Cougar Communication: Edcamp Reflection, Geddit

 Excellence in Education

As you know, I had the opportunity to participate in another edcamp this weekend. These always energize me for two reasons: 1) I learn new things that I can’t wait to try or implement; 2) I realize how fortunate I am to work with such a phenomenal staff and great students.

Looking back I wanted to let you all know about some of the bragging I did about Kettle Run and you.

• While not absolute, our faculty gets along with each other!
•  Our principal fosters a spirit of collegiality, teamwork and is willing to listen!
•  Our professional development in October followed the edcamp model and it rocked!
• Teachers benefit from a great amount of classroom autonomy!
• Teachers are willing and encouraged to take risks!
• Our parents and students are actively involved in Kettle Run!

Thanks for being awesome and giving me the chance to brag!

Tech Idea of the Month: Geddit

I know our BYOD still lacks something because of the inability for students to routinely get online, but I wanted to share a new BYOD program/app with you.

It’s similar to Socrative, PollEverywhere and Celly, which I’ve shared before.

What it does:

• Gather feedback from students as part of the formative assessment-feedback loop.
• Your questions go to the students’ devices (multiple choice, short answer). Students join classes by entering a class code.
• Answers are displayed in a graph format or listed individually for each student.
• Questions can include pictures.

For more : www.letsgeddit.com

 The idea comes from Richard Byrne’s Free Tech for Teachers http://goo.gl/kPDSR9

Administrative Stuff

Most of you are doing a phenomenal job of using BlackBoard for posting grades. We’ve received lots of positive comments from parents and students. Thanks!

Even with BlackBoard use, we ask that you please contact parents of any student who is receiving a D or F in your class. As you know, it’s extremely important to engage parents in the education of their children.

We’ll be adding a 3^rd faculty meeting option this week to help avoid conflicts. I’m still working out the details.

Tonight’s #vachat topic: What Matters in Education?

Upcoming Kettle Run Events/Schedule   

Tuesday:                    Beware of April Fool’s Day (don’t say I didn’t warn you)

                                    FLEX (meeting for students participating in Career Shadowing)

                                    Faculty Meeting

                                     

Wednesday:               Faculty Meeting

Thursday:                  FLEX

                                   

Feedback

Ideas for the Classroom: Feedback

I came across the following when reading John Hattie’s Visible Learning and the Science of How We Learn.

• 1.     It is important to focus on how feedback is received rather than how it is given
• 2.     Feedback becomes powerful when it renders criteria for success in achieving learning goals transparent to the learner
• 3.     Feedback becomes powerful when it cues a learner’s attention onto the task, and effective task-related strategies but away from self-focus
• 4.     Feedback need to engage learners at, or just above, their current level of functioning.
• 5.     Feedback should challenge the learner to invest effort in setting challenging goals
• 6.     The learning environment must be open to errors and to disconfirmation
• 7.     Peer feedback provides a valuable platform for elaborative discourse. Given opportunities, students readily learn appropriate methods and rules by which respectful peer feedback can be harnessed
• 8.     Feedback cues teachers to deficiencies within their instructional management and can lead to efforts to improve teaching practices 

Excellence in Education: Peer Feedback

Based on the above (especially 7), I wanted to share some of the strategies I’ve seen various teachers use at ensuring effective peer feedback.

I know I’ve talked about peer grading before, so this time I wanted to focus on writing, which, of course, is a higher level and more complex process. Because of this, it’s important to provide more instruction, direction and guidance about the peer editing process.

•  Provide students with a template

a.    My favorite part was…

b.    An area of improvement…

c.     What should they be looking for (narrow the focus)

d.    Was my feedback specific?

• Class discussion boards and blogs

• High-fives. This was one of my favorites, when students worked in groups they literally were giving each other high-fives when someone did something awesome or when the group did
• Use of sticky notes instead of ink
• Have the original author reflect on how he/she used the peer editing process to improve his/her original work  
• Model and provide feedback to the peer editing process
• It’s often helpful to partner students up with someone they’re comfortable with

Administrative Notes

Thanks to all of those who have submitted positive referrals. I’ll be baking brownies midweek, so if you have a deserving student, here’s the link: http://goo.gl/cZIXm7

Edcamp Arlington is this Saturday. You can still sign-up if you’re interested in going.

I finally got around to looking at the new VRS options http://www.varetire.org/ The website easy to use and it only took a couple of minutes to figure out what option I should choose.

