Resolutions

Lately, I've had lots of opportunity to talk and think about how our words and attitudes impact our students. Edutopia has a great article on positive words, but positive words are only the start. Kids are incredibly perceptive, even if they don't always fully grasp what they're perceiving. They might not be able to say, for example, "Well, Ms. So-and-so says the right things, but it always feels forced and artificial," but they can definitely feel when something isn't adding up right. If your room, your posture, your tone, and your attitude says "they can't," it doesn't matter how well your words say they can, they're going to hear what you're thinking loud and clear.

So let me be clear: they can. Every student in this county is capable. Yes, some have challenges -- but they might not be the ones you assume. If you tell me, quietly, privately, that "these kids just can't," well, that's going to be self-fulfilling. But here's the thing: if you just assume they can, they will.

When I was first assigned to teach an AP class, I didn't realize how students got into the class. I just assumed that every one of my students was highly academically motivated, highly intelligent, highly inquisitive, and highly capable. I assumed every one of them wanted not only to take but to excel on the AP exam. I was blissfully unaware that students at my school tended not to take the exam at that time (it was not yet required), and those who did tended to score mostly 1s and 2s. I just assumed they would all take it and do well, and everything I did in that class was built around that assumption and not wanting to let them down. And, come May, they all took the test. And while not all of them scored a 3 or higher, a far higher percentage did so than in other classes, where a smaller percentage took the test.

The logic is that if fewer students take the exam, only the ones with a legitimate chance to do well take it, and "pass rates" are higher.

The reality is, if the teacher sets an expectation that everyone will get a three, you can increase both the percentage taking it and the percentage passing it.

Afterwards, someone asked me how I got so many students to take the exam and I honestly didn't know. It just wasn't ever an option not to.

Now, it wouldn't have been enough if I told the kids they could do it. I had to believe. Because many of our students have had a lot of evidence presented to support the idea that they can't. So, until there is evidence that they can, someone has to believe. Not just say "You can do it," but really believe they can. If you say it to their face, but don't believe it behind their back, it just doesn't work. But if you really, truly, deeply believe in the capability of every one of your students, they will rise to meet that belief.

A colleague, right now, has 8th grade students writing five paragraph essays. They are good, well-constructed essays. I've read them. They're impressive. This colleague has told me, repeatedly, that they can do it, they just need to be taught how. Teachers at the high school these eighth graders will go to next year explain the low performance of their students by saying, "These kids can't write; they can barely read. They're not going to be able to do well on the NCFE."

So, who's right, the teacher who says they can, or the ones who say they can't?

The truth is, they both are. Because the kids are exactly as capable as we expect them to be. No more.

And no less.

What will you choose to believe about your students in the new year?

Mrs. Bracey's Mock Trial Activity

Mrs. Bracey's DBMS 8th grade class is a great example of how students will rise to the level of expectation set for them. In this student-centered, project-based learning experience, students started the activity by writing essays to "audition" for their role in the mock trial, then prepared and ran their trials. What a great learning experience, but, as Mrs. Bracey reflects, there is always room for improvement. Thanks for sharing, Mrs. Bracey!

One of my goals this year was to implement more student centered learning activities, project based learning and create more engagement. I have always wanted to implement a mock trial in my class but was not very confident in past years. With this being my 3 rd year teaching I decided that I had enough experience to take on the challenge.

The assignment was for students to put the British soldiers from the Boston Massacre on trial. One side would be prosecuting the soldiers while the other side defended them. My goals were to make the learning student centered, further their understanding of the causes of the American Revolution, and to teach students how to think critically.

Caution: I tiptoed into this with my students more for my sake as I wanted to make sure I was guiding them appropriately as I figured this out along the way!

Step 1: Inform students about mock trial

I informed my classes that we would be doing a mock trial and explained what exactly a mock trial is. I went through and explained every role in a mock trial (ex: juror, prosecuting attorney, defense
attorney, witnesses, bailiff, etc.) In order to be cast in a certain role, students would have to write an essay explaining which role they would be best suited for and provide an explanation. This doubled as a way for me to easily select students for roles and to implement how to write an essay to my class. This also makes the students more at ease because if they are someone who does not like to talk they can easily just select the role of juror while the students who want a more vocal role can select the role of an attorney or witness. There’s a role for every student and their personality.

Step 2: Select a topic for the mock trial

I chose the Boston Massacre as my topic. The topic for the mock trial coincided with just finishing the American Revolution unit and working through the Constitution/Government unit. The topic is also controversial with students able to argue both sides.

Step 3: Inform students of their roles

After reading and grading the essays, students were informed of which role they would be playing and which side of the argument they would be on.

Step 4: Mock Trial Vocabulary

Students were given a list of mock trial vocabulary words to learn. In order for students to have a sense of authenticity I felt it was important for them to be familiar with common legal jargon. Some of the words included: acquittal, conviction, verdict, evidence, admissible, testimony.

Step 5: Break out into two sides

I set aside class periods for the two sides, defense and prosecution, to get together and work on their cases. I had a separate assignment on the Boston Massacre for the jury members and the bailiff to complete while the defense and prosecution had time to prepare questions, opening statements, closing statements, and testimony. This part requires a lot of teacher guidance because students had no prior knowledge or experience so I had to constantly move around answering questions and guiding them through their arguments. Students were very motivated and excited though and worked very well with those on their team. The prosecuting attorneys had to prepare their witnesses while the defense attorneys prepared their witnesses and defendant.

