Edutechmusings Has Moved

 If you are here looking to see if I've written anything lately, I can tell you "Yes, I have." But you won't find it on this site. After nearly 8 years I've decided to join the big boys and shift over to Wordpress. 

  My new website, Chrisfancher.com, is where you will find out about any books I have finished or are working on, as well as my blog posts. 

  I look forward to seeing you over there. Thank you for coming. 

Anatomy of an Interdisciplinary Project

From http://messiahnetwork.org/2015/04/01/puppet-show-on-sunday-april-19/ 

December 16, 2016. That's the date on this draft post I was thinking about writing. It is another of my 10 "draft" posts I have on my blog. I'm about to shift this blog over to Wordpress and away from Blogger. I have 276 blog posts altogether. Most were written over a 4 year period when I was actively writing (2011 through 2015). 

There are many things to consider if you are thinking about doing an interdisciplinary project. The following project was created for 7th grade students at a K-12 charter school in Round Rock Texas. The project included the subjects of Theater Arts, Language (French and Spanish), and IB Design.

The most obvious thing to say about the project design process, with multiple subjects, is that there has to be an initial conversation between 2 or 3 (or more) teachers who want to work together. At this school that conversation happened between the theater teacher and the design teacher a few months prior to project launch.

The theater teacher wanted to do a puppet show "towards the end of the year." That initial discussion concentrated on how the design students would be involved. Could they build scenery, or props, or puppets for the show?  The decision was made to have the design students build the puppets. During this discussion came the idea that, maybe, the language classes could be involved. All of the 7th grade students, at this school, take either French or Spanish (and it is nearly a 50/50 split). The language teachers were approached with the project idea and they were excited to be a part of it.

In one day the theater and design teachers had gone from a simple conversation to a commitment by 5 teachers. The next step was to create a rough calendar. To properly do backward design the teachers had to start with the furthest item out. Scheduling the puppet show would drive the other dates. The puppet show date led to establishing when the puppets would have to be completed. Since the students would be reading stories in their language classes and the stories, in turn, would become the basis for a script, when to start reading the stories had to be entered into the equation.

Those first steps were items that each teacher had to negotiate so that the overall project was successful. Individually, the teachers had to plan their classes so that their part of the process was completed on time with success. For example, the Design teacher wanted time to build empathy and time to start the inquiry process. It was decided that the project entry event would happen in the design class. The design teacher created a problem statement and specific product do-dates for the building of the puppets.

The theater and design teachers decided that the students would all create the same type of puppet so that they could help each other. An interesting and common (for interdisciplinary projects) issue came to light at this stage: The students who were together in design were not all together in their theater classes. And, the language classes were different from design or theater. This was important because the groups in theater class, who were presenting a specific story, all took the same language. But that didn't mean they were in the same language class period. And when it came time for building puppets none of them might be in the same design class period. It must be said that this was not a deal killer - a minor headache? Yes A stop the presses moment? Definitely not.

So, how do you drive a project that kicks off in a design class; forces students to ask their language teachers for story or poem suggestions that they can read; and ends up with scripts being written in theater so that a puppet show can happen? The answer is actually pretty simple. Once teachers have due dates on the calendar you can let the students dictate the course of the project.

In this project students arrived in their design class and were given the task of building puppets for a puppet show in their theater class. In theater class they were told that they were going to be having a puppet show where they would be writing scripts based upon either French or Spanish children's stories that they would read in their language classes. And, finally, the students were told by their language teachers that they would be selecting children's stories to read that would be used for a puppet show in theater. The time it took for all students to get an understanding of the overall scheme of the project took less than a week.

As far as deep understanding this project worked well for sustainable inquiry. Many of the students were with a group of students creating a puppet show in their theater class, but never were in class with their group members again during the day. But puppets representing each character had to be built. Scripts had to be written based upon a story that each group member was reading and, since they weren't in the same language class, they had to trust that their group members were all at a point where they understood the story well enough to have input for the script they were writing.

Students rose to the occasion. They learned about puppetry from areas all over the globe. They read for understanding in their language classes and discussed the nuances of the characters in their stories. They wrote scripts and made puppets that truly reflected the character they were in their story. And, in the end, had a fun time performing puppet shows. 

Connecting Live With Educators

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/

December 15, 2015. That's the date on this draft post I was thinking about writing. It is the second of my 10 "draft" posts I have on my blog. I'm about to shift this blog over to Wordpress and away from Blogger. I have 276 blog posts altogether. Most were written over a 4 year period when I was actively writing (2011 through 2015). Additional Note: This is written from the distant past when classes happened in a school builiding - do you remember those days? 

Here comes another Tweet about "A Live Webinar....about to happen! Join Us!" -or- "Join us Tuesday at 2 PM PST for the next .... "  Who are they addressing this to and how are those people able to attend this event?

I get so frustrated and angry with these "incredible opportunities" to meet/talk/listen to incredible brains in the education world, when that "incredible opportunity" is during my school day. Even when I was an instructional coach and my hours were much more flexible, it was hard to make most  of these times.

I'm convinced that once teachers leave the classroom and become "experts" they forget that not everyone is able to hang out for an hour during a week day. When was the last time a teacher had an hour for lunch? And, should it occur during a conference period, how many teachers are willing and/or free to give up that time for something else besides grading papers/talking with parents/ or meeting with other teachers or administrators?

I'm not sure what else to do. I suggest via tweets that there should be a different time. I comment on this issue whenever I can. But, still, most of the great live stuff happens between the hours of 11:00 AM and 5:00 PM EST during week days.

People say, "there are always the taped and archived videos available to watch." Sure, and if you wanted to interact with anyone about a statement or question, how would you do that?  With connectivity better than at any time in my 58 years, there has to be a way to make these events available for ALL teachers in the US. I realize that there are awesome things going on in Australasia and in Europe and the Middle East. I can't expect those things to line up with my work day.

When I get up on a Wednesday morning and head off to school, I should be able to look forward to an event that is happening that day. To realize this it would have to happen sometime between 6 PM and 10 PM EST that night. If I have a personal conflict or a school event that is scheduled for the same time, then I won't be able to make it.  But if I am free I'll be able to be there - live.

