tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30928210244456293712024-02-19T07:58:57.881-08:00Abundance in EducationDrew Schraderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07422723866693289761noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3092821024445629371.post-56759164088385217192013-03-03T06:50:00.001-08:002013-03-04T02:44:25.999-08:00Grovo: Technology that EnablesHad a really hard time coming up with a title for this post. I'm not actually trying to promote Grovo so much as explore the different ways that tool like Grovo might really push our practices around student centered learning. And, I do think Grovo is pretty sweet.<br />
<br />
I actually landed on Grovo in a typical Sunday AM web fashion, I was hoping to learn about something else, in this case <a href="https://trello.com/" target="_blank">Trello</a>, which <a href="https://twitter.com/jschackow" target="_blank">@jschackow</a> first surfaced for me and which I HIGHLY recommend to all PBL teachers as a very cool project management tool. Hoping to blog on that one shortly. Wanted a few example videos to think about how to organize this very flexible management tool, and I ran across a sample from <a href="http://grovo.com/ref/1vv0">Grovo.</a> After watching the sample, I decided to check out what this <a href="http://grovo.com/ref/1vv0">Grovo </a>thing was. Wow.<br />
<br />
So Grovo's mission is to "<span style="background-color: #e1e1e1; color: #444444; font-family: proxima-nova, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">To be your trusted source of high quality online training and real-time video updates to the websites, mobile apps and online tools you use most."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #e1e1e1; color: #444444; font-family: proxima-nova, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;"><br /></span>
When you sign-up for their free account, you have the option of opting in to a number of commonly used programs that you use frequently (GoogleDrive, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Evernote, etc). What Grovo offers are short training videos for all of these tools. Obviously, there are tons of possibilities for a tool like this on the work we all do - here are a few:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXpfmX-wkOo9xk0hAZyb3x2aGHDeuB3pREKYZetPRpH_nZvY7OKbg4cf7fW9JjmWjieV5Ulc8iPYsMneo5eRmOrJL8BWs9yzYaSJHEXkRMi3Q0pT3VYRYvfi9V0nwk7a0HnW-wtiT4XyKf/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-03-03+at+9.02.25+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXpfmX-wkOo9xk0hAZyb3x2aGHDeuB3pREKYZetPRpH_nZvY7OKbg4cf7fW9JjmWjieV5Ulc8iPYsMneo5eRmOrJL8BWs9yzYaSJHEXkRMi3Q0pT3VYRYvfi9V0nwk7a0HnW-wtiT4XyKf/s320/Screen+Shot+2013-03-03+at+9.02.25+AM.png" width="320" /></a><b>1. Get Current: </b>Many of the teachers I work with really want to be up-to-date on tools and techniques to implement technology in support of deeper learning and PBL with their students. Often, however, it is hard to know where to start. Grovo not only has videos, but the have little "courses" you can do to walk you through some initial tools to get started. <br />
<br />
<b>2. Stay Current:</b> Another super compelling idea with Grovo is that they create quick videos whenever products you follow have an update. You can get notifications when these new videos are up. This helps make sure you are always taking advantage of the best features (working smarter) and also let's you not worry about being up-to-date. They'll take care of that for you.<br />
<br />
<b>3. Track and promote your progress: </b> When you finish a course, you get a certificate and have the option of promoting it on your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or website like this:<br />
<script src="http://www.grovo.com/api/js/grovo_cert_embed" type="text/javascript"></script><br />
<div class="grovo_cert_embed" data-cert="v8625a87d51g!v8b811d81g">
</div>
In addition to being a possible source of motivation and self-promotion, playing around with certifications like this might be a nice little gate-way experience into the world of badging and alternative certification.<br />
<br />
<b>4. Develop students' technical skills: </b> An obvious extension of this would be to turn students on to this tool and have them pursue their own learning at their own pace. This is a great model of REAL facilitation - not having to be THE expert on everything, but rather the one who is best able to lead the learning of others. We want our students using real-world tools in real-world ways, tools like Grovo help them do this.<br />
<br />
<b>5. Develop students' learning skills:</b> Maybe the most exciting piece to this is that Grovo could give you and your students a low-stakes place to experiment with alternative ways of learning, tracking progress, and gaining recognition for learning. <a href="http://www.newtechnetwork.org/blog/what-makes-trailblazer-launching-digital-learning-ntn" target="_blank">More and more learning is happening via virtual channels</a>, why not have students explore this in a low-stakes setting? In addition to the specific skills they can gain and use in your class, encourage them to consider how tools like this can help them build their resume, enhance their portfolio, or even think about how they can begin to build a stronger online reputation?<br />
<br />
<br />Drew Schraderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07422723866693289761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3092821024445629371.post-58471609081762747552013-02-25T05:00:00.000-08:002013-02-25T05:00:02.771-08:00PBL Grammar - Half-baked project idea Recently, I had the chance to visit <a href="https://sites.google.com/a/echo.ifschools.org/ca/why-c-a" target="_blank">Compass Academy</a> in Idaho Falls. Great new school in our network with a ton of interesting things happening. <br />
<br />
Spent some time with one of their ELA facilitators who was having the not-uncommon problem of figuring out how to incorporate grammar instruction into PBL in an authentic way. Their solution is to have student's create personalized writing handbooks that they can use as resources in all their classes to improve their writing. What I like about this project is the potential for exploration of the world of writers, the tools they use, and the ways they work to continually hone their craft. Additionally, I think there is real potential for strong self-reflection about thinking and the process of writing. I was able to sit-in on their critical friends session and it was also fantastic to see the other teachers in other subjects seize on the possibility of having this resource as a reference point for writing in projects in their classes as well. Excited to see how it turns out!<br />