 

Students would break out into their two sides and would have to work together to prepare 1) strategy, 2) opening and closing statements,  and 3) questions to ask the witnesses that help prove their case. This is a time where the teacher can assist the teams, answer questions and guide them but for the most part the students are working independently of the teacher.

Step 6: Rehearse

The day before the mock trial, students spent ten minutes rehearsing the movement and procedures. The desks were already positioned as they would be for the trial with a seating chart so that students would already be familiar with where they were sitting the next day.

Step 7: Mock Trial Day

Students run the mock trial from start to finish on their own. In every class it took students time to warm up and get comfortable. If you notice students are having a difficult time getting started you can “call a recess” where students get five minutes and you go to each side to help them along. Students will get very into the trial and will surprise you by how well they can think on their feet. I did not have to do much but stand back and supervise while the mock trial was conducted. The
students were able to carry the trial on their own based on their preparation of the topic. Students were encouraged to use evidence like primary sources to make their arguments. Verdicts were reached by the jury deliberating and voting.

Reflection

This was a great first experience with a mock trial. Students that you would not assume would want speaking roles were begging to participate and worked very hard. It created so many opportunities for me to see my students think critically and formulate arguments. Looking back and reflecting I want to encourage the use of primary sources as more of a basis for their arguments next time.

The outcome that I wanted for my students was for the learning to be student centered. By the time the research and preparation was completed, students were able to conduct the mock trial on their own because they clearly knew the topic which demonstrated to me that this was a successful project to reinforce and further student learning.

"Uncover the Content."

I was recently reading the transcript of an interview conducted by A.J. Juliani. He intereviewed authors Ross Cooper and Erin Murphy about their book, Hacking Project Based Learning. During the interview, Cooper said "It's a difference between covering, right? Covering the content, and uncovering the content."

And that's just it. You can cover content, and get to the end of the semester, and you've taught your heart out, but you don't know if the kids know anything and the test results are completely unpredictable. Or you can let the students UNcover the content, or even DIScover the content, and at the end of the year, they know the how and the why, and they know that they can figure it out, and they are better human beings for having known you.

Let me illustrate this by way of a story: When I was student teaching, back when American history could be taught in a single semester because half of it hadn't happened yet, I was working with a very laissez-faire cooperating teacher. She didn't observe a single lesson I taught, she simply waited in the room next door. Never saw a thing I did. She read through my lesson plans, and often questioned stuff, but she pretty much let me do whatever. Which meant, when it was time for me to go, she suddenly discovered that I was several weeks behind the class that she was still teaching. And she wanted me to catch up with her by the time I relinquished the class. The upshot of which was, while she spent two weeks of mostly direct lecture teaching about the Holocaust, I had... two days.

Two days.

Two days get my students to a really deep understanding of what this event was, why it happened, how it happened, and how it impacted the people then and since. This wasn't just basic world history, after all, this was an honors class required of the magnet academy students at a top-performing Philadelphia high school where about a third of the students were Jewish. These kids were expected to have a DEEP understanding of the Holocaust. And I had two days.

So I bought a copy of Maus, both volumes, and photocopied a few carefully selected pages. The students read, reacted, summarized, and discussed. And afterward, my co-op said, "I don't know how you did it, but your kids can explain the Holocaust much better than mine!"

In two days, my students had a deeper understanding of the Holocaust than hers gained in two weeks of lecture. I didn't have the language then to describe what I'd done; all I knew was that I had improvised like mad to make sure I didn't leave those kids unprepared. But today, I know what I did:

• First, I determined what the essential learning was: what did the kids absolutely need to know? It wasn't the number of victims, the dates, the locations of the camps -- it was the impact on the people then and since. 
• Next, I asked myself what was the best way to get at that essential understanding? I didn't want kids to hear me say it, I wanted them to feel it, and I arrived at the same conclusion Art Spiegelman did: they needed to read it in a way that was intense, personal, even graphic when needed: a graphic novel, or comic book. 
• Finally, what did I want them to do to get this feeling? I wanted them to imagine themselves in those roles, in those times, in that place, and tell their peers what they imagined it to be like. So some kind of Socratic discussion.

Today, we call this student-centered instruction, inquiry-based learning, and using primary and secondary sources. But it's always been good teaching.

Standards Through the Content

When you make your lesson plans, do you ever find yourself thinking something along these lines:

"Hmm...what do I need to teach about next week? Let's see, we just finished the European explorers, so I guess we'll start with the Conquistadors, and then compare that with French and British settlements, before getting into the 13 colonies and the three colonial regions..."

And then you remember -- your principal wants you to put the standard on the board each day. So you go to the binder where you printed out the unit analysis last year, and you flip through until you find a standard that seems to fit.

Been there, done that, got the lousy results to prove it.

But I also got good results, and some of you get truly fantastic results. How? By planning just a little bit differently:

"Hmm... we just finished looking at the factors that led to European Exploration. We should expand that this week to explain the factors that influenced the patterns of settlement and explain the roles of various ethnic and racial groups in settlement..."

Who talks like that?

A teacher who is starting from the standards. Take a look at this example, from Ms Bracey's 8th grade classroom at DBMS:

See how the I Can statement quotes the standard, and the lesson is about an economic conflict that impacted the development of the United States? Good alignment! Is it perfect? No... we can discuss that in the comments. But clearly the lesson isn't just "tell them about Mercantilism;" it's give students the information so they can explain how an economic conflict impacted the development of the United States.

