Empowering Students with Technology

Today, I was working in a 3rd grade classroom where students were discovering and exploring Explain Everything. I have done planning and technology work with this teacher before and she isn't the most confident in her technology abilities, but today I think the lightbulb went off for her. She doesn't need to be the keeper of all knowledge when it comes to technology. If we empower our students to help one another, things work smoother and the students take ownership of their own learning.

I gave an overview of the toolbar and then gave students an assignment to create within Explain Everything. Before I turned them loose to create, I asked the students what they should do if they didn't remember how to do something. Of course, they responded they should raise their hand and ask me. I reminded them that I won't always be in their room but to look to their peers. It was amazing what happened when they started working. Students were asking each other for help and when one would ask me, I would direct them to another student that I knew had completed that task.

I did show one student how to change the privacy in settings in case the camera or the microphone was turned off in any app they were using. Her confidence and excitement for helping others became clear right away when three students came up to her in about five minutes asking for assistance with this task.  By the end of the session today, there was a class full of experts and the students even discovered things that I hadn't shown the class and were willing to share with their peers.

We need to get over the fear of not having all of the knowledge and letting the kids figure things out and help each other.  The teacher can then truly move into a facilitator role instead of the keeper of all knowledge.

Jumping Feet First Into Self-Paced Math

I have been feeling guilty about not posting to my blog but now I feel like I have so much to share about the great things happening in Nevada.  One huge endeavor some of our teachers have taken on this year is creating a self-paced environment in their classrooms.

Through this process, students progress at their own rate and are able to get individualized attention based on their needs.  Teachers put in countless hours this summer to align activities, lessons and assessments to the standards while still engaging students. They put great effort into not making these items drill and skill but rather a focus on students creating and applying their knowledge, as well as sharing these ideas with peers and the world.  Students can advance at their own pace and get their needs met by small group instruction with the teacher.

We have worked together to determine logistics, learn new technologies, and put all of the pieces into place to make self-paced math work.  Below is an example from one classroom this morning - the focus mini-lesson was on fractions and aligned to the grade level standards, but these 3rd/4th grade students were working on their own pacing guides based upon their needs.  This classroom looks like a well-oiled machine after a month of just jumping in feet first to self-paced math. Kudos to the teachers for taking on the unknown and putting the best interests of kids at the forefront of their teaching and learning.  I am lucky to work with some amazing educators and am grateful my own children get the chance to learn in self-paced learning environments.

Innovator's Mindset

Another takeaway I had from George Couros' Leading Innovative Change session (@gcouros) was the belief that the biggest game changer in education is teachers that thinks of themselves as innovators.  When looking at the definition of innovator, we see a person who introduces new methods, ideas, or practices.

At times, educators have a hard time grasping this, as their day is packed with teaching, grading, and meetings; however, if we look at any other professional practice, we know we need to stay on top of new methods, ideas, and practices. If we would go to a doctor who was treating his patients the same way he did fifty years ago, it would be medical malpractice; however, many of today's schools look the same as they did fifty years ago. Desks area aligned in rows with the teacher disseminating information with students regurgitating the answers. We need to move away from education malpractice.

Teachers are busy, I get that. So, how do we make those changes with the little time we have available? We need to take on an innovator's mindset. We can't continue doing the same things as we have always done and then try to add on something new. We don't have time to do it all, so we need to replace something old with something new.

At conferences and even district wide professional development, teachers are flooded with new practices and ideas. (Feeling the guilt, as I do this to our staff). As an educator, take one thing from a session/conference and implement it into your classroom. Start small and only tackle one new thing at a time. With this approach, having an innovator's mindset is doable.

Asking the Right Questions

Wow!  It has been awhile since I have taken the time to sit down and formally reflect on my blog....over three months to be exact.

This past week, I was at a conference in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and connected with an amazing speaker and educator, George Couros.  The focus of his presentation was leading innovative change in education.  I could blog about many of the topics he presented, but I'll start with one that really resonated with me.

"If you ask students to put away devices, you are losing students' trust and their way of learning." 

- George Couros

In my role, obviously I encourage integrating technology into the content areas and it burns me when I hear comments from educators or see posters in schools that say something to the effect of no technology allowed in this classroom. Technology is an extension of our students these days; the worst technology device a kindergartener knows is an iPad 2. They have always had technology as part of their lives. They use devices to connect, to create, to communicate, and believe it or not even to learn.

When teachers direct them to disconnect, in essence they are taking away a huge part of the way they know how to learn. Students do know how to think and communicate without their devices, but why would we want to limit them to only the tools and people in the four walls of the classroom? Parents trust that as educators we are going to allow their students to use the tools so they can learn. Students need to be empowered to use the tools to connect, collaborate, think critically, create, and solve real world problems.

I had a teacher ask me if we could disable Google during tests because kids were looking up the answers to their tests. If kids are Googling the answer, we as educators are asking the wrong questions! As the sign in my office reads....