<br />
In follow-up conversations with the facilitator, we stumbled into what feels like a really interesting question to me, and maybe a project idea. There are TONS of online grammar checking programs. Something that we were grappling with as we thought about using some possible resources for the project as bread-crumbs is which of these to recommend. Which lead me to the following half-baked idea:<br />
<br />
<b>"Which online grammar checker is the best?" </b><br />
<br />
Now an obvious way to approach this would be to have students determine which of these was the best and have the audience be themselves or their class. It's personal, its relevant. But I will say I am a fan of changing the lens of a question to provide fresher ways of thinking and different sorts of challenges in addition to engagement. So I started asking, "Who else might be interested in knowing the best online grammar checker?"<br />
<br />
Two possible twists on this question:<br />
<br />
<b>Grammar for Google</b><br />
We all know that google is on a <a href="http://www.channelinsider.com/c/a/Spotlight/10-Ways-Google-Is-Working-Towards-World-Domination-777035/" target="_blank">quest for web and world domination</a> and that they <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/48569184/10_Notable_Google_Acquisitions" target="_blank">frequently buy up smaller companies</a> that have tools they want to incorporate into their package. What if the project was to make a recommendation to google for which on the online grammar tools they should acquire to add to google docs?<br />
<br />
<b>Grammar for New Tech Network</b><br />
Another angle that teachers in our network might consider is making a proposal to New Tech for what grammar tool we might promote in our growing work on literacy and college readiness. Maybe a connection with <a href="https://twitter.com/HortonAlix" target="_blank">@HortonAlix</a> - Alix Horton NTN's literacy guru about a tool to promote? Maybe a recommendation to <a href="https://twitter.com/fitzwalsh" target="_blank">@fitzwalsh</a> - Chris Walsh, NTN's Director of Innovation and Echo Designer?<br />
<br />
Done something similar? Have another half-baked project idea? A way to push this from half-baked to fully baked? Want to actually DO this one?<br />
<br />
Post below or tweet me <a href="https://twitter.com/edutwitt" target="_blank">@edutwitt</a>!Drew Schraderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07422723866693289761noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3092821024445629371.post-88518843597461761832013-02-23T05:23:00.000-08:002013-02-23T05:31:13.771-08:00Four must-consume resourcesMy whole purpose in having this second blog was to have a place where I posted things more rapidly and less hesitantly than I do on <a href="http://learninghabit.blogspot.com/2012/11/what-standards-get-wrong.html" target="_blank">my other blog</a>. And I've been a <a href="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/03/what-is-success-true-grit/" target="_blank">miserable failure</a> at that so far. Back to it!<br />
<br />
Lately I've had the luxury of encountering a ton of great things that I want to think more about and pass on to people I'm learning with. Here are a few for this weekend:<br />
<br />
<b>Back to Basics:</b><br />
My esteemed colleague <a href="https://twitter.com/gantalones" target="_blank">Kevin Gant </a>recently <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1Lc38MxfH4" target="_blank">did a wonderful TEDTalk</a> that is steeped in <a href="http://www.newtechnetwork.org/" target="_blank">New Tech Network</a> values and beliefs about education. Watch and be recommitted and re-inspired.<br />
<br />
<b>Pushing the Model:</b><br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUnhyyw8_kY" target="_blank">This 8-minute TED from Ewan McIntosh</a> represents, to me, the next frontier in our work in PBL. As an organization, we have always pushed to make sure that when we teach and learn, we are not doing the most important work FOR our students, but rather helping them to do that work for themselves. We have long talked about the importance of helping students learn to solve complex problems. McIntosh pushes us a step further to fact that we really need to develop problem finders. As I think about the evolution of our own model, I am beginning to see PBL as the first big step in transforming our sense of ourselves as learners. The end-in-mind is independent problem solvers - perhaps the scaffolding for students (or more so the system) is structured problem solvers.<br />
Watch this and then tell me what you think.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.newtechnetwork.org/blog/good-question-better-great-answer" target="_blank">Good Question is Better than a Great Answer</a><br />
New Tech's own<a href="https://twitter.com/paulscurtis" target="_blank"> Paul Curtis</a> provides a more contextual application and exploration of this notion of divergent and convergent thinking here in his recent blog post.<br />
<br />
Finally - <a href="http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/2012/02/stop-ping-pong-questioning-try-basketball-instead.html" target="_blank">something to simple DO ON MONDAY - check out this great video</a> and text from Dylan William on "basketball questioning." Watch it, you'll get it, and you'll do it. (So will I).<br />
<br />
Have a great weekend.Drew Schraderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07422723866693289761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3092821024445629371.post-49703743444863335752013-01-13T04:08:00.000-08:002013-01-13T04:08:06.151-08:00A Definition of Traditional Teaching<!--?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?-->
<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
Traditional teaching is the expectation that students will learn because we tell them to.