Why does this matter? Because when students are learning things, not just to learn them, but to lead them to a conceptual understanding, real, lasting learning can occur. Consider also these student work samples from Mr. Gilchrist's 6th grade classes at NCIMS:

Students drew pictures of key inventions from the earliest civilization in Mesopotamia. But the standard is 

6.H.2.3 Explain how innovation and/or technology transformed civilizations, societies and regions over time

And

6.H.2.2 Compare historical and contemporary events and issues to understand continuity and change.

With those two standards in mind, Mr. Gilchrist asked his students to explain, underneath the illustration, not what the innovation was, but what it's importance was, both to the society at the time and to us today:

Keeping his eye on the standards, Mr. Gilchrist was able to push his students beyond mere DOK1 description to think more deeply about the impact and importance of the history they are studying. In this way, students don't merely know history, the understand. And when the understand, they remember and can build upon that understanding for further learning and for life.

Summer Reading

Guest blogger Angela Westmoreland of PFMS talks about what she's doing with her summer. It might be a vacation, but for true lifelong learners, professional growth never stops!

Teachers are busy.  I know I am!  So sometimes, other than reading my curriculum or curriculum-related materials, I forget to read actual books, especially books that will encourage or inspire me in my profession.  We expect and hope that our students are consistently reading; why should we be any different?

I made it a part of my goal this summer to read books that would help me in my profession, but were not about Social Studies or history.  I amassed quite a Kindle collection in my pursuit!  I haven’t finished all of them yet, but most of these books are easy to pick right back up again (if you can manage to put them down!).

You may be wondering how I determined which books to read.  That’s easy--Twitter!  Twitter is teeming with ideas and inspiration for teachers.  If you’re not on Twitter, you should get on it immediately!  You can follow the authors of many of these books and more, and they will interact with you!  It’s amazing!

The two books in my collection that really influenced me the most this summer were Innovator’s Mindset and Shift This!.  If you’re looking for something to remind you of why our profession is the best and what you can do with what you have, right where you are, then these two books are for you.  I learned so much about how to be a leader from my current vantage point, and how to make shifts in my classroom to enhance my students’ experiences.

I highly recommend any of the books in my Kindle library, as well as following all of the authors on Twitter.  I have had several Twitter conversations with Joy Kirr, the author of Shift This!, and she is wonderfully personable and supportive.  Though they are world-famous, these authors still appreciate your tweets and positive comments about their work!

Which book will you read first?  Share about your choice on Twitter!  Be sure to include our new Social Studies hashtag, #InnovateSs. You can find me there, too, as @AngelalMLWestmo. I’m looking forward to seeing what you choose!

Planning for Digital Engagement: Tech Camp 2017

Two weeks ago, we published an interview with Cris Higginbotham that happened during Tech Camp 2017. Another Social Studies teacher who presented at Tech Camp was Gaundi Allen, who teaches 8th grade at ACMS. We talked with him about his philosophy and approach as well, and about how we in Social Studies have the unique opportunity to change tomorrow through teaching today's students about their world yesterday.

Jonathan Frantz: What would you say is your overall "philosophy of teaching?" How do you approach planning your instruction?

Gaundi Allen: I am a true believer in the blended classroom model. An engaging lesson that meets the 21st century skills needed to be successful in an increasing globally interconnected world through real world applications of knowledge learned, skills acquired, and real to life experiences is what my classroom is all about. In planning for instructional activities that meet the demands of high stakes testing, I examine my essential standards & content, and then from there I find or create digitally engaging lessons and activities that blend classroom objectives with digitally engaging methods and techniques. You provoke the students interests with the opening provocative statement, then get them the information to understand the factual questions needed, and then use instructional activities that allow students to understand the big concept and apply their understanding to produce something new.

JF: Why do you include digital technology in your lessons?

GA: First of all we must remember, technology doesn’t replace the teacher, it only digitally enhances & engages students in a way they already are in the world they live in. Several studies I have examined have summarized the “now” student into five characteristics- they are social, mobile, global, digital, & visual. That’s the world they live in and are a part of, so why use methods & techniques that don’t apply to who they are? This is a globally connected world, digital tech allows students to engage that world without the transportation costs.

JF: So what do you ask them to do with technology?

GA: In my classroom, I believe in blending digital engagement with the essential standards students are being assessed on. For example, instead of simply lecturing about personal financial literacy and taking notes, we will use digital engagement tools that instead bring the lesson to life for students using tools they already know and use & they can quickly apply their prior knowledge and what they have learned. Quality of life is a big concept that is essential to understanding the impact of personal financial decisions. So what can students do with technology, everyone wants a car, so students will use Carmax to find a vehicle they want and apply their understanding of how personal financial decisions impact their credit score which in turn impacts their interests rates. They will use the technology to determine the effect of interests rates, their monthly payments, and affordability based on prior personal financial decisions.

JF: Do you find that your students are good with the tools you use?

GA: Absolutely! Sometimes, I feel like we teachers are afraid of collaborating with our students. They have more knowledge and skills than we give them credit for sometimes.

JF: What would you say to colleagues who aren’t comfortable with technology, and might worry that the students know more than they do?

GA: You have to be willing to step out of your comfort zone and be willing to learn these things to professionally develop your craft. I love the quote, “If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow.” You have to be willing to analyze who you service (students), how they learn best, and then be willing to effectively adopt that into your classroom. Coach K says it best, “A common mistake among those who work in sport is spending a disproportional amount of time on “x’s and o’s” as compared to time spent learning about people.” We need to learn more about the people we serve.