Faculty meetings are this week, an email will be coming out (or it already has).

Lots of opportunities to get involved beyond the classroom: the junior class would love your help chaperone prom, spring sports are underway (finally), and just around the bend are theater, band, orchestra, and chorus performances.

The latest weather forecast looks good (no snow on Tuesday). Hopefully, it’s all behind us and we can return to normalcy.

Interesting topic tonight for #vachat: My friend Phil Griffins leads us as we talk about work-life balance. Join us a 8pm. It’s easier to follow along by using tweetchat.com.

Quote  of the Week

It's not just about raising test scores; it's about raising human potential!!

Dave Burgess

What I’m Reading

Testing to, and beyond, the Common Core (still applies to Virginia, though)

Five Rules of Student Engagement

50 Myths and Lies About Public Education

For children of bankrupt Detroit, world of challenges outside school  

Cougar Communication: Feedback and Purpose Games

Cougar Communication

Excellence in Education: Feedback

Last Friday, I visited classrooms that I normally don’t visit. Among my last stops were Mr. Yonkey’s and Ms. Deavers’ classrooms. Please understand, that I have absolutely no musical talent, so I’m always amazed by our students’ talent. As an educator, every time I enter these classes, one thing stands out: the feedback provided to the students. While some of us might scoff, “It’s easier in music than (insert name of subject),” I’d like to point out why the feedback provided by Mr. Yonkey and Ms. Deavers is something we should all strive for.

1.     The students knew what was expected of them. It’s hard to provide feedback to students if they don’t know where they’re going. By sharing the goal/objective/target with the students and constantly referring to how the students are progressing towards the goal, feedback becomes more effective. Feedback is most effective when it relates to how the learner is advancing towards meeting the goal.

2.     It’s very specific. Instead of simply praising or criticizing, their feedback is pinpointed. “More air.” “Be sure to come in on…” Feedback is more effective when it provides true information on what the learner is or is not doing.

3.     The feedback is presented in a non-threatening way. As experts, it’s often easy for us provide too much feedback or to overpower the students with our feedback. Instead, of simply directing the students to do it this way, the .

4.     Feedback led to improvement. The whole purpose of feedback is for students to improve and become more aware of their learning. Because Mr. Yonkey and Ms. Deavers provided quality feedback, students were able to monitor their own progress and improve. Even my tone-deaf ears noticed the improvement, so I’m sure the students felt satisfaction and pride in their improvement efforts.

Ideas for the Classroom: Purpose Games

http://www.purposegames.com

I don’t know why I haven’t shared this one before, but it’s a great site.

Purpose games is totally free to create and play. You can create either multiple choice games or use images. The latter gives you so many options: maps, identifications, parts of something, etc. Of course, many games have already been created and are public but creating your own games is easy.

Two options I really like:

1.     You can make your games public or private (only those you invite are allowed to play, but you can also create a group for your class)

2.     The Challenge option where students can challenge other students (they have to create their own accounts).

Check it out; I think you'll like it. 

Administrative Notes

Positive Referral Link: http://goo.gl/cZIXm7

**First term, I asked for each of you to invite me to observe a lesson that stood out for its creativity and student-centeredness. Thank you to those of you who invited me to observe some wonderful lessons. If you haven’t yet extended an invitation, please don’t forget to do so.** 

Monday’s #vachat: Motivating All Students. I chose this topic because at our December faculty meeting, many of you asked for strategies to help motivate students. It will also be part of our March faculty meeting. Join us at 8. Use www.tweetchat.com/room/vachat  to load the live stream and to participate.

Don’t forget to sign up for one of 3 “local” edcamps.

March 29: Edcamp Arlington http://edcamp.wikispaces.com/Edcamp+Arlington

April 5: Edcamp Metro DC (Bethesda/Rockville) http://edcampmetrodc.org/ (just realized I’m in the picture)

May 17: Edcamp RVA (Richmond) https://edcamp.wikispaces.com/edcamp+RVA

I’m trying to share with the public (via twitter and our school webpage) all the great things that are happening here at KR. Please shoot me an email or stop me in the hall when you have something cool, special, awesome, etc. going on in your classroom. My goal is to get at least 2 a day.

Tweet of the Week

What I’m Reading

Control: Snap Out of It : Encouraging student learning

Bigger Gains for Students Who Don’t Get Help Solving Problems  

Why Most PD for Teachers Is Useless