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. 

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.

Building Empathy Through Interviews

www.floridamemory.com/items/show/32039

7th graders are all over the map when it comes to emotions. So, on one level, you might think that it isn't hard to get them to develop empathy. But how many of your students, at any grade level, have conducted interviews to gain knowledge of their interviewee?

My first semester at Meridian school is winding up and I am still getting used to the timing of projects. That led to a two week period between the Thanksgiving break and final exams.

I knew that I wanted to introduce an interview process soon. I also wanted to include either the 7th grade ELA teacher or the PE Coach with a project early in the next semester. And then it hit me - 6 Word Memoirs.

As the name implies, students write about themselves by using only 6 words. After checking with the ELA teacher I found that she had just completed a unit on memoirs. And, after talking with a few students only a handful had done a 6 Word Memoir (6WM) in the past. And so it began...

On the first day I gave the students a post on interviewing like a pro. It doesn't exactly apply but I wanted them to think about what the pros think about before, during, and after an interview. To minimize time on the article I had them do a jigsaw and we discussed things they learned about what to do before you go to an interview; what you do during an interview; and what things to think about after the interview.

Then I paired them up (key word there, "I" paired them up).  Many were with people they don't normal hang out with so getting to know them became a harder task. I gave them 10 minutes to come up with a set of questions to use as openers. And, I instructed them to go down any path that became an obvious interesting topic that might be used to write a 6WM.

To help them think, I gave them a list of topics that might be good places to draw from for questions.
The trouble is I forgot about how the 7th grade brain works. Because I put a list in front of them, they couldn't come up with imaginative questions or question sequences to go deeper on any other topics than the ones I presented to them. I actually heard one boy ask another "Have you ever been married?" When I heard that question I asked why he had asked it. He said "because I had included "marriage" on my list of possible topics." Silly me; I was thinking that maybe there might have been an interesting wedding that they might have attended.

By the end of class I actually was pleased with the results from most of my students. They had asked good questions and had made good recommendations to their interviewees on what they should write their 6WM about.  Very few ended up needing help in understanding the process and how to make a relevant recommendation.

Before the next project starts I will be able to draw from this experience as we discuss interviewing to gain empathy. Because when the next semester starts (after our holiday break) I will be having my students interview clients or other pertinent people before they start brainstorming ideas. I feel better about their interviewing skills and I believe they will be better at identifying the needs and desires from those that they interview.

To finish the 6WM, I am having them go through a critique rotation today. They are writing their 1st draft and are presenting it to their small group. The small group is tasked with recommending at least one word to be changed to make the 6WM stronger. Then the students rotate to different groups and go through the process a second time.

They will be turning in an 8.5 in. by 11 in. paper with their 6WM on it, that has been decorated to help tell the story. These will be placed on our classroom wall so all of my classes can see what the others have written.

Sometimes a quick 2 week assignment can bring out a lot of learning. In this case my students have learned about how to be a good interviewer. My students have also learned more about their classmates. And, I have learned more about all of my students. Sounds like success.

Early Forays Into Empathy (7th Grade)

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

Today my 7th graders created questions about "Empathy." This was their first week of school and today was the second day of class for them (they are on an A/B Block schedule). As a Design class I want them understanding the idea of Empathy. As an International Baccalaureate (IB) school the students are expected to understand empathy as well. So here's what I did and the results of their work:

Step One - I gave them a quote about empathy from Seth Godin - -->

Empathy doesn't involve feeling sorry for someone. It is our honest answer to the question, "why did they do what they did?"

The useful answer is rarely, "because they're stupid." Or even, "because they're evil." In fact, most of the time, people with similar information, similar beliefs and similar apparent choices will choose similar actions. So if you want to know why someone does what they do, start with what they know, what they believe and where they came from.

Dismissing actions we don't admire merely because we don't care enough to have empathy is rarely going to help us make the change we seek. It doesn't help us understand, and it creates a gulf that drives us apart.  

Step Two - I asked them to experience the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) to create questions about the quote that we will explore in the future. The one problem? They had never experienced the QFT either. So we walked through the process - slowly. 