Here are three possible solutions: (1) Have a webinar or GHO once a month that replaces a weekly Twitter chat. Why couldn't we have a #PBLCHAT, for example, once a month where people could see each other and there could be presentations to watch and interact with? The Twitter stream could still be utilized for a back channel. (I understand that some chats, like #edchat, are probably too big to do this).  (2) have a monthly webinar or GHO at set times and days (such as the third Tuesday of each month) with a web page outlining the agenda, days or even weeks, in advance. (3) Have more "live" podcasts that are streamed. There are some good ones now. Let's increase these.

There is a solution. And there are multiple ways to get it done. But to start we need those folks who insist on having mid-day live events to have a mind shift. Start thinking of the dozens (hundreds?) of educators who miss really great stuff because they are - gasp - in their classroom teaching!

2020 update - In our current state of online learning, educators have found ways to connect in new and different ways. Zoom is the most common tool being used. And, I am seeing so many more webinars and "conferences" being conducted this way. Maybe this will force us to understand the importance of being able to reach educators when they are actually available.

Creating a Culture of Wonder

Photo by Samet Kurtkus on Unsplash

"SCHOOLS SHOULD BE BUILT AROUND STREAMS OF WONDER. THESE STREAMS OF WONDER SHOULD CONSTANTLY BE IN MOTION ALLOWING YOU TO DIP INTO THEM AGAIN AND AGAIN. " - Chris Fancher, Educator and Author

January 26, 2014. That's the date on the draft post I was thinking about writing. It is one of about 10 "draft" posts I have on my blog. I'm about to shift this blog over to Wordpress and away from Blogger. I have 276 blog posts altogether. Most were written over a 4 year period when I was actively writing (2011 through 2015).

So today I am cleaning up the pile of posts and I will start finishing some of the draft posts - starting with this one.

The idea for this post was brought about after attending an Educon conference. Educon conferences are one of the best conferences an educator can attend. I would recommend that you all put that on your educator bucket list.

I attended a session on "Wonder, By Design." The beauty of an Educon is that the room creates what the attendees get out of the session. In this case we were instructed to come up with a table manifesto.

I know from my notes that all of the people at my table I knew from Twitter. And, most of them I am still in contact with via Twitter 6 years later.

"Wonder By Design." 
I loved the initial brainstorming around that statement:
     Learning is an opportunity -- not a location.
     Curiosity builds on curiosity and questions lead to questions.
     Wonder and curiosity go hand in hand -- one builds on the other.
     Wonder evokes open-endedness.
     There is no limit to imagination.
     Schools should be built around wonder.
     Schools should be built around wonder and ideas of everyone.
     Wonder invites joy.
     No one has the right to steal someone else's wonder.
     Wonder is essential to learning.

You can see that we were ready to take the concepts of wonder, imagination, and curiosity and find a way to create a manifesto that could be applied to all of education. So what the heck is a manifesto? Well, it just happens to be "a written statement that describes the policies, goals, and opinions of a person or group." Therefore, we needed to take these statements and put them together for our manifesto.

What we found as we started working with these statements was that we were heading down a path that led to the idea of wonder flowing through a school. This moved us into various water analogies. Fountains of wonder. Waterfalls of wonder. Streams of wonder. Someone even brought up Herodotus and a quote of his about water (I told you these were some pretty smart educators at this conference).

And so our first group of ideas became: 
(1) We believe that wonder and curiosity work together -- you cannot have one without the other and each spurs new ideas, new possibilities, and new creativity.
(2) Wonder is essential to learning and can be reflected in our spaces, our practices, our mindset.

These were great on their own but we felt that they weren't manifesto-y enough. So that led to these two statements:
(1) Schools should be built around wonder.
and, (2) Schools must be streams of wonder that are constantlly in motion - carving new paths - which you can dip into again and again.

My take on these two give you the following as my education manifesto:

SCHOOLS SHOULD BE BUILT AROUND STREAMS OF WONDER. THESE STREAMS OF WONDER SHOULD CONSTANTLY BE IN MOTION ALLOWING YOU TO DIP INTO THEM AGAIN AND AGAIN.

How can you build streams of wonder in your school? How do you allow students to dip into their creativity and imagination as a matter of routine? We all need to pause and consider those questions for our own classroom, building, or district.

NOTE: If you like this post feel free to look through the archives (on the right side of the page). Most are about PBL and/or Math. And, stay tuned for the shift over to ChrisFancher.com. The webpage is already there but the posts need to be shifted over. Coming Spring/Summer 2020.

5 Things to Jumpstart PBL in the New Year [Math Version]

@amyshamblen

   You've enjoyed the holidays and you have a few more days until school starts back up so you've been catching up on your reading. Several of your friends have gone to trainings during 2018 where they have learned about Project Based Learning and you are intrigued. But everything you have read gives you a headache because you couldn't possibly add anything to your full curriculum pacing guide. 

   This post is for you. And it's for anyone who wants to "just kick the ball down the PBL road." Where do you begin? How do you get started? Well, in my opinion, it should start with inquiry. 

    (1) Start every (yes, every) day with an opportunity for your students to ask questions of you and of each other around the topic of math. It does NOT have to be about the current thing you are doing in your math unit. As a matter of fact those who espouse spiraling in topics throughout the year would argue that you should choose things that are not in your current unit. And, it is ok to give a problem that you haven't covered yet. Let your students struggle with figuring out the answer and then let them know that they will be seeing many more problems like that in a few weeks. 

  Want a question to start it off? Look at the image at the top of the page.  Ask you students to estimate the number of total balls that were in the glass. Then ask them to estimate the volume of the glass. And, finally, have them estimate the volume taken up by the balls when they are all in the glass. An "extra credit" might be how many more balls could you add to the glass until it is full?  Notice there weren't any numbers given. There weren't any formulas given. Just tell them that there isn't a correct answer but there are an infinite amount of incorrect answers - those that came without sound reasoning. 

    (2) Encourage your students to reflect on what they already know and what they will need to know to be successful in the next unit. Start by going to the Extended Questions or Gifted and Talented Questions at the end of the chapter you are about to begin. Find a question that you can bring to life and assign it on the first day of the chapter. If you don't have something like that then explore online resources for questions about the topic you are about to cover and select a rich question. Make sure the question can not be solved on the first day by the majority of your students. Once you have shown the question to the class, ask them to come up with what information they need to know to be able to solve it. List these on the board. Check those items that the students have not yet covered. Explain to the students that these checked items will be what you will be teaching them in this unit. 

