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Five Things: Processing

Maybe the most important but most forgotten component of cooperative learning and/or community-building activities is the processing of what was learned. We’re all guilty of wanting to move on to the next activity or topic without sufficiently processing the previous content. Sometimes, we try to process the information quickly, hoping our students will just throw out the important ideas. This approach (or lack of) often leads to less reflective responses and students not listening to their peers.

Just like anything else we do in our classrooms, we need strategies to insure that proper processing occurs. If there’s a lesson worth learning, we have to plan structures to insure it’s actually reflected upon. So, here are five things you can do to insure valuable processing at the conclusion of your cooperative and/or community-building activities.

1. Write it down.
Sometimes the best way to get quiet, introspective reflection from your students is to have them write their thoughts on paper or typed on a computer. This sort of writing could be as open-ended as a journal entry with no guidelines or highly structured. “Two Stars and a Wish” is one format that asks students to list two great things they learned or experienced plus a wish for making the experience better. Students could use the strategy known as PMI, or Plus-Minus-Interesting, where they list a positive, a negative, and something interesting. The key is to collect all the writing in order to hold students accountable and to demonstrate the importance of such reflection. I’d suggest that sharing aloud with the group be optional since the words we write are often more personal than what we speak.

2. The Talking Stick
The “Talking Stick” (or ball or Teddy Bear or whatever) is a physical signal for the students to know who is speaking and to whom they should listen. As the teacher or facilitator, you can require the Talking Stick to pass through you or allow students to pass the stick to a peer with a raised hand. This strategy insures that only one person is talking at a time and that students keep their attention on that speaker. Foam balls, stuffed animals, or bean bags also make great Talking Sticks.

3. Think-Pair-Share
Sometimes the biggest problem with group processing is that everyone wants to share…or that no one is wants to share. “Think-Pair-Share” is a cooperative learning strategy that works well in solving both issues. First, the students are given time (~one minute) to think up a response to a question posed to the group. Second, they turn to a partner and discuss their thinking. Third, students are called on to share with the group. Teachers can ask for volunteers or call on whomever since every student has had time to think up and discuss a possible response. Also, even those who really wanted to share at least had a chance to share with her partner.

4. Concept Mapping
Typically, we use concept mapping to access background knowledge before covering a topic, but when used after an activity, concept maps or webs are great ways to organize student thinking. Concept maps can be drawn on white boards, chart paper, or interactive white boards for the whole class. Alternatively, individuals or small groups could create their own to turn in and/or share with the class. There are a few free online concept-mapping sites out there including bubbl.us, MindMeister, and Mindomo. Also, there is offline software that can make concept-mapping easier such as FreeMind, SMART Ideas ($), and Inspiration ($).

5. Sentence Stems
There are times when a classroom discussion goes nowhere because the students don’t know where to start and so the teacher must take over the conversation, leaving little room for students to think for themselves or internalize the meaning of the activity. A great strategy is to give the students a few sentence stems to use in their discussion. Teachers should then refrain from participating in the discussion. Three is a good number of stems to provide. A few examples are…

• I understand what (name) is saying, but I wonder…
• Here’s my thought(s) on that question…what do you think?
• That’s an interesting perspective…I wonder…

Whether one uses these strategies or not, it’s important to remember a few additional points. Setting norms for discussion don’t just have to happen at the beginning of the school year. Ask your students what should be expected from them during a class discussion in regards to participation and listening. Make these the norms for the reflection. Above all, the most important rule should be that all involved should listen and take turns speaking. Seating or positioning your students in a circle or “U” shape is the best configuration for them to interact as a whole group, . As facilitator, resist the urge to ask simple, lower-level, yes-no questions. Take your class’s discussion to a higher level. And finally, have a little fun. Learning about each other and collaborating can be the best part of being a part of a classroom community. Don’t forget that!

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Getting the Most out of Internet Resources

Where would you look for resources on building classroom community?

