the different keys, and extra copies of test and such because my desk is a forest of different piles of paper.And daily grades had to be carefully planned out because sometimes their daily work wouldn't result in a paper..it would be a scene or film footage. 

Even though the new experience felt at times like we were trying to jog in a swamp I will do this again, and I can't wait to see how our newest book, Fair Isn't Always Equal, will add to our experience. 

Have you ever done a partner project or used project based learning?  I would love to hear about your experience. 

Technology and Partnering

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Reading Prensky book, Teaching Digital Natives, has certainly opened my eyes to the direction classrooms are taking. It has also made me aware that in my own classroom I am not even close to accomplishing this.  The first few chapters of his book talk about moving toward the Partnering Pedagogy and how to reach this point. One of the eye opening topics he writes about is making your subject real not just relevant to the students. To accomplish this it’s important to know your students and their passions so we as teachers can relate our subjects to their lives. Just because I am passionate about history does not mean my students are (and especially with history they are not) so I have to figure out a way to make it real for them. This is really where I am struggling. With 160 students how am I suppose to know their passions?

To make history meaningful (or whichever subject you teach), Prensky suggest asking the students- “How do you want to learn this information? Help me create a lesson that will reach you.” To me handing over my “power” in that area is terrifying. But there are so many resources available to our students and they have much more knowledge in some areas then I do, it’s a shame not to allow myself to learn from them as well.

One resource available to the students I have include technology. I know not every school or districts are as fortunate as we are- so using technology to teach may be more difficult. Technology is definitely an area where my students could teach me a few things.  I like the comment Prensky makes, “Teachers need to know what technologies are available, not necessarily how to use it. Regardless, of what technology you have available you should allow your students to utilize it. That being said it’s also important to not use technology just for the sake of using technology.  My understanding of the role of the teacher in regards to using technology in your class are as follows: 1) Point out to the students what is available, 2) monitor while the students work, 3) encourage students to use different technologies, and 4) point out the pitfalls and mistakes made by students (such as reliable and unreliable sites). 

I am hoping to start my journey to creating a technology enriched classroom with the idea of the partnering pedagogy. I am anxious to learn my student’s passions and how they want to learn and apply that to my class room…. We will see how successful I am. 

Iteration really does work

Definition of Iteration-The repetition of a process or utterance.

~Dictionary.com 

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Practice makes perfect. Right? That was what my mother used to always say. I would try to explain that I was not meant to do housework because I lacked the skill and attention to detail that it required. She never flinched, didn't even lift her head from the book she was reading, "Well, you need more practice then!  Get in there." For me, those words still are associated with the smell of bleach and soft scrub.

Marc Presky, talks about the importance of practice for both the student and the teacher in the partnering relationship.  Maybe he and my mom were right.

I have been submerged in the full partnering experiment for the last three weeks.  The first week was tough on both of us, student and teacher.  They were learning to research and kept trying to search instead.  We were both frustrated with their progress. Last week I was starting to see the light. After several student led discussions they were finally in their production groups and deciding their own lessons, and work load.  I was surprised the depth of their research and the kinds of conversations that they were engaging in as teams and as a class.  It took everything in my being to keep my mouth shut and let them learn as a group together finding the answer instead of jumping in there and giving it to them.

This week was amazing!  As a class they are independently finding information that their TEKS require and discussing the information with the other groups putting it in their videos without me saying a word.  Students that were initially extremely upset at not being in the groups that they wanted have come up to me and apologized for their reluctance and are thanking me for talking them out of the alternate assignment.

I did have one of my more bright classes hit a huge road bump. On our block day together they discovered that when everyone tries to be in charge nothing gets completed and working to work doesn't achieve the goal.  We had a couple of class discussions about what the goal is and what responsibility that we all have to each other and to our goal. It was humbling but they made a huge comeback the next day.

