Knowledge < Understanding

A simple search for “Top 50 Self Help Books of All Time” led me to a list where the top three titles were:

1. Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by David D. Burns M.D.
2. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
3. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

25 million copies of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People have sold worldwide.  1.6 million copies of Outliers has touched the fingers of those eagerly awaiting their success.  IF we assumed that knowledge meant the same as understanding, then by these statistics, 25 million people worldwide should be models of effectiveness.  1.6 million people would be successful.  Now perhaps there are some in the 25 million who have radically changed the way they approach life, but I’m making the sweeping assumption that not all 25 million have engaged with life in this capacity.  Having knowledge about how to be effective is not at all the same as having an understanding.

As educators we are action researchers.  We take in new knowledge all the time.  We have to work to develop an understanding.  You know the phrase, “it’s just like riding a bike”?  Well, in this video, Destin from Smarter Everyday, shows us that riding a bike can be really, really difficult.  What makes this difficult is that our brain is telling us that we KNOW how to do it?  We know how to stay balanced and pedal and steer, but when we flip the bike backwards our brains can no longer rely on the knowledge of riding.  Instead we have to think deeply about how to maneuver the bike.  We have to develop an understanding of how to ride a bike.  Let’s see how well some of our Teacher Leaders did riding a backwards bike at a recent training.

So, how do we as professionals deepen our knowledge to the point of understanding?  As teachers we make 1,500 educational decisions every day.  That’s more than four decisions per minute.  If we don’t slow down and take the time to think about those decisions from time to time, we sacrifice the ability to gain understanding, and we are constantly wading in the pool of knowledge.  

When we slow down to process our knowledge, understanding grows.  When we deeply reflect with another person, our understanding grows.  When we watch others, our understanding grows.  When we invite others into our classroom to collect data and give us feedback, our understanding grows.  If we get caught in the spokes of telling ourselves that we know how to do something, we risk the ability to deeply reflect, process, refine, and grow.  We risk understanding.  

Pick one thing.  We do not have to develop an understanding of all of the new or revised research in education.  We do need to invest time and energy into a few areas where we will purposefully develop an understanding.  Where will you choose to invest your time and energy?

Engineering: Building capacity within students and teachers

This past August, the State of Iowa Department of Education adopted new science standards.  They are based on the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and while much of the content that will be taught in K-12 classroom won’t be that different, what will be different is how science is taught in the K-12 classrooms.  Full implementation of these standards is not required until the 2018-19 academic year, but ACSD teachers are starting to look ahead at the changes to come.

The biggest change that we will experience is the implementation of engineering and the engineering design process. Engineering tends to be a really big thing to kids and can sometimes seem unattainable. We often think about space engineers working on space shuttles or mechanical engineers working on large transportation systems. Through these new standards and integrating engineering into them, we communicate to students that they all have the potential to be engineers.

We define an engineer as:

• A person who designs and builds
• Someone who uses science and math to develop solutions for problems
• Someone who considers materials and structures such as practicality, safety and cost

Then we work our way through the engineering design process of Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create, Improve.  All the while, teachers are  explicit and intentional so that students know what each phase of the design process looks and feels like.

Engineering is not only something new for students to experience, but it is also a new concept for teachers to teach.

Charli Hanway, a 3rd grade teacher at Edwards Elementary, is part of the K-5 science content team and participated an engineering lesson during one of our meetings this year.  During the engineering lesson, teachers worked their way through the engineering design process while designing a maze for a Hexbug.  Along with her team of teachers, Charli, wanted to implement this lesson and some aspects of engineering into their Simple Machines unit, but they didn’t know where to start.  This is where I, as a TOSA (Teacher on Special Assignment), come in. My being able to model lessons in teacher’s classrooms, can help build confidence in those teachers for teaching engineering lessons.

Patti Allen, Charli’s team mate, stated “It is empowering for me to see you do the lesson and now I feel like I am able to go forth and teach it, and lessons like it, in the future.”

