Assessment FOR Learning

If we want to make data-driven decisions, we need data. Currently, you may be gathering informal data by having your students hold up X number of fingers to express their level of understanding. They may add a colored sticky note to chart paper to show you to stop and re-teach (red), full steam ahead (green), or to slow down (yellow). You may start the class with a bell ringer that tells you what they learned from watching the video the night before. Or you may ask them to write what they got out of today's class on an index card. What do you do with that data? How do you analyze it?

Digital tools are wonderful to assess FOR learning, while having access the data immediately - and, often, an a way that allows students to comment on the data or see it as a graph.

What are your favorites?

Define SUCCESS.

The Perfect Storm

In the past, I have written about my struggle with the merging of technology and the human and social lenses in education. I wondered if all of our devices have the ability to meet the need for students to connect with each other and to give them voice. In the past week, I have witnessed the human and social lens to a great degree in the world of social networking. 

This winter has been unprecedented. The eastern part of the United States has been in the grips of debilitating storms and frigid temperatures. In fact, there have been two major snowstorms within a week. One included a layer of ice that shut down the electric system for 92% of my community for upwards of 3+ days. I was among the fortunate who had power. 

During that time, I continually turned to a Facebook group created by a couple of township residents. It started out as a place to ask for recommendations on local businesses and to share local news. It has morphed into a community of nearly 2,000 individuals, and I do not use the word community lightly. Besides the need for heat, a key human need in this storm was the need to keep devices charged to stay connected to each other.

Most of these people do not know each other personally. In most cases, they would not recognize other group members in town. Some have decided to get together at a local establishment to argue politics or soothe wounded egos in person. Others have gathered at a local meeting hall to start a knitting club. There are groups who know each other as parents of children in the same school or in the same sports league. However, the vast majority have never met.

As the power outage stretched into a full day, community members used Facebook to warn of downed trees and wires, to announce sightings of out of town utility trucks rolling into town, to note where warming stations had opened, and to ask for instructions on how to set up generators. But that was just the start.

As one full day turned into a second, the venting began. The shared distress was evident. There were people who were caring for sick loved ones. There were children of the elderly trying to find nearby kids to shovel out their parents. There were complete strangers offering their homes for warmth, laundry, showers, and powering up. When someone went to another town and found generators, they were willing to buy one for another member who couldn't find one. A mother was at her wits' end when she found out that her power would not be restored for another 24 hours. Another mother reached out and offered her home, her kids' xBox, and a shoulder. A local restaurant running on generator power set up charging stations and free coffee. Come on down, and you don't need to buy a thing.

Once the power was restored, normalcy returned. When the next storm was predicted, the jokes began.

Now, as day 7 of school closings comes to a close, the community is tense. Some folks are voicing their concerns about the lack of civility in the group. They are wondering if they should leave it. Yet, only a week ago, it was a lifeline for so many. Last week, the good in everyone came out.

Sometimes it is easy to forget that nearly 2,000 are reading what you write. Most sit quietly in the background. 

It resembles a classroom from the social aspect. There is a vocal group, a group who responds when the topic is of great interest to them, and a group of bystanders  who take it all in. The Social lens is alive and well in this online community.

I saw the last week through the human lens by being part of this group. Had I been locked away at home, I would have merrily gone about my business. I would not have known what was going on in my community, until the paper came the next day. And, it would have told only the stories of a few. Instead, I participated in a real community. 

I am rethinking where this aspect of technology fits into education. Can technology play a positive role in the social and human side of education (and life)? Absolutely!

My community certainly is a great place to live. 

Why am I crying?

Earlier this week, a Pennsylvania Instructional Technology Coach shared her district's video for the GMA contest – lip syncing to Katy Perry’s song ROAR. Since then, I’ve seen these videos popping up – usually with a “vote for us” request. Today, I saw one for our local high school – asking everyone on Facebook to vote for the school’s video. That’s not why I’m crying.

