Friday, April 27, 2012

Week 1 Term 2: Time & Workload Management


Term 2 is already underway with junior report writing, parent interviews and mid-term exams looming in the not-to-distance future.  With this in mind, I thought a few ideas on Time Management might be... well.... timely.  

In this post you'll find:
  • Tips on managing time and workloads
  • Suggestions to reduce your internet time by using RSS, Ted/Ed, YouTube for Teachers, and Google for Teachers
  • What's in the latest 2 editions of Education Leadership Magazine - available now in our library.   
[Please note that PD bites will be bi-weekly for the duration of the year, appearing sometime between Friday morning and Sunday night]

TIME AND WORKLOAD MANAGEMENT:

Here are my favourite 4 tips:
  • Plan lessons in "chunks" of 2- 3 periods rather than period-by-period. Planning a short series of lessons takes less time and provides a more organised flow than planning them one-by-one.  Things won't always go according to plan but if you've got a clear idea of what's coming next it's easier to adjust on-the-fly and you'll be better prepared to take advantage of any "teachable moments" that develop along the way.  Additionally, I find myself feeling more in control of, rather than controlled by, my workload - that positive mental boost does wonders for my motivation and ability to focus.
  • Good Enough is Enough.  I confess to trolling for the perfect image for almost an hour when one that I found in the first minute would have done the job just fine.  This is what I call "advanced procrastination" because it LOOKS and FEELS like I'm working.  Borrowing from Pareto and Juran,  80% of the preparation time for a new resource can be spent "tweaking" in what amounts to only about a 20% improvement.   Combat perfectionism by recognising your motivation. Are you continuing towards perfection to improve student learning, to avoid other commitments, or to satisfy a psychological need of your own?    Here's a link to a good, short read on the underlying reasons for procrastination and how to over come them. 
  • Enough is Enough.  The more time we have to create a lesson resource, the more time we take to create it. Many of us could work less and still get roughly the same amount done (although it might be about 20% less perfect)  "Ease The Load", a Teachers.tv series about life-coaching teachers, had an unbelievable tool for managing workload: a timer.  Teachers' were instructed to set a timer and work for a set amount of time at home - and then stop.  Just stop.  None of the teachers thought that it was possible because so much just MUST get done, but the transformations were amazing. The amount of work accomplished was reduced by very little and the teachers became much happier and healthier - which of course leads to better teaching.  
  • Walk and Talk . Need to discuss a simple issue with a teacher or student? Have them join you during your morning tea/lunch duties while you are walking around. Always carry a pen so you can deal with messages, notices, signup sheets immediately as they are presented to you - don't carry them back to your desk where they just become part of the larger pile (I've heard this concept called the "touch paper once rule").  Want to keep a conversation "contained" to a limited time? - have the conversation ask you walk with the student or colleague from your/their classroom to the staff room or the student's next class - reaching  the destination provides a clear "end point" to wrap up any discussion and thank them for their time and attention.
Some Tips from the Experts:

REDUCING INTERNET TIME:

YouTube.  Most of us have spent hours sifting through quite terrible videos in search of a high quality one.  YouTube has an answer for this:  Check out:

YouTube for Teachers  : A collection of playlists of videos that align with common educational standards, organized by subject and grade. These playlists were created by teachers for teachers so you can spend more time teaching and less time searching.
 and    
YouTube Education : An area within the larger YouTube site that restricts access to only videos from well-known organizations like Stanford, PBS and TED as well as from up-and-coming YouTube partners with millions of views, like Khan Academy, Steve Spangler Science and Numberphile.  No pop-ups.  All comments and related videos are disabled.


Google also has a Google For Teachers' Section with advice on how to search more effectively with Google.  
The site offers quick access to resources for:
They are just getting started with a  Lesson Plan Search Engine but it needs a bit more development before it will be particularly useful.

TED - Ed : Lessons Worth Sharing site has the same overall theme as the TED conferences but are videos geared specifically for use in classrooms.  


RSS & Aggregators - Have your favourite websites come to you. 
Most browsers have built-in RSS readers which will send new material from your favourite websites to you whenever they are updated - so you don't have to repeatedly visit the website to check. Here are some good explanations:

For the iphone/ipad users out there - my favorite aggregator is Flipboard. 
Flipboard aggregates feeds from facebook, Twitter, various news agents, and my favourite education blog: MindShift. It is limited though to which feeds you can select.  