</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
If I were to create a spectrum of teaching practices from traditional to non-traditional, I think I would use the above as my criteria. Moving away from traditional educational practices has less to do with technology (1:1, iPads, etc) or technique (PBL, PrBL, Challenge based, etc) and more to do with context and motivation. Whenever I assume that the person I am working with will learn because I am telling them, the more traditional I am being.
</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRTVaB7UXHhF_OUGRmCwbJE_zNXLcATu0qMpmmWWv9nl1duIO-oDpTYy8C2eZBTRKFdVzHhE0toV9M9k79VFtXSgJLpqMpx4MQUaoDUexK2L0nYTIPk6myDLsjmSSn6N1PaEpQoI9Lzkc1/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-01-13+at+6.55.46+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRTVaB7UXHhF_OUGRmCwbJE_zNXLcATu0qMpmmWWv9nl1duIO-oDpTYy8C2eZBTRKFdVzHhE0toV9M9k79VFtXSgJLpqMpx4MQUaoDUexK2L0nYTIPk6myDLsjmSSn6N1PaEpQoI9Lzkc1/s320/Screen+Shot+2013-01-13+at+6.55.46+AM.png" width="320" /></a>It isn't so much that "kids learn differently these days" or even that there are boundless opportunities for learning and discovery in our technology-rich world - though both are true and part of the push. </div>
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
We need to continue moving this direction because learning out of compliance has always yielded superficial understanding for the majority of people and limited the highest levels of achievement to those individuals who were able to find personal meaning and intrinsic motivations despite the system in which they were learning. This is why so many ideas of progressive education don't sound all that new to people who have been teaching for a long time. They aren't.
</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">In working with teachers on making shifts towards PBL and other practices that require students to solve problems and encounter new information in meaningful contexts, I often have teachers note apologetically that they had to be "more traditional" in one setting or another. I worry sometimes that the overly simple distinction we make between PBL and Traditional Teaching is that in PBL the students do on their own and in traditional the teacher does it (or that the traditional teacher lectures about it) rather than focusing on the students' understanding of why they are doing what they are doing. What we don't realize is that going "more traditional" really means simply force-feeding students information when they have no identified use for it other than compliance. This is often our response, even when we know it doesn't work.</span><div style="font-family: Arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
This misunderstanding may be part of the reason why teachers often feel like they "are not allowed to teach" in PBL. When the distinction is about tools or technique and the ideal is "student learns all by themselves, " many teachers feel like it doesn't allow them to do the very thing that gets them out of bed in the morning and got them into teaching in the first place - helping people understand ideas they care deeply about. PBL teachers absolutely teach and I might argue that a PBL teachers should expect to "teach" a vast majority of the most important concepts in their discipline. </div>
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
Teaching means helping someone know and understand something they don't know and understand. For me, an ideal learning moment in a PBL classroom would be a teacher responding to sophisticated student questions related to a meaningful concept they were struggling to apply. Now the responses might be a mix of questions and answers, but in that moment, the teacher would absolutely be operating as an expert in their field, leading the students in learning. </div>
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial;">
The difference is that in good PBL, we create a context where that expertise is needed, valued, and appreciated. Back to the above definition, it isn't valued out of respect or compliance - though of course there will be students who do come with this and it is worth cultivating a culture where individuals respect the expertise of others - it is valued because we have respected students enough to help them come to an understanding of the importance of the problems that make our expertise valuable. And we have helped them come to that understanding BEFORE we have expected them to value our understanding of the answer. </div>
Drew Schraderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07422723866693289761noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3092821024445629371.post-34264535479762512062013-01-03T06:25:00.003-08:002013-01-03T06:26:50.278-08:00Clearly - a better way to readI am a huge fan of Evernote as a tool for organizing ideas, work, and research. I should probably post about that someday. Today, I want to highlight what has become my favorite tool for making reading online easier: <a href="http://evernote.com/clearly/" target="_blank">Evernote Clearly</a>. Clearly is a simple little addition to your browser. Clearly makes reading on the web just that - clear. You can see their great little video here.<br />
<br />