JF: You said before that the lesson always leads students to “produce something new.” Why is it important for kids to be producers? Don't they just need to get down the important information we give them?

GA: Getting down the “important” information is not effective if that information isn’t used immediately and effectively. Too often teachers say. “This is important and you need to learn it.” But students, parents, and even business leaders are asking- why is it important? How is it important? How can they use what you are saying? I think about it like coaching, as a coach myself, I tell my staff and parents, it doesn’t matter what YOU know and players KNOW, it matters what THEY can DO! Production answers the a teacher's most essential question- Can you apply what you have learned? It is an awesome thing to watch our student’s produce products that apply what they have learned in awesome new ways. For example, products like music, movies all tell a story about experiences (that was the Harlem Renaissance). What if you let students take what they have learned about personal financial literacy and create a song about how they have seen people’s quality of life impacted by good and bad choices and create a lyrical rhyme about it. That’s all music is. It digitally connects the characteristics of our “now” student to what they have a passion for- music.

JF: Wow, what a powerful way to demonstrate learning. But don’t you worry that these methods don’t really prepare kids for the NCFE?

GA: The North Carolina Final Exam is all about the conceptual mind! When using digital engagement techniques and tools, the only thing that really changes is the delivery of material to students and students ability to produce or create using a more engaging method. The content, what they should know, and what they should be able to do doesn’t change. So, the NCFE’s content, what they should know, and what they should be able to do isn’t asking them anything different from what they have already been doing in class. As a teacher, you should analyze the following before using digital engagement: NC Essential Standards, previous NCFE tests (this will allow you to understand the style of questions, concepts, and what the NCFE is assessing students on), pacing guides, and other curriculum documents pertaining to your subject. Then you use digital engagement tools that ask the same questions and give the same situations students will be assessed, except you will be using a different platform to deliver that content & allow students to create & produce answers to content you know they will be assessed on. “Prior planning prevents poor performance.”

JF: I’ve always admired how smoothly your classes run. All that careful planning sure pays off! One last question: how would you say your philosophy of learning impacts your approach to how you teach history?

GA: I’m always looking for ways to get that “wow factor” (Darrell Sheets from “Storage War” quote) from my students. I want them to feel like my classroom is not a classroom but a place where they can see and learn in ways they never imagined. My approach to teaching is like my approach to coaching. If I am not willing to learn with my students, like they are willing to learn from me and always willing to get better, then it's time for me to go. Seeing who I teach, how they learn, and what they will need for tomorrow is what I am all about. My philosophy impacts me because I am always on an expeditionary exploration of how I can make them better for the day that I don’t teach them. Like I believe, I’m changing tomorrow, today.

Project Based Pitfalls

Of all the educational innovations being discussed lately, Project-based Learning (PBL) might just be the one that makes the most sense in Social Studies classrooms. Many of us, in fact, have come to PBL almost by accident. I remember one teacher being very embarrassed when I praised his PBL approach. "I'm not doing this because I'm some brilliant teacher," he said, "I'm just lazy." And indeed, a PBL classroom is a space that is much more comfortable and relaxing for you, just as it is much more engaging and even empowering for your students. But there is, in fact, a great deal of work that goes into a successful PBL lesson but, like many things, you more you do it, the easier it becomes! As you consider building (or expanding) your PBL toolbox, keep in mind these three pitfalls to avoid:

1. Trying too much too soon.

First, there's a temptation to either bite off more than you can chew. If you set your sights too high, perhaps by deciding over the summer that you will create a fully PBL course by August, you can quickly become overwhelmed and give up in frustration. To avoid this, first, choose a manageable goal: where is one unit you can "test the waters" of PBL with reasonably good chances of success? How could you possibly build from there? How long will it really take? Spend some time googling, contact me, or consider joining the Project Based Learning Community on Google+ to get ideas and support as you make your plans.

2. Don't assign "castle projects."

On the other hand, sometimes we're tempted not to do enough. This is the trap of creating projects that aren't really Project Based Learning. To be PBL, a project has to require students to think deeply about problems grounded in the content and standards, so that their conclusions are the learning that is needed. Otherwise, you might just be creating what I jokingly refer to as "castle projects:" big, beautiful creations that really demonstrate Dad's wood-working or Mom's styrofoam crafting, but don't really do anything to help students understand the lessons in the ways called for by the standards (and which might also raise some serious questions around equity for all students!). To avoid this trap, ask yourself some questions:

1. Are students answering a significant, meaningful question through the project development process?
2. Is the learning of the project aligned to the standards I'm intending to teach?
3. Have I already taught everything I want them to know for this project? 

Your answers to the first two should be "yes," or you may be making a "castle project." Your answer to the last question, however, should be "no." If you've already taught what the project is demonstrating, you don't have project based learning, you have project based testing. 

3. Don't foreclose student voice, choice, or thought.

The final trap was recently brought to my attention while reading an article from Edutopia titled "A World of Project Ideas (You Can Steal)." The article talked about the starting point for any good PBL lesson: the driving question. The very first example was this:

Who were the most influential leaders of the Civil Rights Movement in terms of impact upon today's society?
Notice the phrase, "most influential." This embeds critical thinking into the project because it prompts students to develop criteria and then make a defensible argument for why they selected a particular leader. Imagine the wide range of products students might produce to tell the story of a particular leader. That's a good sign that students will have voice and choice in the project, deepening their engagement.