The result (from two of my classes) follows. Considering they are 7th graders and it is early in the year, I'm pretty happy with their questions. See for yourself (the categories are mine and were done after I collected them):

  DEFINING EMPATHY:

1. What is empathy?

2.How was the term “empathy” created?

3.Where did empathy originate?

4.Why do humans feel empathy?

5.Why is empathy so important?

6.Do a LOT of people show empathy?

7.Does this mean that empathy makes you a better person, or not?

8.Is it easy to express empathy?

9.Why is empathy often described as “feeling sorry?”

10.How do we know if someone is expressing empathy?

11. What are the reasons we show empathy?

12.Do animals show empathy?

13.Why do we as human species feel empathy at all?

14.What is the difference between empathy and reason?

15.What is the difference between empathy and pity?

16.Why is empathy so complicated?

17.Why does empathy make a big difference in who we are?

18.Why is it important for people to have empathy?

19.How is empathy different from person to person?

20When does empathy between two people fracture?

21.When does empathy hinder someone?

22.Why is empathy an IB Learner Profile Trait?

B. DIRECTLY TOWARDS THE QUOTE:

1. Who is Seth Godin?

2. What caused Seth Godin to write this?

3. What did Seth Godin want us to learn from this?

4. Why should we be empathetic towards people who are “stupid” or “evil.”

5. Is violence ever the answer?

6. What should the “useful answer” be?

7. Why do people hate people?

8. Why is accusing someone rarely the answer?

9. Why can’t everyone be honest?

C. SYMPATHY VS. EMPATHY:

1. Why is sympathy easier to show than empathy?

2. Is empathy worse or better than sympathy?

3. How many people don’t know the difference between empathy and sympathy?

4. What happens when you combine empathy and sympathy?

 
Many of these questions are closed and can be answered quickly with a little help from Google. But there are some very open questions as well. I like several of them.  For example, the one about whether empathy makes you a better person.

We will be exploring these questions over the next few weeks. Some of the questions may never get totally answered. But I have a feeling these students are on the path to becoming great design thinkers. And that gives them a swinging chance at being a great person. That's my personal goal in every class I teach -> Have I helped my students become better citizens of the world? I'll keep you posted. 

Putting Together a Design Class in a IB World School (Part 2)

Screen Capture from - https://goo.gl/VoUfRT

[NOTE: Originally written a week ago]
"So much time and so little to do. Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it. Thank you." Willy Wonka.

 Right now I'm feeling like a cross between the Scarecrow ( giving directions in OZ) and Willy Wonka these days. One minute I'm heading one direction and the next I'm heading in a completely opposite direction. But, the bottom line is that, wherever I end up heading needs to be a direction that helps our students and our school. I can live with that.

A long time ago (yesterday) I wrote the first part of this group of posts. At that time (yesterday) I felt like I was starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel - the tunnel of planning what my class would look like this year. Evidently the light I was seeing was a warning sign that said "Detour Ahead."

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

It now looks like my focus needs to be around the word Community. What does it mean to be a part of a community:   The classroom community, Our school community, Our "local community," and the world community?

The first project, that I will be doing with my science teacher neighbor, will now focus on my helping my teaching community. We will do the Rube Goldberg Machine because of the teacher's needs to teach certain concepts like momentum and speed.  We will build because of the need to have visual representations of the science concepts they will be learning. We will be doing all of the other components of the project so that everyone in my classroom community understands the parts of the design process.

For the school community I will be making sure that my students are learning the IB concepts at the MYP level. This will build on their years of learning these concepts at the PYP level. And throughout this unit, and the rest of the year, I will be referencing how our learning impacts (and is impacted by) the local and international communities.

It will be a time for me to join the Meridian World School community as well.  Let the school year begin!

[END NOTE: Stopping here. This was to have gone out last week. It's time to start writing the next post. School started today. And we are rolling! Come join my community. ]

Putting Together a Design Class in an IB World School (Part 1)

http://goo.gl/Tgxu4X

Well, that title should get some good SEO Google Juice. But I didn't write it for SEO reasons - it's what I've been doing today, and yesterday...and the day before that....

In an earlier post I stated that I would be updating my preparations for the school year. Well, that didn't happen. But now that I'm only a few days away from students in the classroom I thought I'd give an update about where I am in the process.