    (3) Give your students opportunities to discuss how to solve problems in groups. Give them problems that might have multiple ways of solving. Allow time for everyone to attempt the problems. Then have them form groups and take turns explaining how to solve the problems. Encourage multiple ways of solving by asking them to come up, as a group, with more than one way to get to the solution. Teach the students how to give constructive feedback for problems that are incorrectly solved. 

    (4) Find ways to have students present their ideas to the rest of the class. (a) Start safely by using a fishbowl where a group discusses solutions in their group while the rest of the class observes and takes notes on the discussion. Just make sure the observers are held responsible for giving constructive feedback to the group in the fishbowl. (b) Have students paired up (Pilot/Co-Pilot) with the understanding that each day will change whether it is the pilot or the co-pilot who is responsible for explaining solutions. When working with your lower groups you can have it that either can answer but the selected position must tell the other person if he or she isn't going to be directly answering. 

(c) Have a presentation day where students write their solutions on poster paper or on a white board. Then have a gallery walk where students give constructive criticism to their peers. 

   (5) Put it all together. (a)Give an assignment over a topic that has not been covered. (b) Create a knows and need-to-knows list that students generate about the assignment. (c) Give students opportunities to work in groups to find solutions to the the assignment. (d) Have opportunities for students to share what they know with others in the classroom. Include an end of chapter/unit day when the solutions are "officially" presented. 

    What I have just shown you (paragraph 5 above) is the basic structure of project based learning.  If you committed, today, to doing this for each of the units/chapters you have left for this school year then you and your students would benefit from the deeper learning that would occur. 

    Then, next Summer (after an incredible Spring), you would want to commit to continuing this process in the Fall semester. When you planned for the Fall you would look for a math topic that is related to a news item or other item of interest in your local community. You would, then, find a way to connect with someone involved with the community issue. Then you would figure an angle for your students to do some math to help solve the problem (or, as a minimum, have them find several possible solutions to the problem). Finally, you would make sure you have a presentation day that your students would be tasked with presenting their solutions to the community. That one problem would demonstrate what true PBL is all about. It would have a "real world problem," it would have inquiry, it would have collaborative work and discussion, it would have reflection and analysis, and there would be a public audience. 

     It is my belief that students need three things to help them go deeper in their learning: Something that makes them wonder; time to discuss what it is that they are wondering about; and a non-negotiable deadline where they have to tell someone, they don't know, all about this thing that they have been wondering about. 

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

     Following these steps will help your Spring semester be the best you've ever had. Isn't that what all teachers should wish for on this New Year's Eve?  Happy New Year and best of luck in the coming semester. 

Some books to help you on this journey: 

Jo Boaler's Mathematical Mindsets is just plain good reading. 

Geoff Krall's Necessary Conditions is about great math teaching.

My book, Project Based Learning in the Math Classroom, (co-authored with Telannia Norfar) will help you go deeper with what I have written in this post. This book is now available for pre-sale and will be out in April 2019. 

The Learning Process Must Include Inquiry

http://bit.ly/2pPDPQh

Today I worked with a teacher planning a unit and I realized that the idea that we need to kick start the inquiry process on Day 1 of a unit isn't obvious to every teacher. The following post wrote itself as I walked her through the process of making inquiry the foundation of all that she does moving forward.

Whether you are a veteran teacher who has taught each of your units multiple times, or you are a novice teacher wanting your students to be more involved in their learning, adding inquiry processes to your teaching habits will help your students go deeper with their learning.

Michael McDowell (@mmcdowell13 on Twitter) in his book Rigorous PBL by Design emphasizes that inquiry not only helps on a daily basis with student knowledge but can help identify student performance. He recommends that teachers continually find answers, from their students, on these 4 questions: (1) Where am I going in my learning? (2) Where am I now in my learning? (3) What next steps am I going to take in my learning? And, (4) How do I improve my learning and that of others?

As I became a  New Tech Network (NTN) teacher, 10 years ago, I was instructed to gather a similar list of information using the structure "Knows and Need To Knows"(KNTK List). The list was displayed in a two column table with all of the things the students already knew that could help them learn on the left, and all of the things the students needed to learn to be successful, on the right. Since McDowell was intimately involved in the NTN for years it makes sense that his four questions have a range similar to the extremes of "Knows" on one end (Where am I now in my learning) to "Need to knows" (What next steps...and...How do I improve...).

For the last 6 years I have been a National Faculty (NF) member with the Buck Institute for Education (BIE.org). BIE and the NTN were intertwined for years and their philosophies were very much the same. And so, as I began with BIE, we trained teachers to use the Knows and Need to Knows (KNTK List) format for helping students see where they were in their learning and where they would be going in the learning process.

As I worked on perfecting my own inquiry practice I ran across a book that would, forever, change how I approached inquiry. It is called Make Just One Change  by the Right Question Institute (@rightquestion on Twitter). This book teaches you the Question Formulation Technique (QFT). In this technique students are asked to brainstorm a list of their personal questions about a topic that is being introduced. They then get together in groups and refine their questions creating a list of 3 questions that are their most important questions as a group. Finally the class creates a list of questions based upon the 3 questions from each group. This list is now the Class List of pertinent questions.

Ironically, within a few months of reading the book, BIE announced that the NF would be replacing the KNTK List with the QFT process in the PBL 101 trainings. Needless to say I was ecstatic with this change.

The three processes mentioned are at three levels of comfort for the teacher in the inquiry process, in my opinion. If you are new to an emphasis on inquiry then start simple and start creating a KNTK List. On the first day of a unit give the class an overview of what needs to be completed in the unit or give them a challenge or some product that must be completed by the end of the unit. Then have them generate a list of all of the things they already know how to do and that they will need in the unit to be successful. This is their "Knows." Then have them brainstorm things that they will need to know to be successful. This list will complete the KNTK List.

If you are more comfortable with your teaching then it is worth your while to get a copy of the QFT book so that you can see the QFT explained in its entirety. As in the paragraph above, you start with something that stimulates the inquiry process. The students, individually, write a list of questions that come to mind from this prompt. After a set time, the students get together in groups and share their questions. The groups select three questions that represent the group as a whole and, finally, the groups share out the questions making a Class List of questions.

