Base 4 Animation

Continuing Evolution

As I begin to read more about rubrics and students using them, I realize one thing I am missing is helping students actually write rubrics based upon projects/work that is already done.  Giving students finished products to look at and then ask them to differentiate between work that is above expectation, meeting expectation, or below expectation can help them understand how to differentiate those same characteristics in their own work.

I will continue to read and work out how to do this, but I think after the students turn in their first project, I may be able to use their work to help them then create better rubrics for the next projects.

Changes

As I began my inquiry process, I thought I was going to look at how to use blended learning modules with my gifted students. This didn't work out too well.  There were a lot of things that created stressors in this work.  The biggest issue is that I only see the students for 20 minutes once a week face-to-face.  As eleven year olds, they are used to being in charge of their learning at this point.  They need to learn to do it - which was part of what I was planning to do.  But when they go a week at a time with no face-to-face time, they don't have the opportunity to learn - they were simply expected to do it.

As the year has progressed, I realized that I can work towards my ultimate goal of self-regulated learning and student-led learning by helping my students learn to differentiate for themselves and write their own rubrics.  I have begun to read about the use of rubrics in general and student-created ones in general.  In my own past experience, I have had issues with rubrics because I feel like they are generally written to the lowest end of mastery and make it easy for gifted and talented students to make a 100% without much effort on their part.  My hope is that by creating the rubric themselves, they will have greater ownership and mastery of the criteria will prove to be more than simply crossing t's and dotting i's.

For the past six weeks, Learning Community has been learning about the Events Leading to the American Revolution.  All students were tasked with choosing a position: Patriot, Loyalist, or Undecided.  They were then asked to prove their position with evidence from the texts that they have read.  Part of the task is to write an editorial proving to showcase their learning. The students are now four days away from their first projects being due.  There are 15 gifted students and for this first project and as a part of my inquiry, I let the asked the gifted students to choose their own project beyond simply writing an editorial.  I have several students creating websites, a couple using Minecraft to reconstruct an event from the time period, a couple creating stop-motion animation, two writing stories, and one writing a choose-your-own-adventure book.  I haven't seen any finished products, but I have been encouraged by their ownership and excitement about the projects.  My hope is that they are able to accurately and portray their knowledge of the events and to know the information deeply.  That is what I am really looking for as I receive the projects this first round.

I plan to use what I find out to guide our future endeavors with student-created rubrics.  I don't know if I'll be able to have them choose their own projects every time, but we'll see.  What I do have to work on is creating an effective reflection for the students at the end of this project.  I have so many things going on in my head for how to progress.  As we now have 1:1 iPads, I want to have the students do a lot of reflection and use technology to explain a lot of their thinking - but I don't know that it can all be part of my inquiry.  So for now, I will focus on the reflection and the student-created rubrics.

As I move through the year, however, I would like to explore the following:

• blogging (maybe KidBlog?).
• using Evernote - I'm not sure if this would just be a rehash of blogging.
• Using educreations to show their thinking and learning processes for different topics including:
• literature circle topics
• home reading projects
• higher-order mathematics reasoning
• others?

Again, I know this is too much for an inquiry, but I'm really interested in helping these students go beyond simply learning and moving toward the creating.

My Inquiry Process

My inquiry process

I struggle with this portion of my career. I hate when I can't figure things out right away and when I perceive that I am less that perfect. I suppose in some ways that is why I relate to the kids I'm trying to work with. I also worry about feeling like I am winging stuff. I know I have read a lot about the stuff I am trying to do, but I feel like I have half-assed some stuff that hasn't worked out well and now I'm gun shy. I end up feeling that I am not doing it with quality and then thinking that means I should rely on canned curricula to fix it. One issue is that I don't think I've been as detail oriented. I don't always follow-through. And additionally, it has been several years since I have been able to really work with a group of kids on something without having to run it through committee and not have the time to get it done. That is what I have to figure out this year. Is it okay for Jhett and Brice and Kaiti to be my guinea pigs? How do I really start small and not offer the same thing to everyone? That is what I have to get comfortable with.

As for my inquiry, the first turn we are talking is teaching the students that they really do have to be online and working on the material. That wasn't something I anticipated. But then again, I don't know that I really hit the vein of them working on something they are interested in. Somehow there has to be a sweet spot. Right now I detect they like coming with me because it's "fun" and somewhat challenging, but nothing really to be responsible for. When it requires work, many of them peter out. Teaching that kind of perseverance is also a goal. But I do think I need to reform my inquiry around what they would be more interested in and use the time in my conferences to help with that. That is where my mind is now. I think my actual data gathering will need to wait until the second social studies unit.

My questions for tomorrow: what part of the events leading to the American Revolution interest you the most? What do you want to know more about? How can you incorporate that into your project?

What do you want to create? How do you want to show me that you know this stuff? How can I help you showcase your knowledge?

The same in math - how can you show me you understand base 4? And how it relates to base 10?

Growth and Change in EDG 6047

How have your definitions and your ideas changed over the past 8 weeks? Have you deepened your understanding of these concepts? What were your "pivotal" moments in that journey?