 I may be a 20+ year veteran of the classroom, but I am feeling like a  newb again because this is a new school, new subject matter, and I have to learn the IB specific items. For example, we had a PD day this week and the lingo, acronyms, and other words were flying by me at mach speed.  But I have now completed 3 days of planning and things are feeling a bit better.

On Monday morning I really had NO idea where I was going to start with my design class.  On Tuesday I met my hall-neighbor who teaches science. She told me "I want to do a project with Design this year!" (exclamation because she was very excited and animated). After some discussion it came out that she wanted to start the project in the first week of September! (exclamation because of my internal reaction to this news).

My PBL training/experience took over at that point.  No panic. It was time to do some backward designing. Of course this will be a project in two content areas, so I will need to have her thoughts and input on this. The science will be handled within her science classroom and I will handle the planning, building, and marketing of their design.  I drew an initial mind map:

The project will be the standard "Rube Goldberg Machine"  (not my choice - but there's always NEXT year, right?) that has been done by every science and/or engineering teacher over the years. Heck, the kids might have even done it in their elementary years. The spin I will take on it is purposefully looking at the design cycle. I will use this Design Thinking Cheat Sheet from a post by Guido Kovalsky:

Post test (where the line comes back over to the left and says "start all over...") is where we will go deeper with each of these parts of the design process before we get into our next design challenge. The key is that students will be building empathy, asking questions, reflecting on their work, and creating something. 

Design in the IB World is the KEY subject in the program. My early years of being a Math teacher taught me that math is the KEY subject that my students have to be good at because every year builds on the previous year.  My later years, especially my years as an Instructional Coach, taught me that reading is the KEY subject that we need all students to be good at. And these last 6 months have taught me that questioning, reflecting, and perseverance are the KEY traits we want our students to possess. Design, and in particular the design thinking process, is the one subject that teaches students to ask question, reflect and persevere.  

So, using my very poor knowledge of logic, it follows that Design is the KEY subject in the International Baccalaureate Program.  My job will be to teach my fellow teachers (like those math teachers) that Design is an important class and NOT just some elective. 

In the next post I'll talk about how I am putting together a computer science class for 20 10th and 11th graders who requested that the school have the subject - Gee, I wonder if any of these kids might know a LOT more than I do about computers?  Stay tuned.

So I'm Going to Teach This Computer Science Class

http://goo.gl/BL0lkk

On Friday I had a chance to talk with my new principal. If you haven't heard about that feel free to get caught up with my earlier post.

During my initial interview (with The Head of School and the Secondary Principal) I was informed that they really wanted someone who was able to teach a computer course. I never said I wouldn't but I said that it had been a long time since I had worked with a programming language. So when they hired me I was told that I would teach 4 sections of Design Thinking, 1 section of math, and another subject to be decided at a later date.

So, along comes Friday and the subject of computer science comes up. I quickly say that I'm not against teaching computer science; I'm just a little rusty and would have to learn a ton before the students walked into the room. By the end of the conversation I had committed to teaching one section of Computer Science I for 15 to 20 Juniors who had signed up for the course at the end of last school year.

By Saturday morning I realized that being a teacher with experience with Project Based Learning; a teacher open to learning with my students; and, a teacher with a couple of thousand Twitter followers makes me nearly freaking unafraid of anything. I will have "experts" available to help me with this and the 20 of us in that classroom will be going deeper and doing cooler things than your average computer science classroom in this world (insert maniacal laugh).

I was energized, excited, and (to be completely open) a bit terrified. With Saturday being the 4th of July, I decided pursuing this could wait a day or so. Finally, last night (the 5th), I ventured onto Twitter and wrote: " Any of you at #kidscancode, #EdTechBridge, #DTk12chat have opinions on the language I should use for Comp Sci I class I am putting 2gether?"

Where did I get the hashtags? I went to my first source for all things educational chats - my old friend Jerry Blumengarten (@cybraryman1). I looked through his list of chats to see which ones sounded like they dealt with computer science and/or coding. Then I added my Design Thinking group because they are always working with people in the maker world and coding world. They are just smart folks and know everything about anything.

