Implementing Chromebooks and Sharing Leadership

This semester the students at our school recieved Google accounts and began using Chromebooks for the first time. I know many schools have been implementing technology on a larger scale for a much longer period of time than ours, but a new wireless network and a cart of Chromebooks created a buzz of excitement for our kids.  It was exciting for me as well, as an expansion of technology was an important part of my vision for the school. 

For me the process of implementing Chromebooks was a great opportunity to learn to share leadership. We went through five steps along the way, and collaboration produced better outcomes at each. 

1.) Selection of devices: As an iPad fan, Chromebooks weren't my first choice, but it became clear to me the staff who were most committed to implementing technology were more interested in Chromebooks. 

2.) Budgeting: No new money was available for purchasing the devices. Our staff worked together to figure out what we could do without to purchase devices from our building's budget. 

3.) Policy: I'm not the most patient person, and I would have been content to copy another district's policy and replace the name at the top with ours. In fact I did this. However, our tech committee worked together to write an AUP that was consistent with our board's policy. 

4.) Professional development: Here is another place I had to let go. While I had a clear vision for iPads in classrooms, I was not the most knowledgeble person on staff when it came to GAFE. A teacher led the training, and that training has made its way into classrooms. 

5.) Putting devices in students hands: As the accounts were set up, teachers took control over account settings. One question we had to decide was should all teachers have access to student passwords or just the account administrator? The teachers wanted to be able to help students when they forgot their passwords and that's what we did. I wanted to be more involved in setting up accounts, but it turned out I didn't have to. The first time the devices were used in a class, I was at the board office in a meeting. 

Our students have a richer learning environment because of the devices. Our staff has a stronger culture because of the collaboration.

Coaching vs Evaluating a Personal Story

The students at our school are fortunate to have second year teacher who is determined to improve her teaching, which is quite good already.  The evaluation tool our district uses is effective for it's purpose, evaluating. However, after several post evaluation conferences, it was clear that she was not finding the feedback in the evaluation especially helpful in her development.  

For me, the administrator, the evaluation tool provided a structure that was fairly clear. I would evaluate the areas of emphasis previously selected and evaluate those areas according to the rating system as I was trained. Teaching is an extremely personal act, and I took some comfort in the objectivity provided by the evaluation tool. Besides the new evaluation tool was driven by compliance with legislation. It was something we had to do. 

To be clear, I believe evaluation has it's place and the new emphasis on evaluation results in better instruction. However, this teacher was looking for more than evaluation. She wanted coaching. She didn't want numbers on a narrow set of performance indicators. She wanted suggestions for how to improve an area outside the ones chosen for evaluation. 

Every post evaluation conference ended with questions and requests for guidance. My shallow responses and efforts to redirect the conversation to what were good evaluation marks were not enough. My efforts to allow her observe veteran teachers and have veteran teachers observe her were not enough. 

When I thought about stepping outside our evaluation model, I kept stumbling over the same questions. 

-As a classroom teacher was I ever much better at this area than she is? 

-My training as an evaluator was intense, but I wasn't really trained to coach was I?

-What if my suggestions don't work? 

-What if my suggestions discouraged this talented educator? 

Finally I decided that logically speaking, something beats nothing. The next time I went in the classroom I didn't open the evaluation tool on my phone. I opened my note taking app. I didn't mark numbers; I wrote descriptive and qualitative comments. While I made an effort to include remarks about great things that were taking place, my comments focused mainly on areas of weakness, even though I knew those same weaknesses existed in my own teaching. When I shared the notes, I requested it not be seen as an official evaluation but as observations from a critical friend. 

I hit send, hoping it wouldn't do more harm than good. 

To my relief the teacher recieved it in the spirit it was intended. Productive conversations followed. 

The process left me with the realization that coaching is much tougher than evaluating. Coaching, especially in this situation, is not as compliance driven. Because of that, it requires more trust. To be effective it can't be reduced to a formula or rubric. It requires individuals who are truly committed to improvement, not just box checking. 

In my opinion the best model is for schools to have instructional coaches who do not evaluate and to have evaluators who do not coach. They are distinct functions that are both important. However, in many schools it is not feasible. Administrators find themselves tasked with coaching and evaluating, which is a fine line. 

It's a line worth walking.  

Ice Floes and Eddies: January Paddle

For weeks my daughter and I monitored the river level, itching to explore during low water.  However, during the winter the temperatures are as low as the water line. Finally, during the third week of January, we caught a break: three days in a row with highs in the fifties. 

Our lake at home was still frozen over, so we set off to the creek we use for river access wondering if we'd even be able to put our fourteen foot Old Town in the water.  Packing the dry bag with an emergency blanket, extra clothes, and matches, gave me a bit of a pause. Daytime highs were warm, but it was still hypothermia conditions. 