The Four Questions, described by McDowell, is the next level and requires you to assess the students on the questions each day so that you are able to enhance the overall learning in the classroom. This is the where I am heading with my own inquiry process in my classroom. It takes some work but with the guidance in his book, you can make the changes necessary to help yourself become a more effective teacher and to help your students make better connections with their learning.

There is still one key element to successfully having an inquiry based classroom. No matter which process you use it is imperative that you make time each day to explore the KNTK List, Class List of Questions, or the documentation for each student through McDowell's approach. Every day you need to make this a part of your classroom routine. Most successful teachers I know use the last 5 to 10 minutes to interact with the lists so that the students can do one (or both) of two things: Line through or check items that have been addressed satisfactorily AND add items not already on the list that have come up in discussion during class. These lists are fluid and give the class a visual of their learning.

It isn't too early to become a better teacher and improving questioning and inquiry will help you improve and will increase the depth of knowledge attained by your students.

Tot Ziens Facebookiens

goo.gl/squnwG

Sitting in the shower this morning I realized that I had been sucked into the Facebook political maw. It has been months since I have actively used Twitter. Instead of engaging with incredibly diverse people with a focus on all things Education or PBL or Design Thinking (on Twitter), I am engaging with (mostly) people with very similar views and the collective is shredding the notion that our current president is anything other than an ignorant, womanizing, narcissist!

Meanwhile, sitting in the Facebook forest, hearing our berating of this person and his followers, are family and friends who either (a) voted for the guy and don't understand our problem with him or (b) just want to have friendly conversations with their other friends and family and stay away from the politics. If any of them are still following me I am both amazed that they have stuck it out and I am grateful to know that they are willing to listen to my rants.

Until about a year ago I used to tell people, "Twitter is for work and Facebook is for fun." Well, since I don't seem to have time to be on Twitter these days, when am I going to "sharpen the saw?" All I am doing is dulling my mind with impassioned screeds from others or ones I have found coming out of my keyboard right before I hit "Enter."

 

https://memegenerator.net/instance/65770937

Twitter I miss you! I haven't participated in a Twitter chat in months. I haven't shared thoughts, ideas, questions, or fun with the incredible people who are but a computer screen away. Fortunately, between my BIE National Faculty friends and my DTK12 (Design Thinking) friends who I have connected with on FB, I still get a smidgen of education related content on FB. But I crave more.

And so I will be taking a short break from my FB platform. Unfortunately, I am an incredibly terrible communicator away from social media. So I worry I won't know anything about my friends and family by stepping away. Maybe, at 59, it is time to get over my fear of the phone. I look at the phone; I, occasionally, pick up the phone and look at the numbers; But, ultimately, I come up with some excuse like "Oh it's too late/early to call. I'd hate to interrupt anything." 

 Tot ziens! I really miss living in the Netherlands. I love the Dutch. And Tot Ziens is just a simple way of saying "until we meet again." Aside from the incredibly wonderful/amusing "Let Op Drempels," Tot ziens is probably my favorite expression I brought back with me. I will be checking my FB periodically because I will miss my friends and family. Especially Andre and Jim and our "daily awesome" image or video. But, at the same time, I am friends on Twitter with both of them and I expect we will continue that over on the other platform. 

I pray that our president has a safe and meaningful presidency. I pray he doesn't hurt too many people with his actions. I pray other countries, like many of us in this country, are able to make it through the next four years so we can reestablish sensibilities at the end. And, I pray that my friends and family who are actively speaking out against the things that we are seeing and hearing can continue to be strong for the long haul.  [Sorry, I am too angry to totally leave the politics behind.]

Understanding Life in 1800 When You are 12

https://www.pinterest.com/Lugsail/merchant-ship-1750-1800/

This week I am wrapping up a project with my 7th graders that is about traveling to Texas in the year 1800. All of my design students take either French or Spanish and I have them in corresponding "delegations" with a student governor. Within the delegations are groups of students (3 to 6 in a group) who are working together as a sort of travel company.

Their task is to create a diorama of a settlement for a certain number of people that will be going on a trip from a country, of their choosing, to somewhere in Texas. They also are creating a presentation where they are to "sell" this trip to the rest of their classmates.

Tasks they must perform include figuring out how many people they will take (including their skills) and the number of ships that they will need to transport these people to the New World. They have researched where the ship will land in the New World and how long it will take to get to the place they plan on settling from the ship landing.

Throughout this task I have been bringing it back to the importance of building empathy. The latest paper I had them write me was to tell me about a young person who is planning on taking their trip. As this person, they have to describe their home that they are leaving; how long it will take to get to the ship; what it will be like on the ship (including what they plan on doing to keep from getting bored); and what it will be like when they first get to Texas. I want their character to be about their own age.

My students didn't have much of a problem doing basic research and calculating things like speed and distance. They had a harder time with calculations of scale for their buildings in their dioramas. But when they had to write that empathy paper there were some fun thoughts shared with me by these young folks.

While the majority of students told me of one room, broken-down, huts that they were leaving, several told me about these huge multi-room mansions that they were leaving. And one student told me all about the apartments he would be moving into when he got to Texas.

When it came to getting to the shipyard most walked or rode on a wagon but several said they would take a taxi - (what, no Uber or Lyft?).

The ship ride for most students was cramped with not much to eat. But many of my students planned on having 3 meals a day provided by the captain. And a few had very nice accommodations - "Better than the bed they had at home!"

It is interesting to see students struggle with understanding of what life was like prior to 1980 - never mind what life was like in the year 1800!  I'm only hoping that this process will help them with their Texas History class that they are taking at the same time.

Let's Make a Maker Space

https://hildakweisburg.com/2016/01/04/on-libraries-makerspace-magic/

Right up front I want to say that any school that has a Maker Space because that's what great schools have, is missing the whole idea. I think playing with things and trying out things is really cool. I do. But if we haven't thought through what we will have in our space then will it truly be a space for all students?

