Collaboration - An Evolving Process

I know I already posted a blog this week, but I am currently in our library watching Mrs. Wingerd, our wonderful librarian as she guides my students through research for their NASA papers.  I've written about the NASA paper a million times before, but I am thinking today about how the collaboration I have had on this paper has changed over the years.  I've worked with five different people (three English teachers and two librarians) on this project over the years.

One of the things that made me think about this was the instruction I was giving the kids about writing from a Biblical worldview (In case you didn't know, I teach in a Christian school).  I was pointing out that this did not mean they had to include a specific Bible verse.  The first time I partnered with an English teacher on this paper (when it was still about whether or not we should go to Mars), she insisted that they quote a verse in their writing.  Since there is no verse specifically about space exploration, you can imagine the myriad of misinterpretations (bordering on heresy) I got from this requirement.  There is a verse in Psalms, for example, that says "the earth belongs to man and the heavens belong to the Lord."  Since 8th-grade students have little nuance, they said, "This means that we should not go to space."  That is not, of course, remotely close to what David had in mind when he wrote these words because that would have been rather confusing to an ancient audience.  When she left and I started partnering with a different teacher, I asked her if we could find a different way to ask kids to write from a Biblical worldview than insisting on a verse, and I have gotten much deeper and more interesting results.

A few years ago, the 8th-grade English teacher I conspired with suggested changing the paper from "Should NASA put a crew on Mars?" to "What should NASA prioritize spending its budget on."  She said to me, "Ten years ago, the Mars paper made sense, but we're going to Mars.  Now it's not an issue of if but when."  She was right, and I'm not sure how long it would have taken me to change it if she had not made that point.  It also resulted in MUCH more interesting papers.  When it was the Mars paper, there were only two options - Yes and No - so I was reading the same basic paper over and over again.  When I ask students what the top three priorities should be for NASA spending, they have a wide variety of thoughts.  Many still making putting a crew on Mars one of their points, but others talk about cleaning up orbital debris, space telescopes, planetary probes, studying black holes, the DART program, returning to an American rocket for sending humans into space, etc.  It's far deeper thinking and much nicer to grade."

One of my best collaborators on any project is our librarian, which is why we are here today.  She has already talked to them about databases and resources other than Google.  She has shown them how to sign up for an appointment with a writing mentor (high school students who are strong writers).  She has created a pathfinder of links to good credible sources that are places to start.  She has pulled some books for them.  In a couple of weeks, she will come to my classroom and talk to them about parenthetical citations and works cited pages.  She can do that in a way this science teacher can't, so it allows them to be trained in better work than if I were the only one showing them things.

I collaborate with Mrs. Wingerd on a number of things, from a speech my 8th graders do about elements to my physics students' 3D printed spinning tops.  We are able to do more for our students as a result of this collaboration.

The Internet is Not Always Right

This is going to be a short one.  

We teach kids not to believe everything they read on the internet.  Yet:

- Yesterday, I saw full-grown adults posting pictures of their brooms standing up and an "explanation" of gravity and the earth's tilt "from NASA."  
- Two weeks ago, the "Facebook only shows me 25 people.  Copying and pasting this message will change their algorithm." thing started going around again.  Again, these were full-grown adults, who were posting that it really works because they were told to paste it.
- Adults proudly post their results on a quiz, which they took because they saw a post that said most people can't pass it.
- There are a myriad of people passing on things whose numbers could be easily checked, like the next palindrome day won't happen for 900 years, how many full moons will fall on a Monday, etc.  

The internet is a wonderful thing, but it shouldn't replace your brain.  

- There are no days in which gravity is different than other days. You can stand a broom up every day. NASA did not tell you otherwise.
- You cannot change an algorithm by copying and pasting. That's not how algorithms work.
- They completely make up the score that "most people" get on the quiz. You are not special for doing better than that.
- There will be a palindrome day on December 11 of next year.

If you don't want your kids to believe everything they read on the internet, you should stop believing everything you read on the internet.

It's not possible to get over 10/10.  They must be hoping 90's kids weren't taught math.