If you're not onto Twitter yet - it is a treasure trove for teachers - but I'll save that for another post!


PROFESSIONAL READING:

Two more editions of Educational Leadership Magazine are about to arrive in our library.  

March's edition is entitled: Reading: The Core Skill and is packed full of great stuff (see below)!

Here's what's inside:


April 2012 | Volume 69 | Number 7
College, Careers, Citizenship 
Feature Articles
Deborah Perkins-Gough

Robert Rothman
The common core state standards offer schools an opportunity to advance equity and excellence.

Jean Johnson
Former students tell why a college diploma is beyond their reach.

William Damon
How do we teach students to care deeply about their country?

David T. Conley and Charis McGaughy
The debate about whether high school is for job training or college prep is over.

William C. Symonds
Why we need more and better career education and counseling.

Suzanne M. Bouffard and Mandy Savitz-Romer
Motivating students to aspire to college and career requires a developmental approach.

Robert Kunzman
If students are to navigate public life, they must know how to talk about their religious differences.

Rick Wormeli
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor makes the case for rebuilding civics education.

Roberta Espinoza
At crucial times, educators have the capacity to change students' lives.

Linda Murray
What schools can do to address barriers to college readiness for all.

Tony Wagner
How some (but too few) schools are encouraging young people to transform their world.

Web Hutchins
High school students are lobbying leaders to give all students a civics-rich classroom experience like their own.

Jennifer Glenn Morrow and Alex Torrez
An early college experience creates expectations for success.

Kimberly A. Hill
A high school offers engineering, cosmetology, and auto tech, to name a few ways it combines college prep with career readiness.

Barbara Bartholomew
The emphasis on utilitarian text will derail the literary arts if next steps are not planned carefully.

Columns / Departments

Robert J. Marzano
Getting students moving is an effective learning strategy.

Thomas R. Hoerr
Look around the corner for an expert on building community.

Carol Ann Tomlinson
What kids learn from observing their teachers on the job.


March 2012 | Volume 69 | Number 6
Reading: The Core Skill
Feature Articles
Marge Scherer

Richard L. Allington and Rachael E. Gabriel
A powerful reading prescription for all students.


Pam Allyn
Give struggling readers the tools to triumph over their fears.

Gina Biancarosa
How to take adolescents who haven't mastered the basics to higher-level literacy.

Thomas Newkirk
We never stop looking for the storyline, the author contends. Plot is at the heart of all good writing.

Nell K. Duke, Samantha Caughlan, Mary M. Juzwik and Nicole M. Martin
Is the genre dramatic, persuasive, informational? Real-world uses matter.

Carol Jago
A call for a reading renaissance.

Larry Ferlazzo
The community organizer's guide to teaching reading.

Anne Goudvis and Stephanie Harvey
Social studies need not require a passive slog through textbooks.

Timothy Shanahan, Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey
Equipping students to deal with text complexity.

John T. Guthrie and Susan Lutz Klauda
Five crucial practices to motivate adolescents to read informational texts.

Debbie Abilock
In the dizzying world of click-and-go information, how to judge credibility?

Joyce Kasman Valenza and Wendy Stephens
E-books and social media have expanded the definition of the word "book."

Columns / Departments
Bryan Goodwin
With early intervention, we can get students back on track.

Robert J. Marzano
Proficiency scoring is more precise than assigning points to test items.

Thomas R. Hoerr
Helping kids learn to respond to failure is part of the job.

Carol Ann Tomlinson
How to tap into the (sometimes buried) intrinsic desire to read.

Read readers' stories here and online, and contribute your own response to an upcoming question.

Gary Houchens
Gary Houchens and James Harvey debate school choice.

James Harvey
Gary Houchens and James Harvey debate school choice.
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Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Term 1: Week 10 - EBT and Enduring Myths in Education

I have my qualms with Evidence Based Teaching, given the level of scientific literacy required to properly control variables, avoid confusing correlation with causality and consider the validity of conclusions appropriately. It is, however, one of the only tools we have to separate effective teaching and learning methods from the multitude of well-intentioned-but-ineffective ones. So, while it may have its flaws, EBT remains essential to the pursuit of better teaching. Without EBT we rely on the mythologies of "common sense" and anecdote.