Moving forward, I am hoping to create a set of K-5 engineering lessons that I can take on the ‘road’ and teach and model in classrooms throughout all five elementary buildings next year to continue to build capacity with teachers.  We’ve also been awarded a Scale-Up program through the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council for the 2016-2017 school year.  The program is called Engineering is Elementary (EiE) and will be integrated in eleven 1st-5th grade classrooms as well as by two Technology Teacher Librarians (TTLs) throughout our district. If you are interested in knowing more about this, please reach out to Kari Smith, Teacher on Special Assignment for Math and Science.

Thinking outside the box

Carmen Friesen, an instructional consultant from Porterville, CA,  argues that Confucius stopped one phrase too short. She adds, “I reflect and I learn.” The power of this reflection is something that new teacher Beth Britt experienced during a recent mentor/mentee observation and coaching cycle.

The power of observation and reflection is one of the greatest tools educators have in assessing their own practices and moving their own thinking beyond the box. Audra Watson, Instructional Coach at Fellows, John Crall, Mentor and Special Education Teacher at Ames High School, and Beth Britt, Mentee and Special Education teacher at Fellows visited Northwood Preschool Center (yes, elementary and high school staff coming together to visit preschool) to structure some learning around differentiated small flexible group instruction for math and literacy.

After the observation, John began posing questions to assist Beth in summarizing her impressions of the observation as well as analyzing causal factors. Audra took on the meta-coaching role by observing the conversation for future conversations with both John and Beth. Beth’s challenge was to take the information gained from a preschool math and literacy lesson and apply it to elementary standards, structures and students.

Reflecting conversations such as these aren’t always easy. Beth shared that she “would have liked to have someone just give me the answer, but John gave so much wait time to think it made me think harder and keep digging deeper. Though it got a little uncomfortable, I knew that John knew I had the answer.”

The value of deep thinking was evident due to John’s patience. Beth continued, “The moment an idea came to the surface I quickly discovered the power behind digging deep within my own thinking. The understanding of my new ideas and next steps was concrete and ready for implementation.”

From this conversation, Audra and Beth will work to implement her new learning in her own classroom. Future observations will provide even more opportunity for discussion and feedback. Ongoing reflection will help to provide Audra, Beth, and John new insights into their own teaching and learning practices.

Conversations like these are going on in every building in our district. Although instructional coaches are great reflecting partners, all teacher leaders in the district are trained in these skills. How have you engaged in these conversations in order to push your thinking? Share them with us on Twitter - @ACSDTL or #AmesCSD.

Sharing Our Learning From The Iowa 1:1 Conference

On April 6th, 11 teachers from both AHS and  AMS and 2 technology coaches attended the Iowa 1:1 Conference in Des Moines.  The 1:1 Conference provides an opportunity for teachers from around the state to come together to learn about how technology can improve student learning in a 1:1 setting. In order to share learning at the conference and after, we’ve used Twitter, Google Docs, and even this blog to help us.  2016 Iowa 1:1 Conference Schedule and Resources contains a link to all of the sessions and resources from the conference. Below are reflections from Ames teachers who attended the conference. If you are interested in even more learning, check out the Twitter hashtag #i11i.

Takeaways

Vicki Hales, Business

• While technology is great and can be incredibly powerful in the classroom, it won't matter if student engagement is not considered. Students are not engaged because of the technology itself, they are engaged because of what and how they are learning. This means giving them something a little different on a regular basis. Don't just do the same thing over and over because it seems to work the first time. Switch it up and throw in some variables that will keep their attention, and therefore, engaged in the class.

Melissa Allman, Math

• I hope to use more online resources in my classroom. One that I learned about was ThingLink. This can be used to view a map of our school. Students can go on a treasure hunt throughout the school and solve problems that will lead them to a treasure. I'm hoping to connect with others in the district to learn more how ThingLink can be used.
• I learned that I can take blended learning classes through the AEA. I also learned how to expand my questioning techniques while still delivering content online. I hope to register for these classes the next time I need continuing education credits.
• Finally, I learned about many new math sites that can help with 1:1 learning. These include deltamath.com and Form Ranger with Google Forms. I'm hoping to use Google Slides with Google Classroom and Google Forms to help deliver content instructions during the next Geometry unit.