This is much easier to see than explain. Here is a fairly typical website:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXHVfD9GfivJ-3mqWuNs_ci6Lb1_WUBzbbbMK11TF4nSEXWCorBYBUASOv90RznLyviC8outHHwKFVcWZnP-37ld1dZU1srq5zKY9WmeG5oSlzIkAVM1azhR_7Fujulxrj8o2_qgtHueQb/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-01-02+at+6.50.09+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXHVfD9GfivJ-3mqWuNs_ci6Lb1_WUBzbbbMK11TF4nSEXWCorBYBUASOv90RznLyviC8outHHwKFVcWZnP-37ld1dZU1srq5zKY9WmeG5oSlzIkAVM1azhR_7Fujulxrj8o2_qgtHueQb/s400/Screen+Shot+2013-01-02+at+6.50.09+AM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Nothing unusual - there is the text of the article, but also ads, links, and all sorts of distractions. Here is that same page after clicking the Clearly button:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULpkOfeSs1mSKqfBQNJcMlSwFgKbRLqdCyNVWgfrx1SpL_OIzBuFPr2TxfkK95BHlezLR10NCaDl2IHOS0hgm7NMCIv3wlL8KsARw6XJgfKFpzXIncU212acqlk56yurFF1LjAhOJPkAu/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-01-02+at+6.50.49+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULpkOfeSs1mSKqfBQNJcMlSwFgKbRLqdCyNVWgfrx1SpL_OIzBuFPr2TxfkK95BHlezLR10NCaDl2IHOS0hgm7NMCIv3wlL8KsARw6XJgfKFpzXIncU212acqlk56yurFF1LjAhOJPkAu/s400/Screen+Shot+2013-01-02+at+6.50.49+AM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Ahhh... so much better. All of the distractions evaporate and you can focus on the text.<br />
<br />
In addition to the streamlined view, Clearly offers:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Easy ability to change background color and text size. Why squint or struggle when the view can match you preferred size and style?</li>
<li>The ability to highlight and add comments (see toolbar on the right). If you come across something useful as you read - highlight it and it is automatically added to your Evernote account This presupposes you use Evernote as a note storage system - which you should consider doing. As a bonus doing this with students - when a note is clipped, the web address is captured as well - no more "I forgot where I found that information" </li>
<li>Related notes - in the shot above you can see that when I opened the article in the Clearly reading panel, the tool automatically did a search of my existing notes to see if there was anything similar. This has the potential to be a very powerful tool for helping students make text-to-text connections.</li>
</ul>
<div>
As a tool for students, you will have to convince your district IT people to add the extension and Evernote as a tool. Worth doing, but potentially a large undertaking.* If nothing else - give this a test-drive for yourself and I'll bet you won't read the same.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
*If you have made a pitch to your districti IT people to add Evernote or Clearly to the general student computer image - please send it to me and I will post it for others to share! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Check out their video:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/hgVPobaTyr0?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />Drew Schraderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07422723866693289761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3092821024445629371.post-72253094155406660742012-12-17T08:13:00.000-08:002012-12-17T08:13:01.555-08:00Elevator Pitch Tool from HBSJust stumbled upon this great tool from the H<a href="http://www.alumni.hbs.edu/careers/pitch/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">arvard Business School for creating Elevator Pitches.</a> I love Elevator Pitches as a focusing tool to help people get clear on what they are working on and why. There is something incredibly powerful about the notion of having one-minute in a confined space to share your idea with someone who could potentially make it come to life. <br />
<br />
As a tool in PBL, an elevator pitch makes for a great benchmark or portion of a final product. A common early stage benchmark in a project involves groups choosing a topic or direction for their project. While this is an obvious step in any project that involves choices around topic, medium, audience, etc, we often miss opportunities to engage students in deep critical thinking by allowing them to pass through this step without doing the real comparative work that making choices involve. <br />
<br />
Having students work through a full elevator pitch using the HBS tool focuses their critical and comparative thinking, scaffolds the writing process, and gives them some really neat features for analyzing the quality of their potential pitch.Drew Schraderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07422723866693289761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3092821024445629371.post-88641515087720114192012-12-05T05:07:00.004-08:002012-12-05T05:07:53.083-08:00Project Idea? Granted!In the constant quest for authentic project ideas and contexts, one potential direction is the use of grants. Despite challenges in public education funding, there are always numerous small-medium sized grants floating around the educational world. Often, teachers simply don't have the time to set aside to pursue these grants, or they "need something now" and can't wait until the grant kicks in to begin the project. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.agrants.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/grant-money.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="http://www.agrants.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/grant-money.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
<b>What if writing the grant WAS the project?</b> In purusing the wonderful set of Grant Resources our good friends at <a href="http://www.edworkspartners.org/" target="_blank">Edworks </a>put together on their <a href="http://www.facebook.com/EDWorksPartners" target="_blank">Facebook page</a>, I ran across several that would not only fund great projects, but that the grant application process itself could be an opportunity for a great scenario as well. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://appchallenge.tsaweb.org/index.html" target="_blank">Verizon Innovative APP Challenge</a> - "provides the opportunity for middle school and high school students,
working with a faculty advisor, to use their STEM knowledge, their
ingenuity, and their creativity to come up with an original mobile app