One radio station in PA is listing local participants' videos on their webiste. At least 4 of them came from Classrooms for the Future (CFF) districts. (A CFF Coach was in one of them!!!) Some of them are just plain old fun. Some share poignant messages – like Roxborough’s from Philadelphia. All of them show regular kids doing amazing things. I’ve seen academic clubs, marching bands, football players, cheerleaders, lacrosse teams, drama students, special needs students, and more. I’ve seen administrators and teachers.

All of them represent great production quality – some of it stellar.

So, why am I crying? Many of these kids were doing this on CFF equipment, an initiative that is no longer funded in Pennsylvania. If not on CFF equipment, it was done in a district that started with CFF and saw the need to continue the investment. Our coaches were involved in many of those videos. The kids had to use the skills that they are learning in OUR schools. Beyond the technical aspect, they had to coordinate huge undertakings. They had to decide what to keep and what to leave behind. They had to use critical thinking skills. They had to determine how to effectively communicate their message. My guess is that there was a lot of story-boarding going on.

In most cases, it wasn’t done for a grade. It was done for a contest. It was done for fun – that’s it. They did it because they wanted to. They were motivated. They were excited. They probably didn’t even complain about the number of hours it took. They had to have administrator support. Kids from every niche within the school had to cooperate and collaborate. It is so cool.

Yes, using technology in school can engage students, increase the use of critical thinking skills, and encourage reading, writing, speaking, and listening. I wonder what a test would have told us about what they learned through this process.

In a nutshell, all of the above is why I’m crying.

Here's a set of videos from the Philadelphia area:
http://www.q102.com/pages/rocco.html?article=11704600

Essential Q’s for Using Digital Tools in Your Classroom

Essential Q’s for Using Digital Tools in Your Classroom

Thanks to the awesome CFF Coach Listserv from Pennsylvania for their collaboration on this list!
 
These essential questions are to help to define what the 'good use' of technology looks like. They are meant to promote thinking about whether the use of technology is meaningful and relevant to the learning.

Many of these questions could start with the word “Will” and be followed up with the question, “How?” I chose to start with how, since I think will is too easy to answer with a “Yes.”

The questions are phrased in a way that would be used in the Before of a Before-During-After coaching consultation or while designing a lesson. With some tweaking, the questions could also be used in the During phase – watching a lesson in action, or the After phase – for reflection.

Engagement

• How will the use of this digital tool engage students with the content?
• Would doing the same activity with other tools such as a chalkboard, whiteboard, manipulatives, or paper and pencil have been just as effective?
• How will the students create, manipulate,  and explore the content in ways that a traditional approach would not afford?
• Who will be using the digital tools - teachers or students? 
• How will the use of technology impact different learners?
• How will the the learning process be impacted by the use of technology?

 Content/Standards

• How will the use of this digital tool make the content more engaging? 
• How will using this tool provide students with the ability to explore content that may not have been available to them without the technology?
• How will the use of this digital tool make the learning of this content more effective?
• How will using the technology promote a deeper understanding of content?
• How will what the students are doing address the Common Core Standards?
• How will students demonstrate understanding?
• How will you measure understanding?

Common Core & Ed Tech

Nice resources available on Common Core and Ed Tech.

http://www.ccedtech.com

Doing What We Could Not Do Before

So, in my sessions these days, I often refer to a Prensky article that asks whether we are doing old things in old ways, old things in new ways, or new things in new ways (using technology). I just read this NYT article that presents an interesting picture by doing new things in new ways. Yes, I suppose that the researchers could have manually counted the frequency of word usage in 5.2 million books published between 1500 and 2008. However, they would still be working on it.

Instead, using Google’s online database of these same books, the researchers (and David Brooks in the NYT), used their critical thinking skills to tell a story about the last half-century based on word frequency in books. It’s very interesting, and, of course, provides opportunity for further analysis, with an examination of bias needed.

Either way, the information and data that our students have access to is mind-boggling. What WILL they do with it????

NYT Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/opinion/brooks-what-our-words-tell-us.html?_r=1&

Prensky Article: http://www.edutopia.org/adopt-and-adapt-shaping-tech-for-classroom (Geez, this is from 2005, and we’re still talking about it.)