The question is a perfect Social Studies driving (or guiding) question. It's the explanation that caught my eye: critical thinking is embedded in the question, it says, because the phrase "most influential" prompts students to develop criteria.

Stop and think about that for a moment.

Prompts students to develop criteria.

How many of us would give students the criteria? No? Maybe not in your rubric, but what happens when a student asks "what do you mean by most influential?" We're teachers. Our instinct, when a student asks a question, is to answer it. And just like that, we've turned project based learning into a castle project. The point of this activity is not to pick the right Civil Rights leader. The point is to think deeply about what Civil Rights leaders did and said, and what forms of impact they have had, and how lasting that impact has been. And none of that will happen if you answer the first question students ask: "What do you mean?"

Because, in the end, castle projects are all about students showing you what you want to see. But Project Based Learning is about students telling you what they want to say. And there's no room to hear their voices if you're doing all the talking.

"Life v. Debt"

Dr. Heather Kaiser has developed a year-long interactive to teach elementary students the realities of, as she calls it, "Life or Debt." This aligns to, among others, Standard 5.E.2, "Understand that personal choices result in benefits or consequences." She describes it like this:

The challenge is for students to end the school year "debt-free".  As the teacher, you are going to make this a difficult task - just like IRL (in real life).

Head over to her blog, Stimulating Science Simulations, for her full description, or go directly to her website to download your own copy!

"Time to learn:" Tech Camp 2017

Tech Camp (#CCSTech17) was held June 20-21 at GCHS. Several of you were there as participants, and three of our Social Studies colleagues presented: Gaundi Allen, ACMS, Angela Westmoreland, PFMS, and Cris Higginbotham, PFHS. We caught up with Cris "Higgie" Higginbotham to discuss her approach to teaching and how digital technology plays into her classroom. "Ms. Higgie's" classroom has been featured on this blog before, but in this conversation we got to talk more about her total approach to student learning and achievement.

Jonathan Frantz: What would you say is your overall "philosophy of teaching?" How do you approach planning your instruction?

Cris Higginbotham: First off, technology has to enhance the actual learning. It's not "this cool tool for this, and that cool tool for that." It has to enhance the learning. Sometimes bells and whistles are tempting, but you have to step back and make sure the bell and the whistle actually add something to it, and doesn't just sit on top looking pretty.

JF: Okay, but then why bother using tech at all?

CH: Students need it. They're going to go into a world where technology is relevant and important. College admissions look at the student's web presence: do they have a website, do they have a blog. Employers do the same thing. So if you're not teaching kids how to have a creditable web presence, you're doing them a disservice.

Look, tech is in everything we do now. There are very few things that you don't need tech to do.

JF: So what do you ask them to do with technology?

CH: It's really more about what I don't do, and that is, I don't allow them to use technology to take notes, to do the basic stuff. Instead, it becomes the product. They can take a picture of a diagram if they need to, but they have to write it because brain research shows they need that to learn.

JF: Do you find that your students are good with the tools you use?

CH: The thing is, this is why technology is important for us to do in the classroom: I have juniors and seniors who don't know how to attach a document. They don't know the difference between a share link and a URL. They don't actually know how to do what they need to be able to do. If we don't teach them, who's going to do it? How are they going to learn?

JF: What would you say to colleagues who don't know this stuff themselves? I can imagine readers asking themselves "Wait, what's a share link? What's a URL?" What would you say to them?

CH: It's time to learn. The day of "kids know how" is gone. Kids today are actually less knowledgeable about professional use of technology. When I gave an assignment to find a "cool" way to present, the kids came back with PowerPoint. Kids might have lots of access to technology, but they don't know how to use it to produce. They don't know how to use it in education. They don't know how to use it professionally. They don't know how it works.

Students now are digital consumers, not producers.

JF: I've noticed that you're all about student products. Why is it important for kids to be producers? Don't they just need to get down the important information we give them?

CH: They shouldn't. It goes back to brain research: If you can't take what you've been given and turn it into something new, explain it in a different way, or use it in a different context, you haven't really learned it.

Take today: I went into a session [at Tech Camp] and learned about a website I didn't know about. But if I don't do something with it now, I'm not going to remember it. What you do with it is part of the learning process, just like taking quizzes is part of the learning process.

I really pushed my American II kids this semester. Everything they learned, they had to create a product. They complained the whole time: "Again?" But every one of them passed that test: two "Bs" and all the rest "A." And the "Bs" were high.

JF: That's fantastic. The deeper processing that comes from making products rather than just taking notes really sounds like it pays off. So how would you say your philosophy of learning impacts your approach to how you teach history?

CH: We're working in American History II -- all of us teaching it at PFHS -- we're working to write discussion questions instead of notes, to make it more discussion-based, almost Socratic. We've already finished the first unit. They do a reading, online or in print. Then they get a list of discussion questions for the entire unit and it's their responsibility to attempt all the questions before they come to class. Where they answer the question, there's a column on the side for them to link a document to the question, so they're supporting their answer with some source. So then when I put the "presentation" on the board, their answers to the questions become the notes. We merged presentation, discussion, reading, and primary sources into one cohesive learning task.

As far as the sources, each group gets a stack, and they divvy them out. Whatever documents a student gets, they have to become the expert on those, but every student has access to all of them. Then we do activities that involve all the primary sources.

The point is, for every unit, there's a core set of primary sources that all the discussion and learning is centered around, and then they produce a product that shows their understanding of that learning.

JF: Sounds amazing! Thanks for your time, thoughts, and all you do for our students.