concept that incorporates STEM and addresses a need or problem in their
school or community." $10,000 for school plus Samsung Galaxy Tab phones for winning team!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.toolboxforeducation.com/hta.html" target="_blank">Lowes Toolbox for Education Grant</a> - looking for a great "space design" project for geometry? Why not connect it to the grant and make it happen?<br />
<br />
<a href="http://web.mit.edu/inventeams/apply.html" target="_blank">InventTeams </a>-Looking at a Global Challenge? Now you can fund your solution! "InvenTeams are teams of high school students, teachers, and mentors that
receive grants up to $10,000 each to invent technological solutions to
real-world problems. Each InvenTeam chooses its own problem to solve."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.dosomething.org/grants/disastergrants2" target="_blank">Disaster Relief Grants</a> - many classes and schools have responded to and been impacted by recent natural disasters. This grant program could allow you to channel awareness raising and concern to a project context and funding to make a difference. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ysa.org/grants/sodexoyouth" target="_blank">Sodexo Foundation</a> - Taking Hunger Personally - several New Tech schools have done projects on Global Food Security. Sodexo has a grant that aligns with Global Youth Service Day. <br />
<br />
Got more ideas - post them below or hit me up on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/edutwitt" target="_blank">@edutwitt</a>Drew Schraderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07422723866693289761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3092821024445629371.post-50397327810248153042012-12-05T04:38:00.001-08:002012-12-05T06:20:05.392-08:00PBL to Close the Opportunity GapJust read a nice <a href="http://edworkspartners.org/expect-success/2012/12/focusing-on-the-opportunity-gap/" target="_blank">post from my KnowledgeWorks colleague Michelle Timmons</a> about the Opportunity Gap. As a general rule, I am a fan of moves that help us change the conversation in education. I like this idea of the opportunity gap in particular because it implies a focus on both access to resources and also to the mindset we have for students and that students have for themselves. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.superscholar.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/the-future.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" src="http://www.superscholar.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/the-future.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
On the resource side, I agree that thinking about an Opportunity Gap is a great way to think about creating powerful schools and learning environments for students. Additionally, I think the degree to which our schools embrace personalized learning opportunities emerging through more distributed channels is a way of directly addressing the notion of a <a href="http://www.edutopia.org/digital-divide-where-we-are-today" target="_blank">digital divide</a>. <br />
<br />
While I think access to technology gets a lot of public attention - maybe because it involves easily quantifable factors like student/computer rations, budgets, and 1:1 initiatives - I think the idea of expectations may actually be much more powerful to address. Part of the purpose of education should be to expose students to a variety of "future selves" and give them opportunities to interact with the different ways adults live and work in the world. This is especially true for traditionally undeserved communities where we have an even stronger obligation to provide a wide view of future pathways which may not be as available outside of school.<br />
<br />
I am always struck by the limited sense of future pathways students often have. Educators often make the "<a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1568480,00.html" target="_blank">Rip Van Winkle" joke </a>, but I think an equally jarring comparison could be made between the list of future careers that a student might have come up with in 1912 vs the list they would come up with today. While video game maker and graphic designer might make it onto a few lists these days, my own experience with students tended to hear a great deal of "doctor, lawyer, teacher" type responses. There is nothing wrong with these, but as the face of work is increasingly dynamic, it feels like our work to help students imagine their own futures has also failed to keep <a href="http://www.fastcoexist.com/1681009/whats-the-future-of-the-sharing-economy" target="_blank">pace with the times</a>.<br />
<br />
At a very practical level. I love the idea of an opportunity gap as a way to stay continually motivated around creating highly rigorous projects and PBL experiences for students. One of the core attributes of a quality project has to do with authentic role and adult connections. We tend to think of these as being motivating factors, ways of getting to greater rigor through increased engagement. I would encourage us all to think about the extent to which creating projects that allow students to try on emerging work roles and to interact with adults outside the school are powerful ways to help young people have a greater sense of themselves and and their own potential and opportunity. Drew Schraderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07422723866693289761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3092821024445629371.post-37809348805629981862012-11-16T05:03:00.004-08:002012-11-16T05:03:57.718-08:00Five for FridayFive blog posts from this past week for a little Friday/weekend reading. The unintended theme of the week would be ownership of learning I