The biggest change for me in the definition of teacher leadership is the concept of the breadth of the term.  I also have a new appreciation for the depth of what is needed to really be a teacher leader.  However, one concept I still struggle with at this point is the concept of all teachers being "teacher leaders".  In one sense, I totally get this.  Everyone in a school has different passions, different strengths, and different goals.  It makes sense that each person can then be a leader in an arena of their own passion.  However, I still feel this is somewhat a utopia.  Not only can this create a situation where you have a lot of individual entrepreneurship, but it also assumes that all teachers want to be leaders.  Even in the most egalitarian, supportive environment, there are always going to be those who are looking to be really great classroom teachers and are not interested in leading others.  While in theory, I can argue that if you aren't willing to pass on this passion and knowledge to others than you are wasting part of your gift, it doesn't always change that person's viewpoint or activity.

All that aside, I think I have two major takeaways from this course: 1) my need to exercise empathy and 2) the need to increase the use of protocols.  The passage that has stuck with me most is from Katzenmeyer and Moller (2009) when they assert that teacher leaders must not only seek to understand the viewpoints of their colleagues, they must also try to operate from them.  This is going to be incredibly difficult for me, but I recognize that it will be critical as I seek to gain the trust of my teammates in a coaching role.  I know that they trust my intellect and my practice, but that doesn't amount to much when I'm in their room seeking to get intensely personal as I help them explore their practice.  They don't all have to be me; I need to help them be the best them they can be.  And that means I have to truly understand their worldview, their goals, and their passions.  Secondly, we have not been very successful in the past in using protocols.  Personally, I've always balked at them a little.  But reading through a lot of the research in this course and in the Guided Inquiry course I am also taking this summer, I am coming to understand how important they can be.  In order to truly level the playing field and help everyone participate in the conversations and decision making, protocols are a must.  The 'duh!' moment here for me is how much I use them with my students while walking them through Kagan Cooperative Learning Structures.  I can spout off all the reasons why I'm doing it while prepping the kids for them.  But when it comes to working with my peers, I pretend like it doesn't apply.  That is going to change as I move forward.

Changing Assumptions

In your journal, either reflect on how this went if you tried it OR... write about which assumption might be the most difficult for people in your context to tackle.

As it is summer, I was not able to complete the activity with my colleagues.  I imagine most of my peers are in the same boat.  In looking through the Framework of Assumptions, however, I think that the most difficult for my colleagues would be:

All teachers are potential leaders <------> Some teachers are potential leaders

In my context, there is a lot of tension right now about leadership roles.  In the past 48 months all of the leadership positions have been affected in one way or another.  We hired a new director, switched from 3 assistant principals to one principal and two assistant principals, and we are moving from traditional team leader positions to Learning Community Leaders who will have leadership and coaching responsibilities built into our workday.  

With all this change have come many conversations around leadership.  When the LCL positions were announced, there were several people who were concerned that we were "limiting teacher leadership opportunities."  This clearly echoes the belief that only some teachers are leaders - and those people are chosen  by administration.

The reality of the school is very different from the perception of many.  Teachers at our school lead in far more ways than in past schools I've taught at.  Teachers at our school are  coaching, are on committees, chair committees, lead workshops and trainings, present at conferences, lead faculty meetings, and more. But for many, if it doesn't say "leader" after their title, they don't consider it teacher leadership.

It seems like it would be a simple shift for people to realize that they really are being leaders.  Surely all you would have to do is point out what people are doing and they will see it.  But it has been my experience that people's perceptions are much harder to change than that.  I think what people are viewing as leadership is when someone is perceived to be "on the inside" or "in the know".  The distance perceived between leaders and teachers is sort of an "us and them" mentality similar to workers and bosses in union situations.  This is not a good mental place for a school to be in, and I hope that part of my position will lead to a change in the perception, at least in my small corner of the school.

Inspiration vs Frustration: A reflection on practice to lead to my espoused platform of leadership

What inspires me

I’m inspired when I am working in a situation with peers who are on the same wavelength with me.  It took me a long time to realize that I really thrive when working with others.  But it can’t just be any others; I look for others who share the same ideals of education.  This doesn’t mean I’m looking for others who are just like me.  Instead, I want to work with others who also believe in student-centered, self-regulated learning.  I also crave working with others who are seeking to improve their own understanding rather than just going off of “gut”.  The times when I have really had great working situations were when I have been with a team of teachers in situations like this.  This has happened twice so far in my career – each time only lasted for a year.  I’m hopeful that this next year will be another one – it certainly holds this promise.

What frustrates me

I’m frustrated by the opposite of what inspires me.  I hate working in situations where I am isolated or when I am constantly fighting against what I perceive as bad practice – or at least ineffective practice.  I really dislike being pigeon-holed as unaware or naïve; as if my understanding of education is that of a doe-eyed intern who doesn’t understand what education is really all about.  This hasn’t happened to me lately, but it did happen in my fourth year of teaching when, as I was explaining the cooperative learning structure I used to go over DOL, I was told “oh, I see what you are doing…you’ll learn eventually” or something to that effect.  I also get frustrated when working on teams where others don’t seem interested in learning or improving – only continuing the status quo.  Not far off from that is when others are willing to try new things, but aren’t willing to actually go out and read and find them; instead they wait for me to do it.  I get tired of pulling others along with me.  Again, I’m really excited for this upcoming year because the team that is assembled seems to be a lot of people who are willing to pull their own weight.