Backwards Planning

Our school has summer assignments for teachers.  We read a couple of professional development books and do discussion boards.  This year, we watched Oscar worthy safety videos (don't touch blood or stand on unstable surfaces, that sort of thing) and do an activity called "Backwards Planning."  This is the one thing I have not yet completed.  I've thought a lot about it, but I just haven't gotten in down on paper yet.

I casually said to a few people last week, "Isn't that what all teachers do anyway?  It only makes sense to figure out what you want to do and then figure out how to get there."  Those people looked at me like it was cute that I thought that.  Apparently, some teachers just start teaching and see where it goes; I didn't know that.

Whether by training or personality, I have always been that way.  The yearbook really couldn't happen if I didn't think that way.  You have to see an end and then take the photos or gather the materials it takes to get that result.  Our professional development coach tells me that I can do my assignment as a blog post, so here goes.

As a means of learning about rotational motion, I have my students design and 3D print spinning tops.  We then hold a contest to see who can spin the longest time.  The first time I did this was last year and, while it was fun, I'm not sure how much physics they learned from it.  When it comes down to it, I think I presented things in the wrong order.  They started designing before learning the concepts behind rotation, so they just did it based on other tops they had seen.  To make that better, I'd like to make some adjustments for this year.  The questions we were asked to address in our planning are answered below.

1) What are the desired outcomes?

Answer: Students should be able to explain the relationship between shape, mass, radius, etc. on angular momentum.

2) What evidence shows progress and mastery of the outcome?

Answer: The design of the top will be accompanied by a grid in which students describe the shape, mass, radius, etc. and explain their thinking from a physics standpoint.

3) What activities will effectively get students to the outcome?

Answer: Spend the first day going through the design thinking steps and research online. Spend the next few days designing and refining in the 3D print program and filling out the thinking grid.

4) What is your essential guiding question for the unit?

Answer: What factors influence the angular momentum of a rotating object?

5) Is there an opportunity to connect with another teacher/subject? How could you collaborate to bring your class experiences together?

Answer: While I do that with other challenges, I'm not sure it makes sense here. That said, if our math teachers can think of a way to join in, I'm thrilled to do it.

6) What is the Biblical Integration?

Answer: The creation mandate instructs mankind to subdue the earth. All technology is part of that mandate as we take advantage of the laws of physics and materials from creation to create culture and helpful devices.

7) Add technology last. Where is it appropriate? Where does it provide differentiation?

Answer: We add technology last to make sure we aren't just doing tech for tech's sake. This particular activity benefits from the 3D printer. Although, if a student told me they wanted to carve a top from wood or mold metal rather than design in the 3D design program, I would be thrilled with that - built in differentiation. Their designs also provide differentiation as there is more than one way to be right.

Elements of Successful Innovation 1 - Leadership and Acknowledgement

This is the first post in a series on the successful implementation of any classroom innovation.  It is based on the list of elements needed for successful flipping (tweeted by Jon Bergman) that I referenced in my last post.  While the list was posted about the flipped classroom experience, it occurred to me that it reflects the elements needed for any innovation, from flipping to tech integration to project based learning.  Whatever innovation you are trying to implement, apply these needs to it.  I'm combining the first two - Leadership and Acknowledgement - because they fit well together.

If you going to innovate, you must have the support of your school's leadership.  When you try something new, it scares people.  When people get scared, they want you to stop the new thing and go back to what they are comfortable with.  In education, that means nice and safe lectures from a nice and safe textbook.  You will likely end up getting a lot of e-mails and having a lot of parent-teacher conferences.  You are going to need the support of your principal during these times.

The other reason you need a super-supportive administration is that you are going to need cheerleaders to make change happen.  Administrators, avoid the temptation to make this a measured accountability thing.  When GRACE was deciding to have a one-to-one program, there was a brief (thankfully) discussion of how to hold teachers accountable.  It was suggested that we require a certain percentage of time each week be devoted to the use of technology.  I get the desire to hold people accountable and make things measurable, but doing that would have been detrimental to teacher enthusiasm.  When it becomes "part of your job," you meet your minimum requirement only; and you do it without enthusiasm.  Instead, our IT department and administrators decided to be cheerleaders.  They told us what was possible with the innovation, gave us time to share with each other, sent us links and tools that they saw.  Because of this, we jumped in, each at our own starting level and grew.  We were encouraged to think of one big thing each semester, and my goal was to add as many little everyday things (google image diagrams, animations from youtube, collaborating using Google Docs, etc.) as possible every day.  In our faculty meetings, our administration set aside time for us to share our successes and ask questions.