Cole Anderson, Math

• I took away a lot of good resources from a lot of good presenters. I have been wanting to move towards a flipped classroom concept in my upper level class. I was able to get a lot of good resources to help support that idea for next school year. Also, I was able to get a lot of resources to help me support my lower level students to help engage them better during class time. In my next unit for my lower level class, I am going to use Google Drawing to help us construct our notes to help give them more ownership in their learning during class.

Paige Seibert, Math

• I really liked the session that I went to where the speaker drilled the fact that 1:1 in the math classroom does not mean straying away from the standard paper and pencil work. It is essential that our students continue to use paper and pencil to show their work and explain their thinking. 1:1 is an enhancement that should be used in all math classrooms. It is always an ongoing process that changes. I want to continue to find ways to incorporate meaningful math activities in my classroom (math lab) for students who may struggle in math. 

Ron Schuck, Science

• Technology continues to innovate ways for teachers to give meaningful and quick feedback to students. Critical thinking can be done by using online sources of news, articles, etc, to be followed by Socratic discussion. Some software can facilitate deep questions. There are a number of ways to deliver and receive assignments from students. There are excellent sources online to help teachers get the most ofout of google classroom, docs, and sheets.

Patrick Donovan, Tech Coach

• Technology gives us a huge list of new possibilities in the classroom but we have to always be focused on student learning.  We can't just use technology because it is "shiny", but we have to be focused on how can we improve the learning through the use of technology.  We also have to remember that our students are going to enter a world in which they will be expected to live and learn in a digital world.  They are entering a world in which many of their possible future careers are not even invented yet and they will be facing problems that are still yet to come.  We have to make sure we are teaching in a way that prepares our students for their future and not the past from which we came.

Brenda Brink, 6th grade

• My big take away is to purposefully design more blended learning experiences for my students. Many of us teachers are already using tools that are blending our classrooms, but much of it is for an organizational reason. We need to be more purposeful to supply educational blending of tech into our units and lessons. 

Drew Dejong, 6th grade

• One of my favorite presentations of the day was "The Art of Being Awesome." this is the second year I have listened to the two Principals present. Each day I try and think about how this classroom and my self can be more awesome than we were yesterday. Here in room H102 we live by "We're not here to be average, we're here to be awesome!"

Tweets

#i11i gave me a lot of tools to bring back to my classroom. I look forward to using these with my students!

— Cole Anderson (@ctrain81132) April 6, 2016

Key idea: Don't implement everything at once. Change one thing at a time. And I will. Thanks @PeaceLoveMHeine , great presentation! #i11i

— Melissa Allman (@MAllmanAHS) April 6, 2016

No matter what, make sure that we use technology to better help students learn, not to just help teachers teach. #i11i

— Patrick Donovan (@donovanscience) April 6, 2016

Being awesome is being greater than you were the day before!! #awesomeness #i11i

— Drew DeJong (@ddejong03) April 6, 2016

Being awesome is being greater than you were the day before!! #awesomeness #i11i

— Drew DeJong (@ddejong03) April 6, 2016

Great google classroom online resource at https://t.co/jR0yQeufqO thanks to Amber Bridge and Beth Swantz at 1:1 #i11i conference

— Ron Schuck (@RonSchuck1) April 6, 2016

A Day in the Life

What does an Instructional Coach really do all day? Curious people want to know. To help answer this question, Autumn Seiler, Instructional Coach at Sawyer Elementary, graciously documented in photos one day of her life as an Instructional Coach.   

Even though Autumn’s calendar shows a variety of things scheduled for the day, an Instructional Coach’s job is fluid as he or she is responsive to a variety of needs.  Many of the things a coach does during the course of a day will not show up on the calendar.  There are multiple unplanned interactions with students, teachers, principals and other coaches in addition to the scheduled agenda.

Ready.  Set.  Here we go!  A photo depiction of day in the life of Autumn Seiler.

7:45 AM

(Intensive Plan meeting for a student moving from supplemental to intensive instruction.)

8:15 AM

(Planning for a newly formed PLC to assist in finding commonalities in their work and clarifying the PLC process.)

8:30 AM

(Meeting with guidance counselor to create videos of students doing the right thing in order to support teachers in helping students make good choices.)

8:45 AM

(Meeting with Principal, Sue Lawler, to plan professional development around student engagement strategies for all teachers.)