There's that WE again. When WE are thinking about a maker space, then the first thing to think about is who is this WE we are talking about. WE should include anyone who controls the purse strings for purchasing items. WE should include the students who will be using the space. WE should include parents who might want to be involved in the space. WE should include teachers who might want to encourage students to use the space but also might want to use the space themselves.

Purse String Holders - How much will it cost for the initial purchase of items, for the maintenance of items, and for the replacement of items? If WE haven't thought about those items then the space won't be a success.

Student Users - What do the students want to do in the space? And, at the same time, what should be included in the space that the students haven't even thought of wanting?

Parent Participants - Some parents always want to be involved with the school. Some parents feel that they just don't have time but they are willing to purchase/collect/make items for the school. What do the parents want for the space? Do they want time when they can use it? Do they have expectations for what happens when their child is in the space? Do they want to volunteer to be in the space so that other adults (from the school) won't have to be in there?

Teacher Participants - Do the teachers have a certain expectation for what items should be in the space? Do the teachers want to be able to send students to the space at any time, knowing that there will be an adult presence to monitor the kids? Are there other ways the space can be used?

Last year was my first year at my current school. Several times I was told that there were parents who wanted the school to have a maker space. Well, where would this space be? What are the hours of the space? Will there be a requirement that there has to be an adult in the space at all times - or could we have a certification program for our older students who could be in the space during their study hall or after school.

Here are my top dozen questions compiled into one list:

      1. What do the parents want?

      2. Where would the space be located?

      3. Who would monitor students while it is open? 

      4. What would be the hours that the space is open?

      5. Will parents be able to provide items for the space? 

      6. What is the initial budget for materials for the space?

      7. What is the annual budget for materials for the space?

      8. Would there be a certification process for any tools and for general safety?

      9. Will teachers monitor the space? And, if so, when is this going to happen?

    10. Will parents sign up to monitor the space? How does that look from an insurance stand point?

    11. What do the students want (at each level. We're K-12 2nd graders and 10th graders have different desires) ?

    12. Will students be allowed to leave their classrooms to go to the space to work? If yes, how do we make sure that there aren't too many students in the space?

http://www.fractuslearning.com/2016/01/26/how-built-school-makerspace/

And now, for my readers, help me compile a list of materials that should be in a maker space (leave your thoughts in the comments section). Who knows, maybe there'll be a grant with our school's name on it and we can get this thing off the ground.  Here's a general list to whet your whistle -

     A. Legos and a Lego Table, KNEX, Blocks
     B. Basic hand tools (screw drivers, hammers, allen wrenches, adjustable wrenches, pliers)
     C. Yarn and Thread
     D. Tools for knitting, crocheting, sewing
     E. Painting Supplies (But what, exactly???)
     F. Computers/laptops for online access
     G. Rulers, T-Squares, Straight Edges
     H. Paper of various types
     I. Nails, Screws, Bolts
     J. Circuitry and wire
     K. Various types of tapes and glues
     L. Storage Containers and Shelves
     M.Craft supplies (Popsicle sticks, tooth picks, material, card stock, cotton balls etc.)

Design Thinking or PBL, A Chicken/Egg Scenario? My journey.

http://www.science20.com/gerhard_adam/chicken_and_egg_problem_view_evolution-107927

Last night I missed a great conversation during a Twitter chat hosted by #MeritKCI and involving my friends who frequent the #dtk12chat. As I was scrolling through the tweets from the chat I noticed some discussion of PBL and how different Design Thinking (DT) is from PBL. A blog post that was referenced (and also one of my favorites) was written back in 2012 by Ewan Mcintosh of Notosh.com.

What's missing in these 140 character exchanges is some historical perspective and some grounding in where classroom teachers are in 2016. Before going further though, it's important to understand where my belief system lies and where I come from. I love student exploration - fueling inquiry and that innate desire to learn about things. I am against grades and, instead, am for student assessment through creativity, self analysis, and reflection. I believe in backward design but also in problem creation. I am also grounded in where the education world is today.

Parents, and I'm one, want their kids to be able to "be a kid," to explore, and (at the same time) get into great schools that will introduce them to unique learning opportunities. These school should then provide a foot into the door of a company that will help the students pay off their college debt. Many (most?) of these "great" colleges require a certain score on a standardized test (SAT/ACT) and a certain class rank based upon a 4.0 grade point average.

High schools are charged with getting students college and, lately, "career ready." Students must learn certain things mandated by their community, their state, and by the national government. The national government creates a list of "standards" that must be met. The state government creates a list of standards that must be met. And then school districts create standards that their students must meet to be labeled a high school graduate. More and more of these standards include the words "Explore" and "Hands On" but it really is up to the the teachers to bring in the "how" to do that exploration.

At some point years ago teachers started finding ways to engage students in their learning through an idea of centering the learning around a specific task or problem.  Although the idea of teaching in a mode that was focused upon a project had been around for about a century, it was a couple of dozen years ago that this was labeled (as we know it today) as Project Based Learning or Problem Based Learning - PBL. Schools/Companies/Corporations in Northern California jumped into this and we suddenly had the Buck Institute for Education (BIE) and the New Tech Network (NTN).  As these entities trained teachers and/or opened PBL schools the popularity of this PBL-thing increased and more groups started training teachers in their version of PBL.

http://www.peertutoringresource.org/2014/07/a-quick-start-guide-to-using-project-based-learning-pbl-in-the-classroom/

Around the same time this was happening schools were rapidly removing "Shop" classes and other hands-on classes for students because schools wanted to focus on courses that were academically rich. But this wasn't happening everywhere. In Upstate New York a company was created that focused on engineering principles - Project Lead the Way (PLTW).  In 2010, as I finished my 2nd year as a math teacher in a New Tech Network school, I was given the opportunity to teach a PLTW class, Introduction to Engineering Design (IED), and I went to my first PLTW course. That same year I saw for the first time a Nightline piece about a company called IDEO.

I started thinking about the marriage of the design process and the pbl process. And, coincidently, I found out about and read a new book called Make Just One Change from the Right Question Institute.  If we could get students to ask more questions at the start of each project might we improve the student inquiry process? And, in turn, might we not help teachers see that we can allow students the opportunity to explore the content and not just follow a road map that we (the teacher) created?

