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Making Teaching and Learning Visible

In the advent of the new Common Core standards and the soon to be released standards in science and social studies, we are beginning to have a more clear picture of the learning outcomes expected of students nationwide.  However, these standards are often only as good as the paper they are written on if we can’t see how they come alive in the classroom.  For example, this is one of the Common Core Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies:

“Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.”

What does this standard really mean?  If we polled ten teachers, would they all have the same interpretation?  Many might see the words primary and secondary sources and immediately think they are meeting this standard because they use these sources in their classroom.  Some might think that because they use various texts and ask students to cite evidence from the text that they are meeting the standard.  This opaqueness is one of the issues facing educators, and therefore student learning outcomes, today. 

How can we really see standards in action and therefore know not only what should be taught, but if students learned? First, have conversations.  One of the biggest problems we have is that we rarely talk about the specifics of teaching and learning.  What does it look like?  How do we know when we see it?  Second, visit other classrooms.  Teaching is very isolating and rarely gives us the opportunity to see what everyone else does.  The past three years, I managed a Teaching American History Grant.  This gave me tremendous opportunity to see other classrooms and made me a better teacher because of it.  Third, use technology tools such as Twitter to connect with other educators around the world to have these conversations.  Finally, use tools such as the Teaching Channel (www.teachingchannel.org) and Eduvision (https://aea111.eduvision.tv/default.aspx) to see teaching, and learning, in action. 

In order for us to move out of the industrial age of teaching and into the 21^st century, the opaqueness of teaching must become more transparent.  It is only through a clear lens that teaching, and learning, will become visible. 

Blue Harvest Feedback

I just stumbled across this resource, but I think it has tremendous potential.  It’s called Blue Harvest Feedback (www.blueharvestfeedback.com).  The basic premise behind this site is to provide teachers with an easy way to give feedback to students.  The cool thing about this website is that it allows teachers to leave feedback in written, audio, or video format.  In addition, teachers can upload the standards their class is connected to and give students specific feedback about the standard(s) the assessment addressed. In addition, both teachers and students can upload and share files easily and communicate through text message and email features.  Finally, the site allows 24/7 student and parent access.  The only downside to this resource is that while free for the first year, there is a $36 fee per year after that. 

The Myth of the Digital Native?

A few years ago I attended a professional development session hosted by a prominent technology integration expert. As a self-identified technology geek, I listened intently as the speaker focused on the then relatively new terminology of digital natives and immigrants. These terms made sense and I really thought the speaker was on to something. The speaker made the distinction between the two groups and I saw immediately that I “qualified” for the digital native group. I was born in the last thirty years and grew up using all sorts of technology. In fact, I had a cell phone when they were so big they could barely fit into a purse, let alone someone’s pocket. The speaker also pointed out that all of our students today are digital natives and the “older” adults are, by default, digital immigrants.

Although there were many facets of digital natives and immigrants presented, the emphasis was on the fact that digital natives just got “it” when it came to the use of technology. In turn, digital immigrants were technology illiterate. As a teacher, I initially bought into this idea. My students were usually very comfortable with the use of technology and many so-called digital immigrants I worked with often seemed uncomfortable with technology. However, once I dug deeper I discovered this was not really the case. I began to believe that the idea of digital natives and immigrants was a myth. Sure, my students were definitely comfortable with technology; they definitely got “it.” I could give them almost any piece of technology and they could easily figure it out. They preferred texting to writing and could speak in the language of technology without a problem. When it came to using technology effectively and for academic purposes, however, my students struggled.

Because of my assumption that my students just “got” technology, I used to do very little to explicitly teach the use of academic technology. I assumed that if I asked students to create a blog or use other Web 2.0 tools that they would just get “it.” This was rarely the case and my thinking began to change regarding the need for more explicit instruction about not only the integration of technology, but also the proper use of it.

 In the years since I first heard about digital natives and immigrants, I have developed some of my own thoughts about how to approach the myth of the digital native. I use the following “guidelines” when thinking about my own approach to technology integration in my own classroom:

1. Don’t make assumptions about how much students know (or don’t know) about technology.
2. Assess where students are before you do anything else.
3. Embrace technology even if you don’t “get” it.
4. Capitalize on what students know about technology and let them teach each other. This goes for the adults too!
5. Use social media tools such as Twitter as professional development so that you can connect with other educators about technology integration.

Education Reform? in Iowa

Check out this video of my husband speaking in front of the Iowa legislature regarding the proposed education reform bill.

It's All in the Details

There seems to be a myth out there that being a history teacher is the "easy" subject to teach. Anyone can do it.. right? This belief goes along with many student beliefs that history is just a series of facts, dates, and places and all you have to do is memorize these isolated facts in order to be successful. This is far from the truth. In order to teach like a historian, and get students to think like historians, we must go beyond the surface and look deeper. We most focus, not on the big picture, but on the details. This may seem counterproductive, but it is the details that make history instruction rich and engaging for students. It is the details that historians use to develop new ideas and arguments about history. And, it is the details that make up the story of history.

I first realized this as a first year teacher. Even as a first year teacher I used primary source documents in my classroom. However, my mistake was that I would often just place an image in front of students and flash it on the screen for a minute or so. We would discuss the image for a few minutes and I would use it to teach the larger context of the unit. However, I never asked students to think like historians and delve into the details, or story, behind the images.

As years have passed, I have developed many strategies for having students delve deeper into primary source analysis. One of the strategies I often use are the primary source analysis tools from the Library of Congress. You can check these out for yourself at www.loc.gov/teachers or check out my modified version at http://tinyurl.com/6ucjzgb. Now asking students to analyze images might look something like this.

I Observe- Ask students to record what they actually see. Are there people in the image? What do they look like? Is there text? What does it say? This forces students to look for the details and not simply say, "this is an old picture."

I Reflect Ask students to reflect on the details they observed? What do the details lead them to believe about the image?

I Question Ask students to ask questions about their reflections and further define their thoughts about the image.

I Know Ask students to record information about what they uncovered about the image. What is actually going on in the image? What is the historical background of the image?

Primarily Teaching: Teaching with Primary Sources

View more presentations from srwteacher.

You Matter

The power of two little words is amazing.  Angela Maiers has made the words #youmatter a powerful call to action.  The words you matter are impactful.  They are impactful not only for the person saying "you matter," but also for the people receiving the words.  These two words are perhaps the two words missing in the world of education speak. They are the words that students most want to hear, and perhaps, the words that teachers most want to hear.  We all want to know we matter, but most importantly we all want to feel that we matter.  Thanks @AngelaMaiers for starting this revolution.