From the Edu-Blogosphere

I realize many of you do not want to think about next year at this very moment. I also realize that many of you can’t help but to think about next year. So, with these things in-mind, I thought I’d share some things that have crossed my Google Reader and Twitter feed.

David Warlick asked his readers, “When you return to your classroom (or other edu-workplace), what do you wish will be there that wasn’t there this school year?” Folks then posted their wishes on Twitter with the hashtag #classwish. I wished for online presentation software could be collaborative and had non-linear possibilities. Today, Warlick compiled his results.

How would you answer David Warlick’s question? What do you wish for next year that wasn’t there this year? Really think outside the school box on this one. Who knows, we might be able to make it happen. I found the presentation software I was looking for in Zoho.

Over at Weblogg-ed, Will Richardson writes about a Time article in which the future of work is pondered. The article states, among other things, “We will see a more flexible, more freelance, more collaborative and far less secure work world. It will be run by a generation with new values–and women will increasingly be at the controls.” Richardson then wonders…

Which would seem to me to suggest that we need to create a more flexible, more freelance, more collaborative learning experience for my kids, right? If as the article states fully 40% of the US workforce is predicted to be independent contractors by 2019, shouldn’t we be rethinking what it means to prepare them for that?

How do these ideas change what you do in your classroom? My hope is that what we do in eMINTS supports this shift in education and the workplace. What do you think?

In conjuntion with the news that California (read “Cal-ee-fornia”) is dumping the textbook in favor of internet sources, I stumbled upon the blog TeachPaperless. While it claims to mainly provide educators with ideas for going paperless, the blog also gives its readers president for going tree-friendly in their classrooms. Even if you don’t care for the political slant, it’s an interesting read.

In my personal network, a friend who teaches high school English in Lincoln, NE mentions on his blog that his team of teachers is meeting to deal with plagiarism. It seems that several students have figured out how to copy and paste content from online sources onto their own papers, trying to pass the work off as their own. Have you considered this possibility in your own class? Do you have a plagiarism policy? Are you aware of ways to teach about and discover plagiarized work?

My partner sees this a lot as an English professor at the university. It’s easiest to deal with plagiarism when papers are turned in electronically. She copies the suspect content, pastes it into a Google search box, and up pops the original work. Sometimes it’s that easy; sometimes she has to search for a while.

As far as teaching about plagiarism, I have a few resources that may help:

• For you Wikipedia fans out there, there is a page with specific directions for citing the online encyclopedia of the people. Besides citation instructions, the page also offers advice such as “As with any source, especially one of unknown authorship, you should be wary and independently verify the accuracy of Wikipedia information if possible.”
• Plagiarism.com does the Google searching for you. Just enter the offending text in the box and hit “search”. You can even set up a Google alert as soon as the same text pops up anywhere on the Internet.
• The Citation Machine takes the guessing out as it will help your students generate citations for the work they ethically use within their writing.
• Excellent guides for teaching plagiarism can be found from Colorado State University, Web English Teacher, and Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Look for me to continue updating this blog about once a week this summer with more ideas to get your next year with eMINTS off to a great start!

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Top 10 Learning Tools

Boy, I have really neglected this blog. Luckily, Jane Hart at the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies gave me a reason to get this blog going again. Anyway, this is my list of top 10 tools for 2009…

1. Google Docs -I recently moved all my training session plans from my own Word files to Google Docs in order to more easily share them with my supervisor and other trainers. Additionally, I plan to begin keeping classroom visits and status reports so as to make me more mobile. The best part is that I can access my plans on my iPhone in order to keep with my pledge of going paperless.

2. Google Calendar – I don’t mean to make this a Google-specific list, but I can’t deny the value of this tool to my work as an instructional specialist. I share calendars with co-workers, teachers I train, and even my wife (is busy enough with her tenure-track, research 1 job at a large, state university). The embedding has allowed me to post my calendar in my Moodle space for my trainees. Also, Google Calendar’s ability to synch with my work calendar makes my whereabouts known to those who need to know.