From PLTW

In 2012 as I was about to "finally" figure out this PBL-thing that I was floundering in, I was promoted to an Instructional Coach position with the charge of helping a middle school bring in PBL as the primary mode of instruction. So, before I was able to perfect my own teaching practices I was asked to help a staff of nearly 50 learn and perfect the art of being PBL teachers. That's when I started to really see the push back from teachers who felt that they were in a no-win scenario: state test scores must improve and they must be doing PBL in their classrooms. We were a NTN middle school with a NTN coach but we weren't doing PBL the "right" way. After two years we all decided that the school and NTN needed a break from each other. And I felt like a completely incompetent instructional coach. Why didn't PBL succeed in this school?

Later that year I started the training to become a National Faculty member of BIE so that I could reflect on my own PBL knowledge while facilitating training for teachers in school districts who were looking for a way to bring this PBL-thing into their schools. While immersing myself in all things PBL I came across a group of teachers who were talking about using a design thinking approach (DT) in their classrooms. In discussions with some of the folks I considered to be PBL guru's I was told that these DT teachers weren't going deep enough with the content and that PBL was what really got students going deeper. "Wait," I thought, "wasn't the big push back to PBL the notion that in projects students didn't go deep enough - it was just bells and whistles?"

DT was undergoing the same scrutiny that PBL had when I first was exposed to it years earlier. And, I should add, I was still hearing that push back from teachers in PBL trainings - "How do we know that the students will understand the content to do well on standardized tests?" -and- "This will never fly with our parents/school board/students."  In 2015/2016 BIE and the National Faculty members took a hard look at what PBL should look like for all students and in all classrooms. Because every classroom is different we wanted to create a "standard" that all teachers should be striving for in their schools. We came up with what we now are calling Gold Standard PBL.

In introducing this new Gold Standard to teachers one aspect jumped out to me: we now want teachers getting their students to ask questions through the use of the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) from the Right Question Institute. I had first learned about the QFT when I read Make Just One Change. BIE was now specifically stating what I had thought about way back in 2012.

Now let's overlay the flow of design thinking. Here are two representations (with notations) of this:

Empathy is the obvious thing not mentioned in the Gold Standard. So, in my mind, a good PBL teacher must get their students looking at why we are doing this project. Who are we doing it for and why should the student care about doing it? Along with empathy at the start is building what I call empathic inquiry throughout the project. Are students getting feedback from those whom they are creating for throughout the project? 

And so, again from my perspective, doing gold standard PBL while following a DT path is the best of both worlds. These are not (and should not be considered) separate entities. What are we looking for in all of this? We want students who are aware of their surroundings; are aware of the needs of others; are inquisitive about how and why things are the way they are; and, who are given the chance to experience the creative process of imagining a result, attempting to create the result, reacting to feedback for improvement on this initial result, and persevering to complete their final result. 

I am now back in the classroom in an International Baccalaureate (IB) charter school in Texas. I am creating projects in coordination with my fellow teachers. I organize my project ideas using Project Based Teaching Practices from BIE and I use the DT flow shown above. I have found that it doesn't matter whether you think DT is better/different than PBL or that PBL is better/different than DT. What matters is that you are creating a classroom where students feel safe to take chances, make mistakes, and build resiliency. 

Thanking a Teacher In My Life

This past weekend I heard about a project being run by People Admin. They offered money to hear stories about people who inspired you to become a teacher.

So I sat down and whipped up this thank you to a teacher who inspired me to become a teacher. Enjoy -----

In 1990, at the age of 32, I was at a crossroads. My wife and I were both active duty Naval Officers serving aboard ships. Her ship was out of Norfolk, VA and my ship was out of Long Beach, CA. One of us needed to leave active duty. Over dinner we discussed the pros and cons of each of our futures in the Naval Service. My wife turned to me and said the magic words, “ At least you know what you want to do if you get out.” 

At that point she told me that I had always spoken of being a high school math teacher and a baseball coach. I never realized how often I had said that,  but I knew she was right. By the end of 1990 I was out of the active duty Navy and I was enrolled in graduate school. By the end of the Summer of 1992, I had my MSEd and my certification to teach math and science.

Where did this desire come from? Partly from the fact that I had two Great Aunts who were both teachers and my mother was a secretary in an elementary school. It seems that I had always been around educators and their “school talk.” But the main reason I ended up taking this route was because of my high school junior varsity (JV) baseball coach and math teacher - Mr. Pete Austin. 

Mr. Austin was a very demanding coach. You played his way or you didn’t play at all. Our JV baseball teams were a force to be reckoned with in our state. We played hard and we played the game with passion - just like our coach. He showed us that you would be rewarded for hard work.

In the classroom he was equally as demanding and he rewarded students who worked hard. He expected us to stand up and be bold with answers to questions. Wild guesses and “maybes” in a student’s answers were discouraged. And he wasn’t afraid to throw a chalkboard eraser in your direction to keep you on your toes - (always followed by a smile, I should add). 


One of his ways of helping us with low grades was to give a minimum grade of 50 on any assignment. The downside of this was that he would announce the members of the “50/50 Club.” I was a proud member of that club. But at the same time, my math skills were at such a high level that I went on to be a math major. At reunions we still talk about being in that infamous club.

My take away from this interaction was that teachers can be tough and demanding on their students while being compassionate and loving at the same time. There was never any doubt that Mr. Austin cared about us and he wanted us to be the best. That held true whether we were on the baseball diamond or in the classroom. 

I never made it back to thank this person who so inspired me in life. I only hope that one day his family will be able to see this and will take pride in knowing that he made a difference in our lives. What he showed me then is making a difference in my students lives today.

As I work with new teachers I make sure to encourage them to be firm and consistent in their classroom management. I make sure that they understand that they also need to show love and compassion. That’s the way I was treated in my high school pre-calculus class, that’s the way I treat my students, and that’s the way I want my own children to be treated in their classes. 

Thank you Mr. Austin for inspiring me to pursue this incredible journey.

---->   For those of you who remember Mr. Austin, feel free to leave your own memories in the comments below. I know that there are those who were afraid of that chalkboard eraser and Mr. Austin's style in the classroom and on the baseball field. I obviously loved how he worked and I know it helped make me a better person. So, if you do have any unpleasant memories, please remember to numb the sting before hitting submit.  Thank you.