My class periods are now in a predictable hum.  We have our beginning meeting.  Students check in with me to discuss their daily goals.  Groups check in and run out of the room to other places to film or to call possible "historical experts" for interviews. Groups might be gathered around tables building the town of Crush.Texas out of Legos to re-enact a train crash.  Others are on computers, laptops or phones researching and writing scripts.  A small trio will be around a microphone reading their scripts creating their voice overs.  They are moving furniture draping walls with green curtains and acting out scenes as three to four cameras record their progress.  Others will be watching and offering ideas to improve the scene or shot.  Class lights flicker and everyone knows, "Quiet on the set!" Class time goes fast.  Before they know it I am calling them to clean up and get out their calendars so we can have our class meeting.

Class meetings have been a huge part of this experiment.  At the beginning and end of each class we discuss what our goals are and what we need to do to achieve them. In these class meetings we look at our productivity, our due dates, and what we learned from a day of work.  I haven't utilized this type of meta-cognitive discussion in class before.  I was surprised to see how much the students like these and look forward to them.  It is a time to validate what they have learned to celebrate individual/team/class successes, strategize how to be more effective for the coming days.  It is also a way for me as the coach to lead the team and discuss behaviors that we need to support or correct to be more productive.

We have two more weeks left of this project and I have to say I will be sad to see it end.  I am not sure what our next step together will be.  I know I don't want the partnering to end, they have learned too much for us to make this an isolated event.  We have been practicing it for almost 30 days and are finally getting  perfect  better at it.

Maybe I should ask them.  See how they want to learn about the next unit, for our next 30 days.

Making it Real - Not Just Relevant

One of the more eye-opening things I've learned from my PLC experience is the value of making learning real for my students. Of course, we as teachers always try to make our students' learning authentic, make it relevant, make it meaningful to their lives, and they’ll be more likely to get it. But to make it real goes even further. According to Prensky, "real means that there is a perceived connection by the students...between what they are learning and their ability to use that learning to do something useful in the world." Wow. The whole reason I love teaching middle school is because I just might have an impact on who that kid is eventually going to be. Imagine if I can also impact what that kid is eventually going to do in the world.

Natalie’s story in the video is an amazing one and her message is clear. Find what inspires you and chase it. As teachers, not only do we have the ability but we have the opportunity to help our students find inspiration and use it to change the world. It doesn’t have to be an act of huge proportions like Natalie’s – it can be something as simple as getting others to recycle. I don’t know one student that wouldn’t want to do something useful in the world. Maybe they just don’t know how. Shouldn’t we teach them?     

They will Change Everything

Assessment in the Partnering Pedagogy

     In his book, Teaching Digital Natives, author Marc Prensky ends with a chapter on assessment, something all teachers struggle with because it is how we find out whether or not our students "get it."  Prensky feels that the current trend is to assess to find out where a student stands in relationship to other students, where do they fall along that Bell curve.  However, the author feels that assessment should, instead, be used for the student's good to ascertain whether or not they are learning or improving much needed skills.

    Prensky offers many different types of assessment for teachers to try which could possibly be better tools in determining whether or not students are, in fact, learning and progressing.  Some of these include peer assessment, real-world assessment, and self assessment.  For a teacher like myself, who does indeed find safety in formal, summative assessments, these types of "grading" leave me with one question:   Do they really measure a student's knowledge?  I will admit that moving away from a "unit test" to find out if my students are learning the concepts I am teaching is a scary venture for me.  For this to work, teachers, students, and parents will have to buy into the value of these types of assessments, and fully participate in their creation and implementation.  Given the current STAAR testing in Texas, I am not sure how a non-summative assessment system will prepare students for what they need to know to master the state's tests.

     One aspect that Prensky carries into this chapter that is maintained throughout his book is the teacher and students as "partners."  He sees this even more so in relationship to assessment. He continually stresses the need for "feedback" where assessment is involved.  Often on tests, the only feedback students get is a red X that says the answer is wrong.  There is no discussion or contact with the teacher to help the student understand how to improve or to find out what the correct answer is.

     Prensky also delves into assessing teachers', administrators' parents', schools', nation's, and the world's progress.  Most of what he writes about centers around the changing environment in education and how it is necessary for all involved to move forward towards a "partnering" framework for the betterment of our students.

     I found what the author had to say very enlightening, yet for me, a bit difficult to grasp how I would actually go about implementing the types of assessment he discusses.  I would definitely need to see these types of assessment in action in other classrooms in order to better understand how they are really evaluating the knowledge our students have of the concepts they are being taught.
    