suppose:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://smartblogs.com/education/2012/11/13/homework-it-fails-students-undermines-american-education-mark-barnes/" target="_blank">Homework: It fails our students and undermines American education (Mark Barnes)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.joebower.org/2012/10/daddy-i-want-book-buck.html" target="_blank">Daddy, I want a book buck. (Joe Bower)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://thetalentcode.com/2012/11/14/the-power-of-ownership/" target="_blank">The Power of Ownership (Talent Code)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://theresashafer.blogspot.com/2012/11/i-didnt-get-stars-points-pizzas-or.html" target="_blank">I Didn't Get Stars, Points, or Pizza's for Reading (Theresa Shafer)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://blog.adambabcock.com/2012/11/10/the-writing-revolution-dealing-with-the-bitterness/" target="_blank">The Writing Revolution: Dealing with the bitterness</a> (<a href="https://twitter.com/babsaj" target="_blank">@babsaj</a>)<br />
<br />
Read something great? <br />
<br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/edutwitt" target="_blank">Tweet me maybe?</a><br />
<br />
<br />Drew Schraderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07422723866693289761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3092821024445629371.post-8619010426009478482012-11-16T04:24:00.001-08:002012-11-16T04:24:00.970-08:00Cool idea to stimulate exploration and inquiryKudos to <a href="http://tkfuller/" target="_blank">Teresa Fuller</a> from Cross County New Tech for this nifty little idea:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOp3Ksq6nAjK022E5ROwZzW86jIRUusXqyMLlH0W_YB2LVIx2ai3lcVXg71XR0UKYd3a8w8SMlmuIavm0uxRzcWEANxTTgGHEy3zpXojNjSgrZxErjFURQF_yZNY1iNcQCayFNcM96efc8/s1600/QR_Agenda.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOp3Ksq6nAjK022E5ROwZzW86jIRUusXqyMLlH0W_YB2LVIx2ai3lcVXg71XR0UKYd3a8w8SMlmuIavm0uxRzcWEANxTTgGHEy3zpXojNjSgrZxErjFURQF_yZNY1iNcQCayFNcM96efc8/s320/QR_Agenda.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Putting a QR code in for the project icon feels like a nice little mystery and invitation to exploration. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Interested in QR Codes? You might check out:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.edutopia.org/blog/qr-codes-education-mary-beth-hertz" target="_blank">Using QR Codes in the Classroom (edutopia) </a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://theohiobloke.edu.glogster.com/qr-codes-in-education" target="_blank">QR Codes in Education (slick little Glogster)</a></div>
<br />
<a href="http://www.zdnet.com/blog/igeneration/50-qr-code-resources-for-the-classroom/16093" target="_blank">50 QR Codes Resources for Education (ZDNet)</a><br />
<br />
How are you using QR Codes? Tweet me <a href="https://twitter.com/edutwitt" target="_blank">@edutwitt</a><br />
<br />Drew Schraderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07422723866693289761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3092821024445629371.post-16905296549924482662012-11-14T02:19:00.002-08:002012-11-14T02:19:42.217-08:00How to give students voice<div style="text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
<b>Here is the scene: </b>Nine children, ages 6 to 11, standing in front of an audience of roughly 250. An adult choir standing on the stage behind them. The children begin to sing a simple song, quietly and hesitantly. The kind of quiet where you can easily pick out the individual voices fading in and out as they scan the audience for a reaction. The song is simple and the verses repeat. On the second pass through, the sopranos from the choir behind them join in. The children stand a little straighter. The next pass, same words, and the tenors join in. The children are locked in, now smiling and singing straight ahead. Third pass, and the baritones swell as the song fills the room. With the full force of the choir behind them, I catch a look at one little girl, eyes closed, head tilted back, signing for all she can.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images01.olx.com/ui/5/53/34/1269641276_83824934_1-Pictures-of--Voice-Singing-Classes-for-Children-in-Folsom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="285" src="http://images01.olx.com/ui/5/53/34/1269641276_83824934_1-Pictures-of--Voice-Singing-Classes-for-Children-in-Folsom.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Note: Photo merely representational. Courtesy of: <a href="http://shinglesprings.olx.com/voice-singing-classes-for-children-in-folsom-iid-83824934" target="_blank">OLX</a></u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
This is how we give our students voice. Many of us are getting better at giving problems, giving questions, giving the work back to our students and letting them lead the way. What we neglect to do, however, is remember to follow them when they go somewhere. <br />
<br />
What I learned from the adult choir a few weeks back when I observed the scene above is that we can share the stage with our students without stealing the spotlight. That performance was always about the children's choir, but when their words were picked up by the adults around them not only were the words themselves amplified, the children singing found more strength in their own voices. <br />
<br />
Giving a space for student voice allows them to speak. Picking up and joining with their own words is how we elevate a recital into a movement.Drew Schraderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07422723866693289761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3092821024445629371.post-66799868776121468992012-11-12T12:26:00.000-08:002012-11-12T12:26:00.123-08:00Professional Video Rubric A while back there was a New Tech Network call-out for a really good rubric for videos. I don't know that we found one, so I am thinking we need to make one. While there are a number of possible ways you might have a video be a final product for a project, I want to use the term "Professional Web Video*" to refer to those nearly ubiquitous videos used to explain and promote products, ideas, and services on the web. <br />