Aside from the edges, the creek had no ice, and it was lower than we had ever seen. Access ramps sat exposed in near frozen mud. A bald eagle soared in the bare trees that revealed caves in the limestone bluffs. We had not noticed the caves before; they captured our imaginations.

When we reached the confluence we found our way blocked with ice floes: pieces over four inches thick and several feet across. We wondered how far north these frozen wonders began their journey. My daughter and I worked through the ice, trying to ignore the eerie grinding sound they created as they pushed against each other and the canoe. 

We made a quick loop out into the river, surprised by the power it held even at a stage under six feet and then parked on a sandbar that stretched out like a beach. My daughter picked chunks of riprap and threw them at the ice floes, one so thick it shattered the limestone rock. We examined the strange channels the river cut in the sand, while the eagle above examined us. 

We marked time by the passing of ice floes and the setting of the sun. The wind began to pick up and the temperature began to drop. It was time to make the two mile paddle back to the truck. 

We were glad we made the effort. 

How To Improve Minecraft Pocket Edition (A Guest Post From My Daughter)

First of all I am a super gigantic fan of minecraft. I also think Notch (and the rest of  the team) are very talented to be able to think so creatively. The game has great graphics, textures and most of all the game never gets boring. Okay now (without further adieu) here is the list:
1. Add an update where you can grow anything. Example: If you plant a sapling (of any kind) then tap the sapling with whatever you want to grow and it will grow like a normal tree but it will supply the thing you tapped it with. When you destroy a block of leaf on the tree it will give you three of the item or block you tapped it with. Personally I would tap the tree with a diamond.
2. Add furniture (that is interactive).Example: Like a chair.
3.  Give each ore it own biome where it can be found at any level. The other ores are jealous that gold gets its own biome because it only has two uses that are helpful.
4. Make bookshelves interactive ( so people can read). Example: If someone is just starting to play minecraft  and they make a world a book shelf will spawn in front of them.  If the player taps on it a GUI will show up that looks like a close up version of the book shelf. Except that  the spines of the books have titles. Titles like: A noobs guide to minecraft, How to become a pro and other poems (ect).
5. Take the pc version of minecraft and shove it into pocket editions mouth like mashed potatoes.
6. That reminds me can there be mashed potatoes too. Example: First you need to craft a potato masher. Then you need to get one baked potato. Next go to the crafting table and select the mashed potatoes icon. The potato masher will lose durability over time like a normal tool.
7. Oh and there should also be salt and pepper. Pepper will be made by putting seeds in a crafting table. Salt will be made by putting salt in a crafting table. Pepper ,added to food (not watermelon ,apples ect), will make  your Steve sneeze taking away a heart of health. Salt will give your Steve the wither effect (  That'll teach people to abuse the usage of salt!)
8. Add bacon mod to 0.11.0.
And finally add trouble maker to villager types. Trouble maker destroys houses, crops and player houses in a 10 block range of the village. He also hides player items if the player lives in village.
P.S. I love minecraft. (Thank you Notch).
THE END*
*Can you also add the end?

About the author: Laney is a minecraft enthusiast, cat lover, and aspiring game designer. 

Best Way To Prepare Students For Online Science MAP Tests? Do Labs.

Practice tests are now available for the new computer delivered MAP test for fifth and eighth grade science students.

I'll be the first to admit that I was skeptical about the influence of computer based testing for science. I was worried that computer scored questions would result in more "recall" questions. However, after taking the practice test, I was pleased to see that the majority of the questions evaluated the ability of the taker to think scientifically. Many questions require students to set up data tables, or graph data using the information presented within the four corners of the screen.

Science teachers will give their students a better chance to excel if they give their students some screen time with the practice tests. Students need to know that "tab" won't move the cursor between fields and they need a chance to work the "drag and drop" feature. Some time in Excel or Google Sheets won't hurt either. That said, putting kids behind a computer screen won't be the best way to prepare them for the test. The best way to prepare students for the test will be to get them in a lab.

If you want students to be able to fill out data tables and chart the data in graphs, give them opportunities that will allow them to design experiments and communicate the results of the experiments.

Not only will it prepare them for the new tests, it will also give them a chance to enjoy science.

Wrestling With Grit

Angela Duckworth's Ted Talk on grit celebrates perseverance in academic achievement. Duckworth correctly asserts that IQ and talent do not always lead to success. Her formula, achievement = talent x effort is another phrasing of the coaching maxim that hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard.

I almost used the TedTalk in a professional development session because her basic message is so appealing: in addition to teaching content, we also need to teach work ethic.

It begs the question.......what's the best way to go about doing this?

Do we teach work ethic by pilling on more worksheets? Do we teach work ethic by assigning tasks with complexity beyond our students' skill levels and withholding any supports that would help them be successful? Do we make "responsibility" and "work ethic" a prerequisite for the opportunity to learn anything? For example, shaming a student for failure to complete an assignment in a way that guarantees disengagement.