 

Letting Your Students Create

According to author Marc Prensky in his book “Teaching Digital Natives” students are “eager to create and desire more diverse avenues for expression of what they have learned”.  Prensky explains that we need to explore the possibilities of letting students develop new tools referred to as “nouns” in the book, uniquely demonstrating what they have learned and understand about a concept through answering guiding questions by research and design.  Encountering this idea was a bit daunting for me as a teacher used to designing the lessons, instructing on content,  and having control for the delivery of the learning (because that’s what teacher’s do).  Shifting this personal paradigm, I have found (in baby steps) that giving  up some of the control to the students and letting them become the technical experts in their chosen medium of expression can actually be freeing.  It helped to know that according to Prensky, teachers don’t have to be able to use all of the tools or applications out there; it’s okay to let the students explore and use the nouns and possibly teach other classmates and their teachers how to use the tools.  A great idea he had was to create a list of possibilities for creation and posting the list on a school web or class blog site.  Prensky also emphasizes allowing students to join a world conversation by encouraging students to publish to different mediums.  By publishing to this world wide audience, the bar raises for the students who now are responsible for communicating what they know to a world wide peer group.  He terms this as “creating to their maximum capacity”.    

By providing the guiding questions for learning, and allowing students to create, students are given more choice, a second essential step for the partnering method to succeed.  This means that we need to ask them for feedback and input on how best to design the lessons.   The goal is that they will then take more ownership in the ideas, choices and outcomes.  No  matter what, Prensky states that you will always have slackers that will shrug off group assignments and collaboration style work.  To counter this, he suggests possibly putting the slackers together and letting them exceed expectations together.  In my own classroom, I have seen that when I put less motivated students together, they will usually surprise me by pushing each other so they will not be shown up by other groups. 

Who do I have to partner with? Part 2

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Ever read a professional development book and think, "Oh my! I have to start implementing this now!"  And then a week passes report cards hit, and before you know it the school year is over and the book is forgotten. I have lived this pattern several times.  To think of all that wasted time...and energy make me tired.

As a group, PLC, we decided that would not happen to us.  We did a book study on Digital Natives by Marc Prensky and developed this blog as a way to share our experiences of implementing this into the classroom. Week one was a struggle and I was not sure how this project was going to ever get off of the ground. I didn't trust my partners and was pretty sure they were all drunk on power and movie making.

Week two of our experiment with complete partnering was a raging success. The students presented their story arcs at the beginning of the week and as they finished their presentations we wrote and discussed the parts of the their arcs that we liked. Using the list of likes we came up with our own class arc.  There was much more spontaneous discussion on this than the notes.

The most tragic part of the week was the "passion based production group" sign up.  I wanted to make sure it was completely fair for everyone.  So instead of going alphabetically I got a number from the teacher across the hall and started sometimes on the top of the attendance list and sometimes at the bottom of the list and counted and called them to my desk to pick.  For the most part everyone was if not thrilled then at least at peace with the group they got.  However, there was one class...they struggle and this was no different. Some students didn't get the group they wanted and tears were shed.  The students upset by this were given the opportunity to try and find someone to trade with, or get into a different group, or do the alternate assignment.  They all chose the different group. I am curious how this will play out.

The first day the groups met they were busy researching their different areas.  Beside the film and editing group we have the people, background history, the current events, and the technology group. Each charged with specializing in different parts of the documentary. The groups elected leaders, who were responsible with dividing the research.  Everyone that is except the Film and Edit group they shoved their tables together and they were busy devising a storyboard for us.  As they figured things out the director would run to the different groups and give out assignments.

I was truly surprised by the level of their discussion and the passion they felt for the documentary. One discussion was a heated debate on whether they should include some information they find about one of our stars of the video being a founding member of the Knights Templar in Texas. Some said, "heck yes," because it is cool, others said, "no way," it has nothing to do with answering the essential question.  Made me happy. My little partners are finally taking responsible.

A bigger surprise this week was the level of tools they had at their disposal.  (A typical McKamy problem.) One group brought in a sound board, professional lighting and there is supposedly a green screen on the way next week.  I keep having to remind them that toys are fun but it is not their grade...the information and the story are. I really hope this does not become our Achilles heel.