<br />
Getting a really quality rubric together for professional web video seems important to me for two reasons:<br />
<br />
1. <b>Our schools make A LOT of videos.</b> In the past I have had some mixed feelings about this as worries over the time involved and limited attention to critical thinking around important concepts that often accompanied video products for projects. But in taking another step back on this, I am coming back around to the value in time spent on this due to its relevance as a medium and its potential value in creating meaningful work.<br />
<br />
2. <b>Quality video really is a separator for effective web communication.</b> As someone grounded in print communication, it has taken me awhile to really appreciate the value of quality videos, but it is clear now that short, engaging and informative videos are vital for the success of most online ventures. It is mainly due to this emergent reality that I think we need a rubric that pushes our schools and students towards creating these types of videos.<br />
<br />
A few examples to prime the pump:<br />
<br />
Software tools: <a href="http://evernote.com/clearly/" target="_blank">Evernote Clearly</a><br />
Hardware: <a href="http://www.apple.com/ipad-mini/overview/" target="_blank">iPad Mini</a><br />
Kickstarter: <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1607639297/fubar-american-history-z?ref=home_popular" target="_blank">American History Z </a><br />
<a href="https://plus.google.com/+GoogleDrive/posts/3Z7MMUjxt2y" target="_blank">Google Drive Challenge </a><br />
Everything the People at <a href="http://www.commoncraft.com/" target="_blank">CommonCraft </a>do!<br />
<br />
And now for the work. I've started an open google doc here for the purposes of starting this rubric creation.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Cc5RG1QEK0tBHuZA-H0yp9pc8xWADxREEuP-UVGJtCk/edit" target="_blank">Click here to contribute. </a></div>
<br />
I'm going to follow a fairly typical rubric design process of articulating key skills, identifying possible missteps or things to avoid, and also collecting example or relevant resources. <br />
<br />
If you would like to contribute, but aren't sure how, I'd encourage you to simply watch a few of these videos and describe what makes them good. <br />
<br />Feel free to tweet great web videos at me <a href="https://twitter.com/edutwitt" target="_blank">@edutwitt</a>! <br />
<br />
*If any of you are more "insiders" in the video world - let me know if there is a more "industry standard" term for this. <br />
<br />Drew Schraderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07422723866693289761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3092821024445629371.post-13460477248789042322012-11-09T09:58:00.000-08:002012-11-09T09:58:00.376-08:00Agendas, calendars and scaffolding work ethicI've had several conversations with principals and teachers recently about the role of agendas in PBL and the ways in which they might be used to help students develop work ethic and the ability to self-start and work more independently. <br />
<br />
A few questions you might consider if this is a relevant focus for you:<br />
<br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
</style>
<![endif]--><i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">To what extent are
students “self-starting” in my class?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where are there additional opportunities for them to do so?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What resources or supports (like a calendar)
might give them the tools they need to do this?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span> </span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">In a given project, what would a “professional work environment” look
like for the role or type of problem students are solving?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How might I re-articulate or adjust my
classroom organization or expectations to allow the emergence of this sort of
environment?</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">What can you tell about the quality of PBL in a classroom by merely looking at the agenda? </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">What are the characteristics or criteria of an effective calendar or agenda that supports student-centered classrooms and problem solving?</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><i>How far in advance should a teacher in a PBL classroom be able to effectively post agendas?</i></span>Drew Schraderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07422723866693289761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3092821024445629371.post-46868314378179191072012-11-08T13:28:00.000-08:002012-11-08T13:28:02.351-08:00Protocols as Scaffolding for CultureDuring last week's Meeting of the Minds, we attempted to model the intentional use of protocols in multiple situations as a way of facilitating effective participant-centered learning. One of the more interesting take-aways that came out of our debriefs of this process was the relationship between the use of protocols and classroom and school culture. <br />
<br />
Several participants arrived at the conclusion that protocols can serve as scaffolding for culture. To unpack this a little, what we noted was that by having students use clear and structured protocols we:<br />