Up the creek learning

As we enter the summer, these posts will shift from highlighting what teachers are doing around the county to reflections on our practice as teachers. The first comes from my own experiences. If you would like to contribute your own reflection, please email me, or comment on this post. Have a great summer!

The most important thing I ever learned about learning was not in my teacher preparation, grad school, or National Boards process. It was canoeing merit badge class.

I grew up spending summers in a canoe. I knew how to canoe. I did it all the time. So when I got to summer camp as a young Boy Scout, I signed up for canoeing merit badge. It would be easy!

Well, I knew how to paddle from the front of the boat, with my Dad in the back. I didn't realize that the hardest part of canoeing was when you were in the back of the boat or, worse, in the boat by yourself. So, second day of class, I was done. I told my father (at camp with me) that I was quitting the class, because "I didn't know anything" about canoeing.

My father didn't reassure me, didn't insist that I did know something, but he did insist I stay in the class. "You don't take a class because you know something," he said. "You take a class to learn something." He told me that the fact that it was hard was exactly why it was good for me to be in the class: it showed that I had something to learn, a reason to be there.

I think sometimes we forget this in our lives as teachers and professionals. We forget that learning is hard, and, frankly, people don't usually like hard work. So students, like most people, tend to avoid hard work. In practice, this means that they often would much rather do easy things, like filling out worksheets or copying definitions, than hard things, like writing, analyzing, or creating. And they "vote" with their behavior: students sitting in rows copying notes from the screen into a notebook tend to be "easy to manage."

All my life, up to that summer camp, I sat in the front of the canoe with my Dad in the back. I was there, because I was easily managed. But I hadn't learned what I needed to know. When the work got hard... I tried to quit. I voted with my behavior.

But I wasn't allowed to quit, nor was I given a different, easier lesson for canoeing. I was given the context for why it was hard. I was reassured that, if I worked through it, I would be successful and that it was worth it. Fortunately, the outcomes of the learning were apparent to me: not just a merit badge, but a skill I wanted and valued. Sometimes, that's the challenge for us: we have the merit badge (we call them "grades") to hold out for the kids, but the skills that the grade represents are not valued by our students.

So what did I really learn from canoeing merit badge? I learned how to keep my head above water, both literally and figuratively. Despite the fact that I felt so over my head at the start, I had support, encouragement, and lots of time and practice to figure out what I needed to know. Every day, I got a little bit of instruction on how to do something, and a whole lot of time doing it with the instructor watching and giving feedback, so, yes, I learned how to paddle a canoe. But far more lasting and more importantly, I learned how to be successful. I was successful because I knew the learning was important to me, I could see how each lesson built toward the ultimate goal, and I had support of peers, parent, and instructor when the going got rough. For our students to be successful, we need to do three things for them:

1. Find ways for the learning we have planned to be meaningful and important to them.
2. Give them challenging tasks that clearly move them toward that meaningful and important learning.
3. Support them when it gets hard, not by making it easier again, but by encouraging them through the difficulty.

None of those things are easy for us to do. Teaching is hard, hard work. So is learning. And both are a lifelong journey. If you're looking for support, encouragement, or feedback on your teaching and learning journey, drop me a line.

I'll bring my canoe.

4th Grade Students Take Stock Market Prize

Most American millionaires start out by attending public schools. Four of Miss Palmer’s 4th graders have intentions of becoming millionaires when they become adults. They are off to a great start by competing in the North Carolina Council on Economic Education’s (NCCEE) Stock Market Game (SMG).  The NCCEE’s SMG is an academic competition that teaches students skills to help them to make informed economic and financial choices. Tia, Myasiah, Aniya and Lori-Ann work as media assistants and were coached by Ms. McClellan and Ms. Gibbs in this academic competition.  This all-girl team competed against over 21,000 others in the SMG. They placed third in the Eastern Region 2017 Stock Market Game and were honored on May 19th in Greenville, North Carolina by the NCCEE during their 31st Annual Awards Banquet. NCCEE Executive Director, Ms. Sandy Wheat, and NCCEE Executive Board Member, Mr. Blaine Wiles, who represented the North Carolina Bankers Association. Both saluted the team comprised of girls and even asked them to share a tip on which stock to invest in.  The team also got to visit East Carolina University while on this educational field trip to Greenville.

Twitter for Teachers

I was recently asked -- on twitter -- who to follow for a professional twitter account. The fact is, twitter is a great way to stay current and get ideas for the classroom. I know many teachers who rely on pinterest or Teachers Pay Teachers for their teaching inspiration, but twitter can also be a great resource.

The first thing to say is that I'm not talking about using twitter with the students. There are all sorts of legal and ethical issues that get involved there, so that's an entirely separate issue that will take more than a blog post to discuss. I'm talking about creating a place where you can find people who inspire you in your work. Technically, this is called a "professional learning network," or PLN. But really, it's just following the right accounts on twitter.

Which brings us back to the starting question: who should you follow? Ironically, that's a hard question to answer on twitter. There used to be something called "Follow Friday," where twitter users would tweet:

Then everyone who followed you would add these people to their followers, and twitter networks would grow.

It doesn't really work that way anymore. So I'm writing this post for two reasons: one, so that you, my reader, can give twitter a try and have some people to consider following, and two, so that any time anyone asks me for some follow recommendations, I can send them here.

So, first, how do you get started on twitter? Click below to get some tips.