As I was sending out that tweet I noticed my friend Rafranz Davis was on and so I sent her a note too: "I know you know people who know people...I am putting a Comp Sci class together for HS Jrs. Who should I get to know?"

I was soon exchanging thoughts with Lisa Palmieri (@Learn21Tech) but I had to go so I could watch the Women's World Cup final which, of course, the US Women's National Team won. When I got back online 4 hours later I was greeted with a list of people to follow from Josh Gauthier (@Mrgfactoftheday) .

That list included: Myra Deister (@shhsMath), Jim Klein ( @jnetman1), Jared Cosulich ( @jaredcosulich ), Vicky Sedgwick ( @VisionsByVicky ), and Brian Briggs ( @bribriggs ).

I started conversing with Vicky Sedgwick and was later joined by Melissa Techman ( @mtechman ). Then Lindsay Unland ( @Lindsay_Unland ) suggested that I follow D Martin ( @D_Martin05 ). Vicky followed with a suggestion of Alfred Thompson ( @AlfredTwo , someone I actually have been following for a few years). Alfred came back and sent his list of CS Educators on Twitter  - only 290 people on that list (a gold mine!). 

In less than 24 hours from the first tweet, I had a list of about 300 people who I could reach out to for help and suggestions in this quest to create a computer science class for this Fall. I am so fortunate to have decided (nearly 8 years ago now) to get on this Twitter thing. I never have to worry about finding help. There are people, much smarter (or, at least, more experienced) than I am. And, they are smart with just about anything I might need help with.

So, I'm going to teach this computer science class - and it's going to be OK.  Follow along for future events in my first year at Meridian School as I figure out teaching Design Thinking, math, and computer science.

Exploring Design Thinking as a PBL Guy

Via Eric White

This week I will be meeting with other BIE National Faculty (NF) members at our annual Spring Summit.

For the summit we have broken into Professional Learning Communities (PLC's) and I am with the Design Thinking (dt) group.

We will be sharing with the other NF and we are looking at how dt compares with pbl and what can and should be included in future editions of the BIE PBL 101 or other training services.

I have been thinking a lot about the dt world and I have both watched from afar and interacted directly in the Twitter chat on dt - #dtk12chat. I have sat through a number of presentations from key people in the dt world including Ewan McIntosh. I also have a masters in engineering science so I've taken a few courses in design.

But I still haven't totally been able to marry dt and pbl. As I talk with more and more people who subscribe to dt I am noticing that many of them will do projects using the standard pbl process and then do another project that is based upon the dt process. I am assuming that I'm not the only one with this struggle.

During my years teaching with Project Lead the Way I used the 12-step design process with my students. Since I was at a New Tech Network (NTN) school I was able to marry the pbl process with this process and I worked my projects with the marriage of these two processes.

Project Lead the Way (PLTW) Image

Overlapping the DT image at the top of this post with this design process I came to the following list of steps for a pbl project with an undercurrent of dt:

1.     Initial Problem or Idea                    
2.   Brainstorm and Build Empathy  
3.     Consider Criteria and Constraints
4.    Create an Initial Concept (IC)       
5.    Gather Feedback on the IC            
6.    Create an Initial Prototype (IP)    
7.   Gather Feedback on the IP           
8.   Create/Build/Write/Make           
9.    Mid-Creation Feedback                 
10.  Present Final Product (FP)         
11.  Gather Feedback on FP               
12. Reflect                                            

This is a 12-step process that starts with a problem or idea, overtly asks teachers to think about inquiry and empathy, gives opportunities for feedback, has a presentation, and ensures reflection.  

Looking at another interpretation of the phases of the design thinking process we see that within this 12-step process there is empathy; there is a chance to define and ideate; there is an opportunity to create a prototype; and there is a chance to test the prototype and get feedback.  

As we at BIE attempt to create the essential elements of "Gold Standard PBL," we are looking at these elements:

http://www.bloomboard.com/

The 12-step process I presented can, and should, contain all of the elements in this diagram. As with all learning we must make sure there are key knowledge and skills at the heart of whatever process we are using. 

If we can ensure students are involved in their learning, are thinking of others, and are reflective in their quest for understanding, then our students will be the kind of adults that make a difference in our world.