3. Delicious – I’ve used Delicious for a long time now. In fact, I used it when it was known as Del.ico.us back in the day. The difference now is that I use the networking features to harvest the best content and tools from the Internet. I’ve even subscribed to my network’s feed to make harvesting easier than ever before.

4. Twitter -This is the reason for my lack of blogging, but that’s not exactly a bad thing. This Web 2.0 tool has expanded my networks ten-fold. There is a constant stream of information coming to me from my Twitter network and at <140 characters a pop, it’s very efficient.

5. Google Reader – Actually, any RSS reader will do, but this happens to be the one I go to. I don’t go to the information anymore; it comes to me. Now, I don’t miss a post from my favorite blogs and I’m able to keep up with my many networks (such as Twitter and Delicious) with little effort.

6. Prezi – This is one tool I have not really used yet, but I plan to master it over the summer and utilize it next school year. As one of the contributors to Hart’s list put it, “This should be the death of PowerPoint…” Prezi moves beyond the limited scope of a linear PowerPoint presentation, something I’ve struggled to convey to my trainees. I figure that if I can master Prezi, it will revolutionize my training sessions.

7. TwitterFox -The effectiveness (and addiction to) my Twitter network has never been better stronger since I downloaded this Firefox add-on. Now, instead of heading over to Twitter, filling up my Google Reader, or wasting time on TweetDeck, I can simply look to the lower right-hand corner in order to keep up with my Tweeps.

8. Elluminate – Working for an organization that has personel scattered all over the state, there is no way to have regular team or staff meetings. Additionally, gas prices (and our concern for the environment) have caused us to cut back on travel. An online tool for meetings was needed. Enter Elluminate. With its shared work space and file-sharing capabilities, it’s almost as good as meeting in the same room. Although it costs money to have the full availability of Elluminate, there is a “Three-For_Free” feature for those smaller get-togethers.

9. Moodle – As far as training teachers goes, this is the one tool I use the most for course organization and learning facilitation. Every schedule, resource, and link is there for my teachers and I’m able to password protect our copy-written materials and curriculum.

10. iPhone – Let me first say that I am not a phone person. Before I bought my iPhone, I used the work cell for everything, paying for only the minutes I used. After purchasing this tool, I quickly wondered how I ever lived without it. This gadget makes me completely mobile without having to haul a laptop or search out wifi while traveling all over central Missouri. I manage email, calendars, Twitter, Google Reader, and Google Docs just to name a few. The plan is to use it for record keeping of classroom visits next year. I won’t go anywhere without my iPhone.

So that’s my list. For more lists, go here and ready those Delicious bookmarks.

Picture Source: Wikimedia Commons

Teaching Obama

Whoa, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted here. It’s been hard to come up with stuff that both my year one and two folks can use. Luckily, history was made this week with the election of our first African-American president, Barack Hussein Obama. I have a few resources you all should check out.

NPR has a report titled “How to Teach this Election” that should be available later today. Personally, I subscribe to the NPR stories regarding education to my Google Reader. Year two people should remember our discussion concerning RSS and readers. If any year one folks are interested, I can help you set something up.

Want to see the front pages of newspapers from all around the world? The Newseum is a journalism museum that features the front pages of many newspapers form around the globe. They have a page specifically for this past Wednesday reporting Obama’s win.

For those of you who study political cartoons, cartoonist Daryl Cagle posts his cartoons daily. There are several interesting ones posted after the election. I think the one featuring the Lincoln monument could be particularly interesting to address in class.

Illustrator Patrick Moberg has created a rather poignant image of all the presidents (pictured above). Barack Obama’s image is a striking contrast to those who preceded him. This would be another great discussion starter.

The Big Picture provides larger-than-life images that capture the essence of important news stories. The election is no different. The photos of Mr. Obama are remarkable and fully illustrate the enormity of his victory.

There are even a few great resources for the numerically-inclined educators. For an interactive map of all the national election results, check out the New York Times map.The map makes it possible to see voting results from the national level down to individual counties.