And, finally, who should you follow? Personally, I like (and therefore recommend) the following as my "top ten":

• George Couros (@gcouros) Educational innovator, author of The Innovator's Mindset, and general "big ideas" guy.
• Alice Keeler (@alicekeeler) Google guru -- lots of tips and tricks for Google Drive and related tools.
• Eric Sheninger (@E_Sheninger) Former principal, educational leader. Ideas for innovation.
• Dave Burgess (@burgessdave) Author of Teach Like a Pirate and energetic educator.
• John Krownapple (@Jkrownapple) Cultural Proficiency and equity expert.
• Matt Miller (@jmattmiller) Teacher, Google Certified Innovator, and author of Ditch That Textbook. 
• Jeff Nelson (@JeffNelsonTLI) Educator and executive director of Teaching-Learning-Innovation.
• Tom Whitby (@tomwhitby) High school, middle school, and college teacher and founder of #EdChat
• Bill Ferriter (@plugusin) Raleigh educator and prolific tweet and blogger
• Outlaw Innovation (@DrLOutlaw) Educator who tends to retweet some of the best ideas on twitter.

And a bonus: Consider following CCS Tech Camp for retweets of these and others, as well as insights and announcements from our own district. 

Badges to promote technology in Elementary schools

What are those?

 They're springing up all over our elementary schools. Some are on doorways, some are on the walls, some are in the data rooms, but wherever they are, they all mean the same thing:

Digital Learning is happening here.

So what are they? Badges. Teachers earn them by demonstrating that their students are learning using various digital tools: Skype, Plickers, Symbaloo, you name it -- the only limitation is the drive and enthusiasm of building staff.

And some have amazing enthusiasm! Look at all the badges Jhonatan Marin had at Howard Hall Elementary School back in February:

 And at Seabrook Elementary, teachers Suzanne Williams and Jamie Royster have filled their first sheet of badges, and started a second!

Now, obviously, this isn't restricted to Social Studies, but Social Studies is a great place to lead in innovation and digital integration: Skyping with students in other places, building Padlets for historical figures, creating oral history blogs, or any of the diverse other options, teaching history with the tools of the future is the best way to engage our students and involve them in thinking critically, creating content and understanding, collaborating with one another and global peers, or communicating across the county and around the world.

What an exciting time to be in the classroom!

Learning Environments Reimagined

What a cool place for a club meeting:

I mean, how cool to just chill after school. Must be some kind of tech club, maybe coding, or webdesign, or something like that.

Except, it's actually a classroom. Cris Higginbotham, PFHS Social Studies teacher and two-time Tech Camp presenter, has been re-imagining her classroom over the last two years, and seems to have arrived at a format that really works.

She began when she first returned to our district, moving the desks from rows to groups. Then she started replacing desks with tables, finding ones that other teachers weren't using. Finally, she had a set of tables that matched, and, with her principal's support, she applied for two small grants to buy the last pieces: a couch, two armless chairs, two beanbag chairs, and a coffee table (the leather chair she already had). This became the central seating area in her classroom. She also has clipboards and lapdesks in boxes under the coffee table so students can be fully productive in this space.

A few simple rules make the whole space work: students aren't allowed to lounge across the couch, there is a maximum number of students allowed in the space (seven in some classes, nine in others -- you have to know your students!), and anyone who sits in the space one day must be the last person seated the following day. Note that the entire room is warm and welcoming, as well: small lamps supplement natural lighting, art work is on the walls, students can select non-standard chairs at the tables, etc. This is not just about chairs, it's about the entire emotional climate of the room.

That last point probably addresses the biggest question: doesn't this lead to more discipline issues? Quite the opposite. Students in "Ms. Higgie's" class work collaboratively and create a variety of learning products. As such, engagement is high and learning is strong. In such an environment, students are invested in the class and discipline issues are minor and easily managed.

Admittedly, one other thing makes this work: the classroom is a "one-to-one" envrionment, with chromebooks for every student. That has been an ongoing project Cris has done through a series of DonorsChoose grants, each one for a small number of laptops until there were enough for all. Once every student has a screen, the need to have them all focused on the SMART Board is gone, but even before that, there are ways to make this -- or something like it -- work in any classroom. If you want to discuss ideas for this, or have questions, contact me. If I can't answer your questions, I'll get you in touch with Higgie herself!

A Tale of Two Notebooks

Take a look at these two student notebooks. Which looks like the student paid more attention to the day's lesson? Which one do you think is a "good student," and which one would you be more concerned about?

A.

B.

Now, which one better understands something about the Vietnam War?

GCMS 7th grade teacher, Emily Werner, taught her students how to "sketchnote." In sketchnoting, students draw out whatever image seems to them to capture the ideas being discussed in class. The emphasis is not on artistry and organization, but on capturing meaning: if the lecture is about locks on the Panama Canal, and I draw a sloppy padlock across a blue line, as long as I remember that represents locks on the Panama Canal, it doesn't matter that my classmate drew a beautifully illustrated key inserted into a perfectly crafted map of Panama.

So, actually, the second student more faithfully captured the idea of Sketchnoting. But one important concept in Sketchnoting is that there's no right way to do it -- if one student needs more words than another, that's fine. So neither is inherently better or worse: it all comes down to whether students can recall the information.

So here's the point:

I asked both students to explain Ngo Dinh Diem to me. If you can't make it out, he is mentioned on the first page of the written notes, in the red ink paragraph at the bottom. He is also labeled as the figure standing alone at the bottom left of notebook "B." For notebook B, the student said, "He seized power, so that's why he knocked down this guy here. And once he was in power, everything he did was against Communism, because that's all he thought about." For notebook A? That student said, "He wanted to be President."