Group Brainstorming and Learning Styles are two examples of false-truths that persist in the educational folklore. For more on these enduring myths, here are a few articles:
"Think You're An Auditory Or Visual Learner? Scientists Say It's Unlikely"
"Why Brainstorming Doesn't Work"



Where to start with EBT?

Step 1. Find out what the research says:

John Hattie's book, Visible Learning, is a thorough but monotonous, read. The introduction is definitely worth reading and then you can pick the sections that you feel are relevant to your classroom.

Geoff Petty's workshop booklet, kindly made available from modellearning.com is a short, directly-to-the-point read. It covers a lot less, but has some very good advice and resources. Geoff has also written his own books and produced some DVDs. More info on these here.

Robert Marzano's Research: the meta-analysis synthesis report available from his homepage.

Step 2: Implement your own inquiry

Once you seen what the research recommends, then it's time to take on the "Teaching As Inquiry" model from the NZ Curriculum. The success of a teaching strategy depends not only on what is done, but also how it is done. Some strategies will be a better "fit" for some teachers than others. So EBT in your individual classroom is also essential to improve teaching.

Marzano has written a cautionary article about the importance of school-level EBT inquiry processes, called "Setting the Record Straight on "High Yield" Strategies."


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Friday, March 23, 2012

Term 1 Week 8: Easy to Adopt Questioning Practices

Two articles this week from Mind/Shift, (an educational blog from California's public radio/tv station KQED) discuss how a few easy-to-prepare questions can improve lesson effectiveness.

Something as simple as: "what do you think the answer will be?", "what makes you think that?", or "what will you do to remember today's key ideas?" can make a difference, particularly for lower-ability students.

The first article reports on research using student predictions in intermediate maths classes. The second looks at metacognition for successful learning and provides a list of questions that can be simply dropped in to your pre-existing lessons at appropriate times.

Below is a synopsis of each article so you can decide if you want to have a further look.

What’s Your Best Guess? Predicting Answers Leads to Deeper Learning
http://mindshift.kqed.org/2012/02/whats-your-best-guess-predicting-answers-leads-to-deeper-learning

The Idea:
The act of making predictions prompts students to understand the material more deeply as they engaged in reasoning and sense-making instead of mere memorization.

The Method:
Pupils wrote down a prediction, along with explanations supporting their guess, and then discussed their responses. After telling the students that it was their reasoning that was important, not the correctness of their predictions, the teacher went on to teach them. Students then revisited their initial predictions.

The Theory of Why It Works:
In venturing a guess, we discover what we know and don’t yet know about the subject. We activate our prior knowledge on the topic, readying ourselves to make connections to new knowledge. We create a hypothesis that can then be tested, generating curiosity and motivation to find out the answer. Most of all, making predictions leads us to think deeply, to “explore the ‘why’ that underlies challenging problems.” Students who only memorize facts are often unsure of when or how to apply what they have learned. Making predictions requires students to actively grapple with new concepts instead of passively receiving them.


Do Students Know Enough Smart Learning Strategies?
http://mindshift.kqed.org/2012/03/do-students-know-enough-smart-learning-strategies/

The Idea:
Low-achieving students show “substantial deficits” in their awareness of the cognitive and metacognitive strategies that lead to effective learning—suggesting that these students’ struggles may be due in part to a gap in their knowledge about how learning works.

The Method:
Teachers drop proactive questions into the lesson on a “just-in-time” basis—at the moments when students need promping to use the metacognitive strategies. This helps to ensure that children know not just what is to be learned, but how.
Some proactive questions:
- What is the topic for today’s lesson?
- What will be important ideas in today’s lesson?
- What do you already know about this topic?
- What can you relate this to?
- What will you do to remember the key ideas?
- Is there anything about this topic you don’t understand, or are not clear about?

Children can also be surveyed for awareness and encouraged to use metacognition strategies with a questionnaire similar to:
- I draw pictures or diagrams to help me understand this subject.
- I make up questions that I try to answer about this subject.
- When I am learning something new in this subject, I think back to what I already know about it.
- I discuss what I am doing in this subject with others.
- I practice things over and over until I know them well in this subject,
- I think about my thinking, to check if I understand the ideas in this subject.
- When I don’t understand something in this subject I go back over it again.
- I make a note of things that I don’t understand very well in this subject, so that I can follow them up.
- When I have finished an activity in this subject I look back to see how well I did.
- I organize my time to manage my learning in this subject.
- I make plans for how to do the activities in this subject.