Prensky was right about their passion leading education.  I had students that many times do not say a word and are clock watching from the minute they enter the room. It is not only my class, other teachers report that they do the same in their classes.  Not this last week.  These students were eagerly offering ideas, equipment, and running from group to group to get the vision together. They have set up interviews and we are working on questions.  And those little disengaged darlings were in the middle of it all wearing huge smiles.

Next week should be a huge test. The students are driving their own movie making completely.  Everyday they are setting goals and writing down exactly what they achieve with the end goal of having this done in two weeks. Keep your fingers crossed for us. 

Who do I have to Partner with?

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Partnering with the students?  I know it sounds crazy. We, the teachers, are in charge in our classrooms right? According to Marc Prensky that is true we are the leaders in our classrooms but we need to see our relationship with our students differently. My students made a little video about it....



So maybe the way we learned, the traditional method,  might not work as effectively as partnering can. Even though I realize this it is not an easy transition.

While reading this book I have struggled to implement this idea into my classroom.  I would not define myself as a "traditional teacher" but I do have those moments.  There is a particular unit that I am not thrilled with...I try something new almost every year with this section.  This year I have decided it will be our chance to partner.

Each class is creating a documentary about a different Texas industry.  Instead of me unloading a list of facts for each class the students were given a big overarching question and supporting questions. For the past week I have had the painful joy of coaching them through the research process.  The students, our digital natives, struggled with research.  They are expert searchers but are lost in research. I am not sure why, but I thought this vetting process would come natural.  For about two or three in each class it did.  However, the vast majority didn't get why they couldn't write type the question into google and write the first thing that popped up. This last week of coaching them through the process of researching was exhausting.  It makes me wonder if the process is worth what they are getting out of it.

I have a difficult time seeing them as reliable partners at this point.  They are drunk on freedom and movie making and we both struggle because they are letting their silliness get the best of them.  I hope that this calms as we continue to discuss expectations and responsibilities.  

This week the students are in the process of creating our documentary story arc.  I have broken them into table groups. The groups have to produce a story arc based on past documentaries, and the techniques we have seen.  They will present these to the class and we will vote and discuss what elements from every arc we want to use to create our class arc.  I notice I tend to lose them during the long discussions this type of project takes.  I am thinking a sticky note chat might work better, get them up and moving around.

After we agree on an arc the students will be given the chance to work in passion based groups that they pick. It is the passion based groups that will put the actual video together. For  the next two weeks students will create goals calendars and will be graded daily based on their progress.  This part makes me nervous.  I know some students are amazing planners but then I have those special babies that struggle to plan far enough ahead to bring something to write with.  I am truly hoping that since they will be working with something they feel strongly about that there will be a natural motivation.  I will keep you guys posted.

Lesson Planning

The notion of “partnering” when it comes to lesson planning should feel like a huge weight lifted off teachers’ shoulders.  Partnering places the learning emphasis on the student, thereby unburdening the teacher from preparing extensive lectures, handouts, and worksheets.  Instead, says Prensky, lesson planning should become all about “translating the content of lessons into the questions you will ask,” which will let the students discover the information on their own.  These questions fall into two categories: Overarching questions (the lesson objective) and supporting questions.  Prensky gives these examples:

            Big Question: “Why does the Earth move, and in what ways?

                        Supporting Question: “What is precession?”

Your questions should be “why” and “how” questions that are open-ended and complex to answer.  Prensky says that the best questions have multiple answers and every student should be required to come up with one solid position. 

If you’re having trouble coming up with guiding questions, Prensky suggests reversing your textbook.  Try turning the chapter names or subheadings into questions, but be careful not to pose questions with only one answer or ‘yes’ and ‘no’ responses. 

The most important (and some would argue, the trickiest) part of planning comes in connecting your lessons to each student’s passion.  Prensky warns that this can be difficult and is not always possible in every lesson.  However, the more students are encouraged to discover how to make a real-life connection to their own interests, the more committed they will be to the discovery process. 

Here is a short video explaining the difference between open-ended and close-ended questions.  She’s talking about teaching college students, but this technique could be applied to any classroom situation.