These are the questions that Paul Thomas and Ira Socol ask in their respective posts, The Poverty Trap: Slack, Not Grit, Creates Achievement and Angela Duckworth's Eugenics. They force us to wrestle with "grit" by making us  question. Are there times when our students need slack? Is it possible to use "grit" like a hammer?

I try to avoid coaching analogies, but before I stumbled into administration I spent twelve years coaching wrestling, a sport requiring perseverance.

I coached athletes who struggled with certain drills. They would say "I can't do that," and I would respond "You can't do that, yet." I never let them off the hook completely for attempting the drill, but I never made their inability to do one task restrict them from a chance to learn another. I also coached talented and driven athletes who had to be required to rest due to injuries or family situations. There were times over the course of a season when training peaked and times when it tapered off. Even in the very "gritty" sport of wrestling my coaching instincts told me sometimes "slack" was more appropriate.

And so it is in classrooms.

Our students need grit and perseverance, and our best teachers constantly calibrate how to do this best. How much? How fast? Which student needs a challenged? Which student needs more support? Determining the slack/grit ratio is not a science waiting to be perfected; it is an art.

More often than not, our teachers excel at this art.

Teaching is a tough job, a gritty job, taken on by tough, and caring, people. It is far more complicated, and beautiful, than a talk, a blog, or a word.

School, the Brain, and Poverty: Reflecting On the Work of Jackson andJensen

A collaborative team at our school chose Eric Jensen's Teaching With Poverty In Mind for a book study this year. As I've considered Jensen's work, I can't help but make connection's to Yvette Jackson's Pedagogy of Confidence. Both books are foundational for educators working to serve all students.

Jackson and Jensen both make two claims educators should accept. 

1.) Poverty often negatively impacts brain development of children for a variety of reasons: chronic stress at home, limited access to medical care, improper nutrition, etc. 

2.) The plasticity of the human brain allows educators to mitigate, and even reverse, those effects on the brain. 

Jackson and Jensen each offer practical advice to educators for leveraging the brain's plasticity to increase academic achievement. Here are three values they both embrace. 

1.) Relationships are key.

Jensen encourages teachers to "build supportive relationships, provide positive guidance, foster hope and optimism, and take time for affirmation, and celebration." Administrators are warned that their schools "will hit a test score ceiling until you include students' emotional and social lives in your school 'makeover.'" Jackson states, "Possessing a deep understanding of child and adolescent development enables us to be better able to construct relationships and classroom environments that are motivational and lead to cognitive and social growth." 

Prioritizing relationships, in my mind, is a main function of building administrators. Most teachers, I believe, want to be given permission to teach kids, not content. 

2.) Enrichment should be provided for all students, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. 

Jensen describes enrichment not as "'more' or 'faster' schooling.' It means rich, balanced, sustained, positive, and contrasting learning environments.'" Jackson draws on her experiences with gifted education and encourages teachers to allow their pupils to experience "gifted land."

Again, here I say, administrators should communicate clearly the expectation to provide rich learning experiences: projects, labs, field trips etc. These activities are important even if, and perhaps because, they force the pace of the class to slow or reduce the number of learning targets that can be assessed in a unit. The clearest way for administrators to do this in my opinion is to challenge teachers to reduce the number of power standards they intend to teach. Teachers have to be given permission to teach fewer standards if we expect deeper learning, the kind that occurs in enriched environments, to occur.  

3.) Teachers should devote time and effort on teaching students how to learn. 

Jensen offers guidance for teachers on how to "build capacity" in their students by upgrading their "academic operating system." Jackson outlines techniques to help teachers "nurture high intellectual performances."

Often we assess the short term working memory of students without collectively working to build their short term working memories. Often we want students to evaluate without teaching how to evaluate. Administrators must support teachers' efforts to teach "learning how to learn," by providing professional development on teaching strategies that support engagement and critical thinking across all content areas. 

Much of the Yvette Jackson and Eric Jensen's work compliments the other but there are unique offerings from each I find compelling. 

Jensen offers a great deal to school leaders. He reminds them that the best way they can support disadvantaged students is to support their teachers. He reminds administrators that teachers need support, flexibility, and time to collaborate. He reminds administrators that one of the biggest mistakes that can be made is "putting kids first and staff last." These are important reminders.

Jackson also offers an important reminder. Much of her work is grounded in the work of Reuven Fuerenstein, who educated and documented the intellectual gains of Jewish children who survived the Holocaust. I love this because it places the work of educators in a historically significant context. We are part of Fuerenstein's legacy, which is a legacy of hope. We need to remember this. 

I'll leave the final word here to Dr. Jackson, introducing the man who inspired her.