You Want to Read Your Blog

So why do people blog?  What makes anyone think anyone would ever want to read something that you've written?  If our kids followed the logic of adults, then we would never get an assignment of any quality turned in.  We have kids write to practice mechanics, but also to reflect, reason, and reach conclusions.  Is there a magic age when we no longer need to practice these skills?

I discovered one more reason to blog today.  I found one more person who really enjoyed reading my writing - me.  I wrote an article on 9/11 a few years ago, and read it again today.  I was moved to read my own descriptions and feelings which I don't even recall a few years later.  I learned lessons I had at some point forgotten.

I have never seen my father write anything longer than his name, yet the one regret he has expressed to me about his life is, "I wish I had written something down every day.  I just can't remember the details of those moments that were small at the time, but I really want to remember now.

When you consider whether it is worth taking the time to write a blog, and you feel embarrassed to share details that you feel others could care less about, remember that there is always one reader who will be interested and find it of value. (No, not me - you.)

Professional Development That Doesn't Induce Drowsiness: Part 1

As my principal and I planned our PD for this current school year, we decided to take a step towards modeling 21st century teaching/learning.  We each chose a book that we thought would be of benefit to our teachers (What Great Teachers Do Differently by Todd Whitaker, Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov), and each built a wiki with study questions for teachers to respond to and discuss.  In addition, we posted reflection questions and asked each teacher to blog their responses.  The wiki and blog were housed on an internal Apple server.  At the time this felt revolutionary (we had not yet taken steps down our 1:1 path), and our teachers were cautious.  We sweetened the deal by "giving them back" the time on those PD days to use for their own educational purposes if they had already responded on the wiki before the meeting.

What was the result?  On one side, it inspired some of the best conversations about teaching that I have had in a very long time.  People whom I usually just pass in the hallway were sharing strategies and experiences that would never have been shared in a standard PD meeting format.  We weren't paying a load of money to bring in a speaker to talk at us (Professional Listening?), we were making use of the knowledge and experiences of the master teachers within our own building...our own resources.

On the other hand, we had some teachers who waited until that PD day and then just put in their answers to the questions without reflecting or responding to comments made by others.  Obviously, the fact that almost every teacher participated is not only amazing, but also speaks volumes about the amazing staff that I have to work with!  

More than anything, this experience has given our staff "baby steps" towards moving towards a 1:1 environment and I recommend it to any administrator.  It is modeling that 2.0 philosophy where we put individuals in charge of their own learning with us guiding the way.  There are some definite changes that need to be made, but that is for Part Two.

Flipped Classroom

I keep seeing more and more information about the idea of a Flipped Classroom.  The basic idea is that students watch the lessons on a mobile device at home and come to school the next day ready to work on the assignment which would traditionally have been sent home.  In this Flipped Classroom, the teacher's role is to act as a guide and coach to the students' learning, and pull aside those students who are still struggling with the concepts.  This is a concept we are already looking at as we work with Khan Academy.

Thanks to our recently awarded IDOE Classroom Innovation Grant of $200,000 (can't stop celebrating that whenever possible) each teacher and 8th grade student will have a MacBook computer to enhance their learning.  A teacher would be able to record a podcast (or vodcast) using the built-in camera and any number of Apple programs, and then upload that lesson into their own classroom folder on iTunes.  Students would then be able to log in to iTunes from their computers, iPods, iPhones, iPads, etc. and download these lessons (free) for viewing.  Since a great number of our students have iPods already, we would be making great use of technology which our students already use on a daily basis (although not at school...not yet).

Take a look at the links below and feel free to comment on experiences you have had with a flipped classroom, or questions you have about how schools might make this work most effectively for students.

Vodcasting and the Flipped Classroom

How the Flipped Classroom is Radically Transforming Learning

The Flipped Classroom Network

Salman Khan: Let's use video to reinvent education | Video on TED.com

My math teachers have been investigating this site (Khan Academy) from a pure video resource, but I had no idea it had a progress feature as well. This is not to be missed if you are a math teacher or anyone who struggles with math or has a student who struggles.

Salman Khan: Let's use video to reinvent education | Video on TED.com