Student Reflection

Our elementary school currently uses a daily planner in grades 3-5 to record activities and assignments. True to the title of my blog, I have moved on up again. This year, I will begin my first 3rd/4th grade loop. I am very excited and could go on forever about that excitement, but back to reflection!

Our principal has already ordered us planners. Our PBIS committee has been brainstorming ways to incorporate a spot for our students to reflect on our expected behaviors: be safe, be responsible, and be respectful. Last year, one of our amazing teachers created and combined a planner and behavior reflection piece all into one. Using her planner would entail weekly copying for each student.

In an attempt to save resources and utilize our chromebooks (newly 1:1 in grades 3-5), I have created a google form. My thought is to make a copy of the form for each student, and share it with them and their families. This is a snapshot of the form, but not the entire thing. It also got distorted when taking the screenshot. There is an additional text response box for students to tell something they learned or something exciting from the day. I love this piece and am excited to use it as an exit ticket for students. We are meeting as a grade level next week, and I am excited to share this with my co-workers! Please feel free to offer any feedback or suggestions, thanks!

Pure Genius

I am currently reading Pure Genius: Building a Culture of Innovation and Taking 20% to the Next Level by Don Wettrick. I decided to write this reflection a little differently than other book reflections I have written in the past. Instead of taking notes, reviewing my notes, and reflecting; I am going to stop intermittently in the book and jot down some ideas as they strike me! This blog will basically be my notes to reflect upon.

LOVED Wettrick’s discussion about Dave Grohl (drummer for Nirvana and front man of Foo Fighters). Grohl basically says that now people are making music on computers, altering sounds using software. People are winning contests on reality shows that they are just singing someone else’s song on. Musicians need to fail. They need to record, rerecord, play cheap shows with poor equipment. Then, when they do make it – their music is organic and filled with passion, because they have poured their hearts into it. This is not only a great analogy for education, but for many things in life!

I also thought Wettrick’s comparison of education and gaming was brilliant. We often hear that kids and adults alike, love games. I love candy crush!  However, think about our classrooms. If I told all students they had to start at level one. No matter what, even if they had already completed level 22; everyone was starting at one. That’s not how we should be teaching, leading or guiding our students.

Key points from chapter one:

• Innovation Class is one in which students can have time and space to create their own learning experiences and collaborate with experts from around the world. It is also a place where students learn by doing and creating, rather than passively listening to a set of directions and pre-determined outcomes. And although we make sure to meet our standards, the focus is less on compliance and more on self-discovery and the pursuit of curiosity and knowledge building. YES! I love Wettrick's explanation of Innovation Class. This will be very helpful when explaining Genius Hour to parents this fall. 
• Innovation is always a work in progress, always evolving.
• One of the most important steps when problem solving is to ask the right questions. This reminds me of what Dave Burgess said in his book, Teach Like A Pirate: framing everything with the right questions is extremely important. It changes the way your brain thinks about things! Creative questioning helps us change our thinking and frame things as possible instead of just assuming we can't do it.
• Innovation uses a fresh approach to solving real problems with the resources you have and finding clever ways around the resources you don't have...Innovation brings new solutions to problems that arise in a changing environment. This is completely in line with what I tell my students - be solution people, not problem people! Innovative people are solution people by definition. I will definitely share this with the kids and make the connections to solving problems instead of stating them.
• I just finished up Learn Like a Pirate by Paul Solarz. One of my goals for the upcoming school year is to create and foster a student-led classroom. I want students to take ownership and responsibility in our classroom. Wettrick ties this in seamlessly, Students are asked to take ownership of their education. Instead of teachers putting a standard on the board and telling them how to meet it, students are given the challenge to prove they have mastered the required standards. They are also given the freedom to choose the method for completing the projects they choose. My 2nd goal for the upcoming school year - implement Genius Hour! Students will be working towards standards; however, instead of me speaking to them directly and then assessing them on what they heard/learned, the students will be choosing how they are going to demonstrate their knowledge of the standards and content to me.
• Working towards anything important to you means that you have to be willing to fail!

The Puzzle of Motivation by Dan Pink - click HERE! Wettrick suggests this TED video on motivation. Very interesting! Pink talks about the 3 things needed to motivate people: 

1. autonomy - independence!
2. mastery - need and desire to learn more!
3. purpose - doing this for a bigger reason!

This TED video and the research provided in it, support Genius Hour/20 Time tremendously!

Wettrick discusses creating a "Culture of Freedom from Day One". This had a big impact on me. He points out that students are excited the first day of school - they are excited to see their friends, bring in their new school supplies, etc. While building a collaborative classroom community, it is important not to squash that enthusiasm by telling them everything they canNOT do. Spend the first days telling them all of the exciting things that we will be doing in class.