9:30 AM

(Observing in Alissa Beisner's classroom and collecting data requested by the teacher around her feedback to students, evidence of classroom culture and scripting her directions to students.)

10:15 AM

(One on one time with Nicole Coronado to discuss data she would like collected on higher order questions from both her and her students during the literacy block.)

10:30 AM

(Follow up with earlier observation with Alissa Beisner during her prep period  in which the data collected was discussed followed by a reflective conversation.)

11:00 AM

(Prep for an afternoon intensive plan meeting, analyzing some student data, finishing up professional development prep for the next day, uploading behavior videos to the Sawyer website and reading up on the Every Student Succeeds Act in order to respond to a teacher’s questions around it.)

1:00 PM

(Coordinating support for a student in order to meet the standards and outcomes for his grade level.)

1:30 PM

(Team intensive plan meeting to identify appropriate instructional routines to match the goal area as well as how to monitor instruction. This resulted in an opportunity for Autumn to model an instructional strategy in the classroom.)

2:00 PM

(An impromptu drop in from a teacher who wanted to share some common formative assessment results that she was surprised by and talked through planning potential next steps in the classroom.)

2:30 PM

(Two teachers made unplanned stop to celebrate successes in the classroom. One celebration was around instruction that the teacher  changed at her teacher table that brought success in a student being able to share their thinking in how they solved math problems.)

3:45 PM

(Co-facilitated a book study with another Instructional Coach around Making Sense of phonics by Isabel and Mark Beck.)

AT HOME IN THE EVENING

(Found assessment resources needed for an intensive plan, set up model teacher visits via email, brainstormed with a teacher via phone around a struggling student, read some professional materials and logged daily interactions.)

As you can see, Autumn's day is filled with a variety of opportunities to support teachers ensure that all of their students are successful. She moves through the day with passion and energy, always willing to go the extra mile for a teacher who needs it. Thanks, Autumn, for sharing your day with us!

If you are interested in sharing a day in your life, please contact Lisa Clayberg.

Teachers Learn Twitter with Student Help

As part of our afternoon of professional development for our Ames Teacher Leaders on Tuesday, March 1st, we had a session on using Twitter as a professional learning tool.  By allowing educators to reach out to others around the world, share ideas, and ask questions, Twitter is a very powerful tool for continued professional growth.  Although we have a fair number of teachers already using Twitter for this purpose, we wanted to ensure that this became another tool in all teacher leader’s tool boxes. #AmesCSDchat - Teacher Leader Edition was born.

As we were planning the day, we knew that there were going to be a wide spectrum of skill sets, so we decided to bring in some extra help. High school students volunteered to help our teacher leaders Twitter newbies. Using students in professional development also allowed us to keep the afternoon student-centered while simultaneously reminding teachers to use all of their resources, including current students, for support when implementing new technology in the classroom.

In education, there are Twitter “chats” - or groups of people who log-on at a specific time to discuss a shared interest (see a list of chats here).  In Ames, we have our own monthly education chat using the hashtag #AmesCSDchat where we discuss topics that our own teachers picked. These chats are ways that we can carry conversations beyond the school and involve many other voices as well as to improve our own understanding and awareness of the various topics we face as educators.  

This Twitter chat served as both an introduction to the format and an opportunity for teacher leaders to synthesize their learning from previous sessions. The questions included an opportunity for teachers to share the positives from their classrooms (#eduwins), to discuss the PLC flowchart, and to share goals for continued learning around the gradual release of responsibility. By the end of the chat, both experienced and new Twitter users were engaging in great conversations that they continued outside of the session.

The next #AmesCSDchat will be held on Tuesday, March 22 at 8pm. Join us to discuss topics submitted by Ames elementary teachers. If you have an idea for a future session, please contact @donovanscience or email patrick.donovan@ames.k12.ia.us.

No matter the chat topic, Twitter is a great place that teacher leaders can go for continued professional growth. We can ask questions, get feedback, and discover resources.  We can share out great examples of student learning and allow parents or community members to understand what we are doing in our schools.  We can take the lead by telling our own story rather than letting the media tell it for us - with one #AmesCSD voice.