The Theory of Why It Works:
The article didn't say much in this regard but both articles do have links to research papers they are based on.

Here is a link to a nice lay-person's overview of metacognition and how to teach it.
Metacognition Introduction:
http://imaginationsoup.net/2012/01/teach-kids-to-think-about-their-thinking-metacognition/

For a very thorough read on metacognition and the teaching structures that support it one of the best resources I've come across is Harvard's Visible Thinking page:
http://pzweb.harvard.edu/vt/VisibleThinking_html_files/02_GettingStarted/02a_GettingStarted.html

Happy questioning everyone!
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Thursday, March 15, 2012

Term 1 Week 7: Never Work Harder Than Your Students

Never Work Harder Than Your Students & Other Principles of Great Teaching
Jackson, Robyn R. (2009). Never Work Harder Than Your Students & Other Principles of Great Teaching. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Principle 7: Never Work Harder Than Your Students

(Chapter 7 – pp. 170-191) – This chapter is well worth reading in full.
  • We need to be clear about what is our work and what is the students’ work, and make sure that we do our work and they do theirs. See this web link for a list which divides the classroom work.
  • Our responsibility is to teach and support. Their responsibility is to learn. We must not solve problems for them but help them acquire the tools they need to solve the problems on their own.
  • Set up systems so that students are able to do more on their own. E.g. If we want students to keep organised notes, then we need to set up a routine for note-making and the way to organise them.
  • Students must be held accountable for doing their work by having logical consequences.
Try this idea:     
1.       Work with students to establish clear classroom routines for the following:
·         Homework – how it will be collected, how students find out what it is
·         Late Work – how students hand it in and what the consequences will be
·         Absences – how students will find out what work they missed, when and how they will need to hand it in
·         Assessment Grades – how students will track their performance
·         Beginning of Class – how will class begin, where should students be, what counts as late
·         End of Class – how will students be dismissed, how should students leave the classroom
·         Attendance – how you will track, what consequences will be in place for lateness/ unexcused absences
·         Note-making – what format should be used, how the notes will be stored and used
·         Tests – how the classroom will be arranged, what kind of student interaction is appropriate, how to ask questions, how to hand in the tests
·         Discussions – how will students participate, what type of participation is appropriate, who will facilitate, how will discussions be facilitated
·         Transitions – how will assignments be passed back, how will students move from one activity to the next


Rewards: What really works?

How do you balance your use of rewards and sanctions, and are the rewards you’re using really having a positive effect on student behaviour? Dave Stott provides some practical tips.

Educational Leadership Magazine

The February 2012 edition For Each to Excel is now in the library. The following articles focus on differentiation:

  • Teaching to What Students Have in Common by Daniel Willingham and David Daniel. Why effective teachers pay attention to the ways in which all students are the same.
  • Preparing Students to Learn Without Us by Will Richardson. Technology leverages students' curiosity to learn whatever whenever.
  • Teach Up for Excellence by Carol Ann Tomlinson and Edwin Lou Javius. Seven principles for creating classrooms that give students equal access to excellence.
  •  Helping Gifted Learners Soar by Susan Rakow. How to optimize the potential of those students who master material quickly. 
  • Clustered for Success by Dina Brulles and Susan Winebrenner. Cluster groups allow students to work with peers as well as contribute to the whole class. 
  • All Students Are Artists by Linda Nathan. Arts education provides a model for continual pursuit of improvement. 
  • Planning for Personalization by William Powell and Ochan Kusuma-Powell. Here's how to shift from teaching facts to teaching concepts in a standards-based curriculum. 
  • Data, Our GPS by Rich Smith, Marcus Johnson and Karen D. Thompson. A district needed to find out where their students were before it could get somewhere. 
  • "Just How I Need to Learn It" by Cheryl Becker Dobbertin. Differentiating how students learn is easier when they know their learning targets. 
  • The Right Fit for Henry by J. Christine Gould, Linda K. Staff and Heather M. Theiss. Did Henry belong in the gifted class even if he had a learning disability? 
  • Special Topic / Senseless Extravagance, Shocking Gaps by Richard Weissbourd and Trevor Dodge. A race to opulence characterizes affluent schools even as other schools scramble to provide basic supplies.

 

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