If it’s polls you’re into, the folks at FiveThirtyeight.com explain how the probability fits with determining the election winner. A word of warning regarding FiveThirtyEight: They are rather biased toward Obama, but in the election aftermath, this might not be as big of a deal. You could also ask your students to search out the site’s bias.

Are there any other resources out there that you have used to teach the election?

Classroom Management & Online Projects

Wow!  That was a long day we all spent together!  I hope everyone was able to glean something from all the content we covered and discussions had over the seven hours or so of training.  I also hope you are not already burnt out.

I wanted to revisit a few of the key points and some great resources to get you on your way…

Classroom Management: I know that many of you are masters at managing your classrooms and some of you are always looking for new ways to facilitate learning.  With the new year approaching, you have different considerations for classroom management than you did just a year ago.

Really think carefully about your classroom norms.  It’s alright to have a few in mind.  It’s even OK to include a couple that are extremely important to you, but make sure to include student input on those norms.  They will feel more ownership in how the classroom runs this year than if a list of rules are dicatated to them.  Also, be sure to word your norms as what students should do instead of what not to do.  For example, instead of the rule “no talking,” try the norm “listen to others when they speak.”  The goal is to get students to pay attention to each other or the teacher.  A norm should give the desired behavior.

To get your year off to a great start, you should focus your efforts on management and behavior almost exclusively.  The best way to ensure that these norms can be maintained throughout the year is by building a positive classroom community.  Check my links for community building activities here.  Don’t reinvent the wheel.  Use some of these resources to plan out your first days of school.  For secondary teachers, you could do the same activity with every class.  Elementary teachers may want to do one in the morning and one in the afternoon in order to break the monotony of the day.  Either way, have a little fun with it and get to know your students.  Building relationships with them now will pay off in the long run!

For the rest of my links related to classroom management, click here.

Online Projects: The key to a good online project is to think about the ways in which you can make it transform student learning through an authentic task.  Start out small, like an email project or a class blog, then think of ways you can transform some of your old lessons into a real world project that incorporates some form of online tools or networking.

If you wanted to access many of the resources from our training session, go here.

Some tools to consider for online projects are listed below:

EduBlogs – This is a safe, user-friendly tool for blogging.  You may remember that we had trouble with this tool last winter, but it seems to be working much better these days.  I still use it, in case you couldn’t tell.

Gaggle – Gaggle offers blogging and email options that can make online projects interactive and transcend borders.

E-Pals – Some people mentioned E-Pals as a great resource for pen pal projects.

Youth Twitter – This is the kid-safe version of the micro-blogging pioneer.

Earth Day Suggestions

Earth Day is approaching and I figured many of you would like some suggestions of how to utilize your new machines for this very timely event.

Carbonrally offers its users an opportunity to challenge each other in carbon-reduction behavior. Challenge the classroom down the hall to recycle paper or turn the lights off when not in the classroom and measure the effect on the environment. Middle school and high school students could probably run their own challenges, while the site is better used between entire elementary classes or families.

EarthLab, according to their website, “is a leading climate crisis community that provides a practical guide to green living through community interaction, exclusive environmental news, advice from experts and key analysis.” What does EarthLab have to offer? Where do I begin? They have the carbon calculator, a survey that determines an

Tox Town allows students to look at various human environments and the environmental factors that affect them. It is geared toward middle and high school students, but the interface is inviting to upper elementary.

EcoKids contains many interactive games with environmental content. However, beware of the trap to just set students free on the games. What are you goals for using games? What content do you want the students to gain from using class time playing games? This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use games to teach the content; it just means be careful and purposeful. Your friendly, neighborhood EPA also has a site with environmental games at EPA Environmental Kids Club.

I hope these resources will give you some ideas for Earth Day. It’s important to address these issues throughout the school year, but Earth Day provides a great opportunity to peak student interest.

[Picture of Earth source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Earth-Erde.jpg]

Assess this!

With the mad rush to cram all kinds of information into our students’ heads before MAP testing, I thought it might be important to think of some other, less threatening ways to assess our students’ learning.