According to Wettrick, there IS NO PLAN! However, there are guidelines:

• Project Based Learning; however, the teacher is not choosing the topic which typically happens in a project based learning environment.
• Students research topic of their choice, personal interest - this is hard for students! Many have not had this type of freedom before. Hold a classroom brainstorming session. Research how to EFFECTIVELY brainstorm. Also, create surveys for the kids to help get them thinking about their passions. Thought - have them research solutions to a local problem or a problem that they can make better. Something to do for our first whole group Genius Hour project. Do one together to model the process?
• Students can work individually or in groups (should be nor more than 3). If students do choose to work in groups, come up with possible "roles" to keep all on tasks. 
• Students must collaborate with outside expert (person from the community, Facebook contact, Twitter, Skype, etc.)
• Project plan? Hmmmm.... Wettrick suggests a project plan for high school Innovation course. Is this necessary in 3rd grade? I am thinking just an end product in mind. Will create some type of graphic organizer for 3rd graders.
• Reflection after each work period, what did they do? What did they learn? What did they find? Blog or VLOG - video blog??
• Presentations (will hold family night at the end of the year).

6 Building Blocks of Innovative Learning:

1. Collaboration: Students need to collaborate with each other and they also need to collaborate with experts outside of the classroom. The real world interactions are authentic and will provide them with real world experiences.
2. Task- Oriented: Often students are extremely excited about the big ideas; however, they then don't know how to go from idea to project. Help them create a list of tasks, goals, and a timeline for completion. Make sure to not only set a final timeline, but a timeline along the way for each task.
3. Daring: Students need to be fearless and be risk-takers! Create a classroom with the freedom to fail!
4. Relevant: In this scenario, relevant means to have students solve real world problems that they can see the benefits of their solutions. Challenge students to create a meaningful project.
5. Reflective: Constantly reflect - students and teacher!!! Reflection helps us to see how to improve and to also correct any misconceptions or mistakes.
6. Ongoing: Some projects have long lasting impacts that go beyond the school year. Some projects just simply can't be finished by the end of the school year. Older students can absolutely follow through on their own, and they should as it is a PASSION project. However, not sure how realistic this is for 3rd grade. Will play this by ear...

Wettrick also discusses social media for both teachers and students. I have decided to again have a daily student "Tweeter". The daily student Tweeter will send out a daily tweet sharing something from their day - a project, something they learned, a picture, something fun or silly, etc. Our class will also use Twitter to connect and collaborate with other classes (Mystery Skype) and experts (as mentors for Genius Hour projects). Our class will also have a Facebook page; however, I will be in control of it for the time being. It is new and I want to do a trial as a class, just as I had with Twitter in the past. Our school board recently approved a new social media policy, so we are still navigating these unchartered waters... I will be sharing a letter with families at open house about our Facebook page (see below). I started to write the pros of social media; however, decided to keep it short and sweet. I would rather discuss it with the parents in person at our Open House. This will give them the opportunity to ask questions and me the opportunity to address them directly.

Click HERE to read my letter to parents about Facebook.

Learn Like A Pirate

I just finished Learn Like A Pirate by Paul Solarz and my mind is spinning. It was full of such GREAT information. I bought and read Learn Like A Pirate with my end goal in mind - a Student Led classroom. I want students to be independent thinkers and learners. I want students to be solution people, not problem people. This came to be from the learned helplessness that was abundant in my classroom last year (see Freedom to Fail blog post).

This upcoming school year, and for all the school years after, I will focus on improvement and welcome failure. I believe that I did this before; however, my biggest mistake was not conveying this message to students and teaching them to believe it and live it.

I have used and abused my trusty highlighter when reading this book. I also went through a pile of post-its and a notebook full of scribbles about all of the key points. This blog is my reflection on what will I change in my classroom for the upcoming school year.

1. Give Me Five - I will empower all students to be equal parts in our classroom by allowing them to signal (raising their hand) and get the attention of their classmates by saying, "Give me five," when they want the attention of the entire class. I will teach students that this is a privilege. We must respect when other students are talking (silence our mouths, freeze our bodies). This is not to be used in specials (art, music, PE, etc.) or with substitute teachers. I will express great appreciation to students who use it correctly. When students interrupt at inopportune times, I will use it as a teachable moment.

2. Daily Goal - At the end of each day, students will write in their daily planners and reflect on their own behaviors - were they safe, respectful, and responsible? We will also set a goal for the next day. What can we do better as a class?