We have been in this for six years now.  While things look different than they did at the beginning, we still take the time to cheer each other on.  This year, each teacher presented a new tool during a faculty meeting and shared how they had used it (or planned to use it) in their own classes.  Every year, we have an EdCamp, where teachers teach each other.  Innovation is exhausting.  It's that good kind of tired that comes from doing something meaningful, but it is exhausting.  A good administrator will recognize that and give you the support you need.  Sharing and acknowledging each other's achievements (and also laughing at your own failures) gives you energy in a great way.  If you want to innovate, but you don't have supportive leadership, make a little team of your own.  It will be harder, but it should not stop you from innovating.

Next time - Time and Focus

Successful Innovation - Coming Series

As a connected teacher and learner, I follow quite a few educators.  One of them is Jon Bergman, the most well known "flipped classroom" advocate and lecturer.

Some time ago, this list was on his Twitter feed.  This is the top ten things needed for successful flipping of the classroom.  I am not yet a teacher who flips (although I think about it a lot), but as I looked through the list, I realized that this same list could apply to any great change in the classroom.  At GRACE, we have just finished our sixth year of our one to one laptop program, and it has been, in my humble opinion, incredibly successful.  I've blogged before about the non-linear progress we made (four posts here, here, here, and here).

This summer, every teacher in our school is reading The Innovator's Mindset by George Cuoros, and I am noticing a lot of things on this list in that book as well.  Therefore, I have decided to write a post for each of these.  I don't know that I want to stretch it out over the entire summer, so I may post more than one per week or combine some of them as it seems some of them would go well together (Leadership and Acknowledgment - or Time and Focus - or Embedded Support and Community).

First one coming tomorrow - I'll start with Leadership and Acknowledgement.

Photography Geek Out

I have been taking pictures since I was a child and started really caring about it around the age of 13.  At that time, I was using a compact film camera, so it was really just about composition.

At 15, my parents bought me a Minolta SLR, and I became an addict.  My dad and I would take 8 or 9 rolls of film each during a 5-day vacation.  We had no idea, of course,  what kind of pictures we had until we took them to the drug store to have them developed.  All of this added up to serious money, and we would often end up with two or three pictures that we liked enough to enlarge and frame.

When digital photography began, I was a little resistant to it.  Strike that; I was a lot resistant to it.  Strike that, I said I would never use a digital camera.  Early digital cameras were TERRIBLE.  You would have been better of taking a writing class so that you could vividly describe what you were looking at than taking a digital photo of it.  They were 2.1 Megapixels.   Even when I started teaching yearbook (12 years ago), I had a tiny 4 Megapixel camera that was more or less useless for volleyball and basketball.  It was difficult at dances, and it couldn't zoom in at a soccer field worth anything.  I found that I was still frequently using film and then having it developed onto a CD in order to use as a digital file.

My first yearbook camera ($110 in 2005)

Digital photography has come a long way since those days.  I now have a Nikon D3100 DSLR, a wonderful camera with 14.2 Megapixels.  While this isn't the highest end camera I could own (I will never be able to afford or justify a Hasselblad for instance, and the 24-megapixel cameras that are currently available are outside of my price range), it has almost seven times more pixels than that first camera!  Please also note that I am not a victim of the megapixel myth. I do know that a megapixel count isn't the only thing that affects photo quality; I use this simply to illustrate how far the technology has advanced in this short time.

The most important feature of a DSLR is the lens quality.  It is actually better to invest in a good lens on a lower megapixel body than the other way around.  The lens determines the stability of your image, the coherence of refractions, and the amount of light gathered.  This is why I always recommend either Canon or Nikon when people ask about cameras to buy.  Neither of those companies will put their name on bad glass, and the glass is important.