<ul><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Protocols-Educators-Practice/dp/0807743615" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFCSLkncWrYsn8bwuwclO7D28nhfjchEXoVFIwz3qSDEAq_JlcziNE7yHm0si3DhIR1UB1ZXMoF3jADeqfVIgsyMlJWnWyo-UESpR1UZdrtoCKQ-STqJHkhHWVkvz2gg95jtWrLGvk1LVw/s200/PowerofProtocols.jpg" width="200" /></a>
<li>Give them the opportunity to collaborate in more structured settings.</li>
<li>Often make use of "sentence stems" like "I wonder" or "A next step might be" to </li>
<li>Provide replicable models of language and interaction that they can apply in less structured settings.</li>
<li>Provide a safer space for group and peer accountability.</li>
<li>Are able to model the above accountability in language they can borrow for their own use.</li>
<li>Have common experiences we can reflect on and reference in conversations about larger class or school culture.</li>
</ul>
I think many of us have seen the effect of the regular use of the Critical Friends Protocol in shifting language to more of a "Likes and Wonders" approach - which is very conducive to culture building. I am excited to see what might come from a refocusing on the use of protocols and the explicit connection of these protocols to culture building. <br />
<br />A few protocols you might take a look at for easy use in your classroom include:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.nsrfharmony.org/protocol/doc/block_party.pdf" target="_blank">Block Party: A pre-reading, text based activit</a>y</li>
<li><a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&sqi=2&ved=0CC0QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nsrfharmony.org%2Fprotocol%2Fdoc%2F3_levels_text.pdf&ei=0yGcUK-GBKj8yAH4_YDoAg&usg=AFQjCNGu0bD8bksAl9-HtXp9hhDCfZzFMg" target="_blank">Three Levels of Text Protocol </a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&sqi=2&ved=0CC0QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nsrfharmony.org%2Fprotocol%2Fdoc%2Fwagon_wheels.pdf&ei=FCKcUJnRCOeTyQHUWQ&usg=AFQjCNEYjpHQHO566N2Vv2K5lP4hghmZbg" target="_blank">Wagon Wheel Protocol </a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.nsrfharmony.org/protocol/doc/chalk_talk.pdf" target="_blank">Chalk Talk</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.nsrfharmony.org/protocol/doc/microlabs.pdf" target="_blank">Microlabs</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.nsrfharmony.org/protocol/doc/4_a_text.pdf" target="_blank">Four "A"s Text Protocol</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.nsrfharmony.org/protocol/doc/fortune_cookie.pdf" target="_blank">Fortune Cookie Warm-up</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.nsrfharmony.org/protocol/doc/affinity_mapping.pdf" target="_blank">Affinity Mapping</a></li>
</ul>
Drew Schraderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07422723866693289761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3092821024445629371.post-77832053490027975702012-11-08T04:43:00.001-08:002012-11-08T13:44:58.242-08:00Why Abundance?I just finished reading <a href="http://willrichardson.com/" target="_blank">Will Richardson'</a>s book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00998J5YQ/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=B00998J5YQ&link_code=as3&tag=weblogged-20" target="_blank">Why School</a>. Among many compelling ideas and insights, in the book he promotes the idea of abundance as a key driver of change in education. Things that we have long thought to be scare (i.e. effective teachers and learning materials) are now, in fact increasingly abundant. Yet many of our practices still reflect a view of the world that sees them as limited. More on this in future posting for sure, but the immediate application here is that Richardon challenges us to do more sharing and contributing to this vast array of resources. I think he is right, and so I will.<br />
<br />
As a School Development Coach for the<a href="http://www.newtechnetwork.org/" target="_blank"> New Tech Network</a>, I am frequently attempting to establish and maintain lines of communication with schools and teachers to support their work to create meaningful learning experiences for students. In the past, this has taken the form of a weekly (or bi-weekly) email blast to all of the teachers I am working with. These emails have been a mixture of logistical network announcements, probing questions, strategies and resources, and enticements to share. While I received some positive feedback at times about these blasts, I have increasingly struggled to send it out - due to the following I think:<br />
<ul>
<li>Too many purposes and audiences (bad practice to mix logistics with resources with attempts to collaborate. </li>
<li>Artificial structure - a weekly email seemed to imply a structure to the collaboration and communication that was never really there. </li>
<li>Too many goals meant emails were TOO LONG! I am very guilty of being overly verbose and I am certain that my emails have been less effective for some teachers due to their length. </li>
</ul>
Part of my new solution to the above issues is this blog. I try to remind myself to do more "publish, then filter" when it comes to sharing resources and thinking with my colleagues. Rather than having a regularly scheduled email with strategies and resource sharing, I am going to try to push all of my PBL thoughts and resources I find to this blog space. <br />
<br />
My hope is that this will have the benefits of allowing me to push things out more regularly and in smaller doses. Additionally, I hope it becomes a place that teachers can seek out on more of an "as needed" basis. It might also stimulate greater discussion and sharing via the comments features. I am also hoping to promote some forms of digital literacy (RSS Subscriptions, Twitter, etc) through the blog as well. <br />
<br />
<br />Drew Schraderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07422723866693289761noreply@blogger.com0