3. Strategies for Dealing with Conflict - Last year, it seemed that there were always students running up to me. I consistently asked students if they were "tattling" or "reporting". We went over the differences between the two in depth, multiple times throughout the school year.  Solarz gives three strategies to teach students to resolve conflict on their own:

• Rock-Paper-Scissors: When someone HAS to win or be right, break it down to a good old fashioned game of rock-paper-scissors.
• Compromise: Take ideas from each person and figure out a solution using both. For example, two students are working together, Sophia and Natalie. Sophia wants to search for information on a website and Natalie wants to search for information in the library. They are instructed to work together. Compromise - do both! One will have to be done first, but figure it out! It is a win-win situation for all involved.
• Be Kind: Truly think about what the other person wants to do. If it is a good idea, do it!

4. Silent Day - Tell the kids that they are working towards a goal: Silent Day. For Silent Day, I will be quiet the entire day. I will not say a word. I will not bless someone when they sneeze, I will not say thank you - nothing! In order to do this, they will need to practice throughout the school year and show me that they can make decisions and handle things as responsibly and independently as possible.

Solarz also gave plenty of other great instructional strategies to implement. I am excited and focused on beginning the school year teaching the kids what a student-led classroom is and how we will become one! 

From Learned Helplessness to the Freedom to Fail

Last year, I taught 2nd grade. Throughout the year, I reflected on what was working and what wasn't working. This summer, I continued to do that, what could I do to make my classroom better? To make students more engaged? To optimize learning and success? No matter what aspect of my classroom I reflected on - student engagement, curriculum, technology, etc. - there was always an underlying "area that needs improvement". My students had learned helplessness. I do not take full credit for teaching them this, I believe that it was learned over many years. However, I definitely contributed. I think that there is so much pressure to get everything done, it is simply easier to just show them or tell them instead of guiding them, letting them fail, guiding them some more, and letting them figure it out.

When I attended ISTE this summer in Philadelphia, I attended a session by Andrew K. Miller called Freedom to Fail. At the largest international tech conference in the world, I took away the most impactful message from this session and it wasn't about tech at all for me. It was focused on teaching kids to fail forward, to change the negative connotation of the word FAIL to something that means needs more improvement, TRY AGAIN and KEEP TRYING! I came home and bought Andrew's book. Short, but great read. Here's the key points hat I took away from Andrew's book and will continue to revisit as I begin my first loop:

• When treated as a necessary step towards innovation, failure can help students to:
• Promote and establish a growth mindset,
• Build resiliency and a life-long learning mentality, and
• Prepare for the real world.
• Fear of failure is one of the leading causes of anxiety for students.
• Frame failure through a growth mindset.
• FAIL: First Attempt In Learning
• Failure is a beginning, not an end.
• If students are never given the opportunity to fail, they'll never know how much they can improve.
• By allowing and even prompting productive failure in the classroom, we can help students build their resiliency.
• When we fail in safe ways, we want to learn more.
• Students learn best through authentic experiences connected to the real world.
• Failure can only move students in the right direction if they have clear expectations and objectives, which are best established through rubrics and checklists and should be based on learning outcomes or standards.
• When students know that they'll be sharing their authentic products with an authentic audience, they will be motivated to continually revise their work as they make mistakes. Authenticity can create the need to improve work and , in the process, embrace the virtues of failure.
• This is one of the biggest problems with failure in the classroom: We set students up for epic fails before the have a chance to learn from the process. Instead, students need to be given multiple low stakes opportunities to fail, as these facilitate ongoing risk taking and impart to students the sense that failure isn't a big of a deal as they may think it is.
• Through the explicit teaching of questioning strategies, teachers can support students in moving past failure to success.
• A culture of collaboration must be sustained year-round if the freedom to fail is to be ingrained.
• Educators should model learning from failure as often as they can.
• Reflection focused on analyzing failure can help students to reframe it as a positive and meaningful experience.
• Consider using journals, discussions, and other reflection methods to facilitate failing forward.
• We all have students who tend to finish tasks early or who have some background knowledge that makes work a bit easier for them. We need to make sure that these students experience failure too. DIFFERENTIATE. Challenge them.
• Assessments that encourage the freedom to fail allow for student voice and choice and structured feedback.
• Smaller, targeted failures prevent students from becoming  overwhelmed and allow them to see failure as integral to the journey rather than simply the result of it.
• SMART Goals: Specific. Measurable. Attainable. Reasonable. Time-oriented.
• Students need specific, relevant, and timely feedback. We want students to think and reflect on their failures and reach an understanding of what happened and what to do next, and we want them to apply the feedback to their work immediately. Make sure feedback isn't overwhelming.
• Students should not be graded on their failures, no matter how important they are to eventual success. If students fail and receive a poor grade, they will think they are being punished for taking risks. Instead, teachers should sue grades to reward students at their best. Failure should be motivated by authentic learning and risk taking rather than by grades. 
• When we admit something isn't working, we communicate the message that failure is simply an opportunity to reflect and revise.

At our Open House, I will be sending a copy of my Philosophy on Failure to parents.