Emmet Rosenfeld wrote a blog post on formative assessment.  Like its summative step-brother, it can tell a teacher where a student is in his/her development.  However, formative assessment can do so much more and can be a vital part of a student-centered classroom.

Rosenfeld identifies some key characteristics of formative assessment that make its value quite clear…

1. It’s ongoing. Kids don’t always know it’s happening; and teachers aren’t always trying to distill it to a number.
2. It’s dialogic. Evaluation is characterized by dialogue; standards are often negotiated, rather than handed down. The discussion about value is as important as the assigning of value; and even that is a task frequently done by self- and peer-assessment.
3. There is a feedback loop. The teacher often assumes a coaching role. Low-risk practice leads to perfect.
4. It’s metacognitive. Self-reflection is cultivated so that a learner can understand how he learned, not just what was learned. Every student becomes their own teacher.

For more on formative assessment, read Rosenfeld’s blog, Eduholic.

We-Blog, You Blog

Ruth did a nice job presenting classroom communication Wednesday night. However, it was too bad that Edublogs did not want to cooperate. I just wanted to supplement a few of the issues and key points brought up in Ruth’s session.

Blogging is something near and dear to my heart as some of you have gathered. I am an avid blogger and have had some success with this tool in the classroom. In researching a conference presentation I’ve found many, many examples of blogs that support good learning. The interactive and literacy possibilities are unlimited. I don’t want our struggles Wednesday night to discourage us from using blogs as a classroom tool.

The safety issue can’t be stressed enough. All this means is make sure you’re able to monitor what your students post, whether that be posts or comments. Also, having kids post in anonymity is essential. Using initials, first names only, or screen names are easy ways to accomplish this.

Some teachers expressed that they would like to see some other blogs that have been successfully used in classrooms. Like I mentioned before, I have found several examples while researching for my conference presentation that could better demonstrate the effectiveness of the blog. Check this link which is a list of classroom blogs that demonstrate various approaches to blogging.

Also, Yvonne shared with me some great ideas for making blogs work in the real classroom. One option could be to limit the number of students blogging to a few each day so as not to overload the system. Then, the rest of the class could comment on what a few students have to say. Another idea Yvonne had was to simply make links on your websites to student papers. This doesn’t supply the interactivity that a blog does through comments, but it does make it possible to publish student work online.

There are plenty of other resources and ideas out there on blogging. As you know, I love to use and tout my delicious account. This link has a list of the resources I used to prepare my presentation on blogging. You can also read the blog set up for my presentation (that I was unable to use due to a death in the family). Also, this link will take you to a list of ten ways you can use a blog in the classroom.

One other thing…It suddenly occurred to me the other evening how an RSS feed could be utilized in the classroom. When students set up their own blogs, subscribe to those blogs and have the students also subscribe to blogs, requiring them to read and comment on what their peers were writing. The virtual conversations that take place can extend the learning well beyond the time you have in class. You can use Bloglines, but I use my Google account to set up a reader.

Whatever you do, don’t give up on blogging yet. I think it is the most interactive and revolutionary tool of Web 2.0. Let me know on your classroom visits if you want me to help you set up your own blog. In the meantime, read some blogs and make up your own mind.

More Online Tools

I thought I’d take some time and share a few online resources that are free. (I bet that got your attention.)

In keeping with our last module (Tools for Thinking), the first resource is bubbl.us. This website allows you or your students to create webs and brainstorm online. You can save and share this work on bubbl.us, print it out, or even embed it onto your website or blog. It’s very easy to use and is somewhat similar to the mapping software with which we have already worked.

Quizlet is a vocabulary tool that when used for good (and not evil) can greatly enhance vocabulary skills in any and all subject areas. There are flashcard tools, instant quizzes, and (eMINTS friendly) collaborative tools. Think of the collaborative All you have to do is enter or upload your vocabulary list and let the kids go to work.

ClassTools.net allows for teachers personalize flash games, graphic organizers, and lesson templates all for free! This tool gives a teacher plenty of opportunities to create interactive learning activities that take the content to new levels.

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