This leads me to my most geeky post.  During Christmas break, I bought a new lens specifically with light gathering in mind.   It is not about the zoom as it goes from 50mm to 150mm, but it has an f-stop of f/2.8!  My lowest f-stop prior to this lens was f/3.5.  If you are not a photo geek, that probably means nothing to you, but it is a big deal.  The lower that number is, the more light the lens can take in.  This means I can shoot at a swim meet without annoying officials with a flash (I'll get to test that out next week).  Today, I'll take it into our school gym and take pictures that I won't have to edit for exposure.  This is exciting for me.  I bought it used at Peace Camera in Raleigh, which made it significantly less expensive than buying it new from Nikon.  I'll post more after I've had time to play with it.  So far, I've only used it for pictures of my cat.

I may have to do some weight lifting to strengthen my hands
and wrist because glass weighs a lot!

My Weirdness - Part 2 - No Cell Phone

Imagine there was a person in your life who insisted you take them with you everywhere you go.  "You won't be safe.  You won't be happy.  You'll be wishing you had me because you will always wonder what funny thing I would have been saying to you if you did.  Your friends won't think you're cool if you don't take me with you."  If that was a person in your life, you would find them controlling and manipulative and would not want them around.  I imagine, "You're not the boss of me" would be said at some point in your relationship.  That person would be a bully.

You let a piece of glass and metal, however, do this to you every day of your life.  It's called your smart phone.  This piece of technology that was designed as a convenience doesn't make your life easier.  It bullies you.
- Every day, it says, "You must take me with you, or you won't be safe."  When students find out that I don't own a cell phone, it is the first thing they bring up.  They say, "What if you have an emergency?"  I remind them that emergencies existed before the invention of the cell phone.  They launch into a stream of what if's questions in an effort to impress upon me how much danger I am in.  I'm not going to say that phones haven't helped people out of dangerous situations, but I have also never walked into traffic while chasing a Pokeball, and I've never had the issue of texting while driving; so I think it's a wash.
- Every day, it says, "You must take me with you, or you won't be happy.  You'll be wishing you had me because you will aways wonder what you are missing out on without me."  I do sometimes watch my students joyfully show each other a funny video, but more often than not, I watch them ignore each other because they are each so engrossed in their phone that they aren't present where they physically are.  When they don't have them, they have so much fear or what they are missing that they are riddled with anxiety.  These are signs of addiction, and we would recommend they seek treatment for that if it were anything but a phone.
- Every day, it says, "Your friends won't think you're cool if you don't take me with you."  This isn't just true of students but adults as well.  It's another way of showing your status to the world, and it is just as obnoxious to show off with the phone you have as it is to show off with the car you drive or the watch you wear.  They are all tools to achieve an end.  Having them in rose gold doesn't actually make them better tools.


As technology advances, we must make choices about our lives.  Accepting everything that comes our way for no other reason than because it is new makes us mindless drones.  Have a philosophy of life, and see if new technologies fit into your philosophy.  Note:  I'm not saying you should see if it fits in with my philosophy but that it should fit with yours if you are going to adopt it.  I have decided that there is too much noise in my world.  By that, I don't just mean sound.  As a teacher, I am bombarded with a constant stream of input from students, parents, other teachers, friends, grade analysis, research, and the internet.  Without a cell phone, I don't carry the noise with me twenty-four hours a day.  I decided some time ago that there needs to be some time in my life between thought and action; there needs to be some time between asking a question and the ability to get an answer.  If I don't have that in my life, my patience will plummet.  I use my computer to look for a lot of information; but because I have to wait until I get back to my computer, it allows for that little bit of lag time I personally need.  Smartphones do not give us time to think and process and reflect wisely before we fire off a tweet or look up an answer.  Therefore, they do not fit within the philosophy I have for myself.  My philosophy of any tool is that it should be used properly and for the convenience of the user.  If the phone rings at my house, I do not answer it if the timing is inconvenient because the ring is a signal, not a command.  People ask me all the time how I live without a cell phone, and my answer is always the same, "A lot more peacefully than you live with yours."

If any technology is determining your philosophy instead of the other way around, it is controlling you.  Take a step back and reflect on whether that is what you want in your life.