Thoughts About This Coding Craze

In 1976 I set off to the University of South Carolina on a Navy ROTC scholarship to major in Math and Computer Science. In 1986 I was taking courses in computer architecture and the language ADA as I worked on my master's degree in Engineering. In 1992 I helped teach a computer class to teachers while being a graduate assistant and getting my master's degree in Education. I hope you believe that I get the importance of using computers as a tool.

Now, everywhere it seems, I keep reading how important it is for students to learn coding. I know the value of understanding the set up of code and algorithms. I can still remember my first assignment in the Fall of 1976 using PL1/PLC. It was to write a program to determine how many cars went through an intersection. The cars approached from each of the four cardinal points at different rates. The length of time the red, yellow, and green lights stayed on also varied. I may have loved math but this was a new animal and it hurt my brain.

But do we need to have every student take a coding course? And where, please tell me, do we get people qualified to teach these courses? I fear that the "Teacher as student" idea will trickle down here and will waste a lot of student time. Without proper guidance I see students going to places like Code.org and playing games. Oh they are being exposed to coding but are they learning the code or just the shape of the icon representing the code? And how many of the English, Math, Science, Social Studies teachers are going to really figure out how to work coding into their curricula?

Will administrators jump on board this coding train, having no understanding of coding themselves, requiring their teachers  to embrace this "coding stuff?" You bet they will. If there is funding and parent demand there will be administrators turning this demand on its head and requiring teachers to figure coding out.

I saw (and am still seeing) this with the topics of PBL, Inquiry, and (lately) Design. These are ideas that, when done well, are incredibly valuable and help students go deeper in their understanding of content. Because of publicity superintendents and principals get excited about things that will make their students be the best students. Suddenly they say things like, "This PBL stuff is good for our kids so lets get some training in it!" Grants get written and training begins. But soon the funding for the training dries up. And then we hear them say, "Now that we've trained some teachers, we need PBL to be done in EVERY classroom!"

But the schools/districts rarely get to the level where instructional coaches, assistant principals, and principals understand what they are seeing in the classroom.  It follows that these same academic leaders can't help their teachers grow in this new "PBL world" that they have created.

Will this happen in the world of Coding? Sadly, I'm leaning towards, "yes." Why? I'm willing to use myself as an example.

At my school parents and students demanded a computer science course. I was hired to teach Design Thinking, but I had a computer science background. So I was asked if I would teach a section of computer science. With very little time to come up with a plan, the school year started.  I decided that I would see what these students wanted in their computer science course. When I asked them I got the following: App Design, Web Page Design, Game Design, Coding, and Movie Creation. I let the students self-select into each of these areas and we spent the first semester exploring these topics with me as "facilitator of learning" and "calendar enforcer."

There was some good news from the semester.  Many of the students went way further than I thought they would go and learned more than I could ever have helped them learn. And, most of the students learned about what I expected they would learn in a self paced course. And, of course, there were some students who "also participated" in class. It was a pretty normal breakdown for students for any class and in any content. Nothing surprising there.

Still, I can't help but wonder what these same students could have done with a teacher who was at the school to teach students all about computers and coding. We're a small, academically oriented school with great parents and staff.  Hopefully, we will have a certified computer science teacher - or, at least, a person who loves to immerse themselves in all things computers. I'm not that guy. And, because I HAD to teach computers, I haven't put forth the effort required to make the course be truly awesome.

I find myself wondering: "how many teachers are going to be required to 'put coding into their course?'" If you aren't into computers, you aren't into computers. I love working with them and I want the latest app to use on my mobile device. But I'm not a person who spends hours coding. And I'm not a "maker." It isn't fair to my students to have me be their computer science teacher. They deserve better.

Schools and school districts are jumping on the coding band wagon. But do we suggest that all students learn coding when there aren't teachers in place to make it happen? It's hard enough to get a quality math teacher; or science teacher; or English teacher; or social studies teacher.  We need teachers who are passionate about their subject. Let's build capacity with computer science teachers before we suggest our students all take a class in coding.

Using An Old Challenge to Teach Project Management

http://goo.gl/AK0vs

When I talk with teachers about getting started with PBL I often tell them to think of something they have seen done before and take the idea and make it their own. But I also caution them to think of their content first - what are the verbs and nouns in their standards? Unless they are incredibly comfortable with their standards it really doesn't make much sense to start with an idea and try to fit the standards.

Now that I'm teaching Design this frees me up to be more creative and experimental with where I ask my students to go with their learning. Unfortunately I have 7th graders who have been living, for at least a few years, in the world of "Learn the Content -then-Do a Project." In addition to teaching them about the Design process I have to teach them the the PBL process.

I'm attempting to create a classroom of asking questions, taking chances, making guesses, trying new things, and thinking about the client. Through the first semester my students have worked on projects that were centered on content standards for their science and Texas history classes. In science they needed to understand forces for the Rube Goldberg Machines they built. In Texas history they needed to understand French and Spanish settlers/settlements in the 17th and 18th centuries in what is now Texas to build models.

The content might have been for other classes but the creation and building were accomplished in my classroom. Now, with this next project, my students will be working for me (and for themselves). We are embarking on my version of the Cardboard Chair Challenge.

You might have guessed from the title of the project, that the main idea is to build a chair out of recycled cardboard and glue. But there is SO much more I want them to learn about managing a project. This, in reality, is a project management project.

To keep them focused on creating the chair and to make things interesting I have created an opportunity to have the students present to parents. There's nothing like an authentic audience to up the ante. To be honest, I don't really care whether they successfully build a chair in the short time period I have given them (but don't tell them that, shhhh.)

Things I am focusing on:
(1) Roles. In this project everyone has an individual role and everyone is responsible for making sure the final products are completed. There are 6 students in just about every group and I have 6 roles in each group. The roles are Group Leader, Work Leader, Group Liaison, Web Site Designer, Artistic Leader, and Promotions Leader.  For the first two weeks I'll be meeting with each of these role players every day to ensure they are on top of what needs to be done to be successful.
 (2) Leadership. Related to their roles, everyone in the group is responsible for something that they will need help with. Will they step up and be a leader to make sure the group is successful. One role I will be working very closely with is the Work Leader. I expect the Work Leader to create a Team Accountability Form and use it every day. The Work Leader needs to be on top of what every member of the group is doing and where they are on their individual time line.
(3) Working on both individual and group work. Can they work together on their product (the chair) while also working on their individual assignments based upon their roles?