So... which is the better notebook? I would argue the one that led the student to a deeper and stronger understanding of the material: Notebook B.

Word Walls for Middle School Social Studies

First, I must confess, I'm not a huge fan of vocabulary instruction. Ideally, vocabulary should grow out of instruction, as students encounter words they need to know in order to complete their learning. The world does not consist of ideal students in all cases, however, so we look for vocabulary that at least supports deeper, broader learning. The temptation, though, is to allow teaching vocabulary to become the instruction, so that instead of learning concepts and generalizations that students have created for themselves from guiding questions about, say, the Roman Empire, students simply learn a lot of words that in some way (that they may or may not be able to articulate) relate to the Roman Empire.

BUT.

Vocabulary can be an important part of learning, especially if students have a way to organize that vocabulary in a way that aligns with what they are learning. So, for example, Allan Kerrick at LNJMS organizes his word wall by the five strands of Social Studies, plus a column for academic vocabulary -- those terms that transcend the content of the unit and will be lasting recurring vocabulary.





Mr. Kerrick's word wall changes with each unit. As a way to go even further with this, Vickie Woodford at ACMS keeps her words to a bare minimum, allowing her word wall to be permanent and include every civilization she teaches. She adds the vocabulary as they study new civilizations, and students use the word wall to make comparisons among the civilizations, tying new learning to previous understandings about the religion, government, and culture of world civilizations. Students are able to review the entire course content at a glance and explain how each of these terms relates both to the civilization and to the other items in that same column.

Another innovative way to re-imagine the word wall comes from Cheryl Thomas at DBMS. She calls it the "Extending Our Thinking" board, and on it, she created eight boxes, using the expanded five strands (breaking "Economics and Financial Literacy" into its two components, for example.")

Throughout every unit, students are constantly challenged to identify a strand that most closely ties to each thing they are learning. Often, students reach different conclusions, so they must provide an explanation for their thinking, as well. For example, a student might identify "Factories" during the Industrial Revolution as part of the Economic strand, because it impacts production, but they might also place it under "Environmental Literacy" for how factories impacted the environment, or perhaps Financial Literacy (people experienced different financial challenges and opportunities), Geography (factories changed the human interaction with the environment), History (Factories were a major turning point!) or even Culture (factories allowed mass production which changed what goods were available for what classes of people). The point is not the "correct" identification of a term with a strand, but that the student's thinking reflects a strong understanding of both the concept and the broader strand.

As we approach the end of the year, this board becomes a great tool for a conceptual review: students can contribute whatever examples stand out for them of each strand or sub-strand, and after a year of practice, they are skilled at explaining their thinking so that both the Ms. Thomas and their peers know why those items are there. As Ms. Thomas says, this board can "show the students how historical events are more than just a date, but an event that affects every aspect of our society."

Inspired? Have your own unique way of taking Word Walls to the next level? Let us know in the comments!

Rethinking Notes in Middle School

by guest blogger Hannah Bain, GCMS

At the start of the 2016-2017 school year, I knew walking into my classroom that I wanted to make this year my best yet. This is my 3rd year at Gray’s Creek Middle School teaching 7th grade Social Studies, and I have loved every minute, but I wanted to change things up within my classroom. I bought new, colorful Social Studies posters, I decorated with bright pictures, but I wanted to do more for my students. During the past two years, I have been very focused on written notes, lengthy powerpoints and a myriad of supplemental videos. My efforts have not been met with much enthusiasm, and I was tired of feeling like I was lecturing my students instead of engaging them.

During our workdays before school started, Emily Werner and I got together and discussed how we wanted to approach this school year. We decided, because so many of the same concepts are repeated throughout the year, that we needed to spend more time exploring those concepts rather than drilling the “facts.” We revamped our powerpoints, threw the fill-in-the-blank notes out the window and never looked back. We have focused a great deal on student-led learning and activities, and I can truly tell the difference it’s making in my students. They are so excited everyday to come in and learn; I rarely have to struggle to keep their attention. I make sure that the children are working to create meaningful products, whether it is a lap book, a foldable or some other tangible note organizer. The fact they are spending more time “doing” instead of more time “writing,” has given me more time to act as a facilitator, walking around to address students personally, which I rarely had time to do when we did notes on a day to day basis.


We have really focused on organizing the information, rather than simply memorizing it. Graphic organizers, especially student made organizers, have become a favorite tool of mine this year. Because the students are working to put the information in a logical position so that an event “flows,” they are forced to actually realize what makes that particular event important and how it relates to the larger picture. We have also started utilizing thinking maps to organize information. For instance, during the French Revolution, students created an in-depth, illustrated flow map to chronicle the high and low points throughout France leading up to and during the French Revolution.


Our greatest asset this year during our WWII unit has been “The World Wars” series from History Channel. I bought this series two years ago, but never used it in the classroom. I decided, while we were revamping everything else, I would incorporate this into our World Wars unit. The visuals and the testimonies included from famous historians and politicians, has really succeeded in grabbing the students attention and bringing their level of understanding further than I thought possible. To keep the students accountable, I have also used the movie guides created by History channel to give the students critical thinking response questions, homework assignments and exit tickets.

Overall, this year has far exceeded my expectations in terms of student participation and evident engagement. I am constantly amazed by the amount of information that these have retained and are able to recall and apply to each subsequent lesson.