I want my students to understand that their is a lot more involved in successfully completing a project besides the final product. My students are competing to create the "best" chair possible using just cardboard and glue. But they are also learning how to work together as a team.  And with that, I can truthfully say: I want them all to be winners.

I Go From Project Idea to Project Launch (PBL with a DT Feel)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/

I've just completed a pretty darn nice 2 weeks off for the holidays. Tomorrow I head back to 2 days of PD before the students come back to me on Wednesday. I've been spending the last couple of hours fine tuning my first design project of the year.

This is my first year of teaching MYP Design at Meridian World School. And so I've been creating as I go, as far as what I cover next with my students. Things that work this year will be tweaked and recycled for next year. Things that didn't go so well will be revamped or scrapped for next year. It's all part of the DT mindset and, either way, I learn a ton along the way.

Back in August (2015) I decided that I wanted to do a Cardboard Chair project this year. There are several versions out there but I chose to follow this one. I modified it, as necessary, to meet the level of my 7th graders and the time I wanted to spend on this project. The beauty of this is that I am working with something that has worked in the past.

I took the major parts of the project as written ( Research, Design Sketches, Drawings, and Model) and I added a beginning (Admin) and an end (Build and Presentations). Then I went through each of these and wrote out some sub-parts. For example I listed time for building and presenting the prototypes for feedback prior to their final build.

Next steps were to figure out how many days and weeks it would take and to look at the school calendar and see what things might impact these times. In doing this I noticed that our Diploma Program (DP) students will be doing their Group 4 Projects at about the same time I wanted to finish my project. I had my Authentic Audience - DP Parents can help pick the design champions.

As I worked backwards on the calendar I started filling in the key steps and, before I knew it,  I was back to early January and I could start finalizing my plans for these first two weeks of the semester.

Let me go through my checklist:  I have a project launch day where we will assign groups, write group contracts, and do the Question Formulation Technique (QFT);  I have a presentation day and an authentic audience;  I have days for research on key components for my subject area (Form, Function, Resources);  Students will explore empathy through their design plans; and, Students will do research, create sketches, and will build prototypes to get feedback prior to their final build.

I have been able to marry most of the Gold Standard PBL elements with most of the Design Thinking elements.  This will be a five week project from launch to final presentations. It will encompass the majority of the first six weeks of the grading period. I'll need to add assessments and plan for materials but, in the end, I am all set for the first 6-weeks of the semester. In a couple of weeks I'll be ready to start finalizing my next project. I've already approached a gym teacher to design some exercise mats. I'll write about that one soon.

A Pessimist Thinks Optimistically About His Upcoming Birthday

https://www.flickr.com/photos/insidethemagic/

If you don't have to live with me you may not realize how much of a pessimist I am. Yes, in fact, the sky IS falling.

As a good Fancher I put on a very strong "brave face" and laugh off those bad things that happen to me or to my family and friends. But, inside, my inner Eeyore comes out to tell me how he knew this might happen - if only I had listened!

Well, I've been thinking during these last few weeks or so. And, you know what? Life is pretty darn good and I should start being happier about it.

So, I've decided to start my 2016 New Year's resolution a bit early. As of today I will, um....I WILL (that's more like it)...resolve to try (Do or do not. There is no try. - pulling Yoda from deep within me.)....I WILL RESOLVE to be happier about my life and the direction it is heading.  There, I said it. And I said it in public.

I've already had positive results. Just yesterday I heard of a potential opportunity to travel and train teachers and I replied that I would love to do this. The fact that my passport has expired and that it interferes with school only crept into my mind for a brief stay before I decided to believe that it will work out and this is a right set of circumstances for me to engage in.

2016 will be a great year. All of the [insert list of problems such as weight, debt, age, etc] will take care of themselves if I take care of my mental well being.  So, as I turn 58 on January 2, (born in 58 means there's some sort of karma thing going on this year - so I have that going for me), I want to really enjoy my last 2 years of the 50's.

I need to travel more and I need to do things I've always wanted to do - like fly fishing. Really. I want to go to some distant stream in the middle of nowhere for a couple of weeks and learn to fly fish. While I'm there I want to finish this darn book I started two years ago. And then I .....


Channeling Eeyore once again - "One can't complain. I have friends. Someone spoke to me only yesterday."

I do have friends. More than 2 or 3.  Happy Birthday to me - and many more....

https://www.pinterest.com/icheney/eeyore/

Saying Goodbye to a Good Pet

[UPDATED   This post was originally written on December 7th. We weren't ready to have this news out of Facebook so quickly so I waited to actually publish it. ]

If you've had a pet you know where this is heading...

[You can stop now I won't be offended. If you continue, you may want to grab some kleenex]

There comes a time in every pet owner's lifetime when there is a decision about continuing the pet's life.

They might have been more naughty than nice. They may have shed a bit more hair than you liked. They may have even taken away part of your favorite sofa or bed. But you still know that you will miss them.

We really had a Black Friday with the realization that our cat, Jacob, would probably not make it to the end of the year. Initially we were hoping to make it through that weekend. Since then it has become a day to day ritual - walk down stairs in the morning and look to see the status. I almost feel like a Roman emperor - thumbs up or thumbs down (life or death).

12 years ago, almost to the day, we brought home 3 kittens that we named Joey, Jacob, and Link. We also brought home an older female named Mia. Mia would rule the roost for about 10 years before she lost her battle with health issues.

Unfortunately, Joey was the first to go. He had cancer and just, suddenly, wasn't well. He went quickly and even though it has been 3 years, he is still missed.

Now it is Jacob's turn. He has liver cancer which will not end well. The picture at the top is from Saturday night as I said goodnight to him. He had gotten to the point where he just wanted to lay in our front window. He was let out a few times to explore the vastness of the front yard, as a young cat, and has always wondered about that place on the other side of the glass.

It's time for Jacob to join Joey. I can never remember which was the fluffiest and which was the fuzziest. That was determined by Sheila and Nancy many years ago. But I know that things will be pretty darn fluffy and fuzzy now in that kitty front yard where there is no glass to keep kitties out.