This is my forth post in a series of posts for the "#CBCSD Blogging Challenge" in our district. 

The Challenge: During the month of November, teachers, administrators, counselors, superintendents, curriculum directors, janitors, activities directors, coaches... everyone, is invited to participate in a blogging challenge. We want to create a culture in Council Bluffs that emphasizes and honors being reflective and sharing. And, we want to use the tools at our disposal to model for our students and our community what a modern reflective professional, thinker, and life-long learner looks like.

The best thing about teaching my grade level/subject is…

Well, let's start with a little bit of history. When I was being interviewed at the district's offices, the one question that really flustered me was, "Who do you want to teach?" I'm pretty sure I misunderstood the question because my response was something like:

Um, well. I want to teach each kid individually, but make sure the whole group understands. I don't want to have any previous knowledge about a child because I want to make my own decisions based on how they are with me. I should probably know some of their interests because that's important, but I'm not sure if they will, like [note: I despise 'like' as a fill-word because of my high school English teacher], like me.

By then, I'm pretty sure I was visibly sweating.

Right now, my answer is without a doubt, high school students. It's as easy as that. I had a few experiences teaching the younger kids as a substitute and a long-term sub (in another district), and I just don't have the guts, the smarts, or the energy (at every minute of every day) to keep up with some of those young kids. 

AND I HAVE TWO YOUNG KIDS MYSELF!

The work and energy that the primary teachers gives is amazing to me. I see some of their work on social media (and through blogs) and from reports from other teachers I know. It's not that I'm lazy [another note: any district employee reading this, I'm not lazy], but the amount that they do is above and beyond going above and beyond.

Now, because of the narcissist that I am, back to me. I'm able to do a lot of great things with the awesome kids that I have. A lot of that is because of their natural maturity and ability to take direction. And with those kids that really excel, we're able to make great things happen for my elective classes that sheds light on all sorts of ongoings happening in our school.

As recently as this past Monday in my Graduate class, we were talking about relationship building in the classroom. A few pieces to add: I am the only male of 14 students (and prof); I am one of two secondary teachers; it's a class I only took because it fit my schedule and my adviser allowed me to use it as an elective. I tell you this because I've become the default answer-giver to all questions high school... and male.

So when the question was posed to me with regards to how important relationships are, I had an answer similar to what was above (oh, and I've talked about it in my previous post, Changing Classroom Management into Classroom Relationships). I'm able to have a working relationship that is different than other "core" teachers because I'm "just an elective" teacher; and for whatever reason, students take my lead when I tell them that my courses are more of a job than a class. I've worked hard for that "whatever reason."

My broadcast kids interviewing a broadcast alum for an episode of our weekly newscast. The relationships helped this happen.

And when I heard that it is (obviously) a little harder to get those same types of relationships with elementary students... I felt a little bad.

So the short answer is the relationships.

Oh, and high schoolers usually get my humor. That helps.

Earlier, I wrote I saw a Gregg Doyel tweet... and I was kind of, very nonchalant on the outcome with ProjectShanks.com.

Now, here's the real reason why I did it: complacency.

I don't want to be a complacent teacher. I don't want to be completely comfortable. I have a good gig with good kids. But I've worked really hard to get them to be efficient and to work on authentic publications and tasks to create for the school and a global audience.

One knock on teachers I've heard is, "If you can't do, teach." I've always hated that. Even before I was a teacher. Here's how it works: I went to college for a job (hmmm... let's make it realistic, I went to college to be a journalist), worked in the field (I had a radio and a TV job), then got into teaching (I didn't like the hours / time away from family; became a journalism teacher). It's not because I couldn't do the job... right?

Some of my kids working on a video project.

Well, I've been teaching for five years now (I have the key chain that has already fallen apart to prove it). I love working with kids, I really like coaching (I'm the new boys golf coach), and the schedule is pretty worth it (extra hours for all of the above, but it's not like I'm always getting home at 11pm).  But can I still be a journalist? If I were plopped into a job right now, could I do it? I'd like to think so.

I'd really like to think that the skills I learned in undergrad (and the cost associated with that) is relevant to what I'm teaching kids today. I have first-hand, real world advice I can give to students that potentially want to be in the field.

So, I saw the tweet from Gregg Doyel (from Chris Stuckey). What a great opportunity to prove to myself that I can still do the job; and that what I'm teaching is relevant. Within 10 minutes I had a response (you can see the details in the post linked above) and by 11pm (go figure) I had sent him my article draft.

I forgot a headline.

So last night, I had an email exchange asking if my article can be published (yes), if I wanted to contribute regularly (sure), and when my next article can be submitted (oh jeesh!).

I suppose this is what I wanted. Apparently, what I'm doing should have some credibility because wit a response to a tweet (I love Twitter for professional purposes) I am now a contributor to ProjectShanks.com.

I'll probably get paid about as much as my first journalism internship, but that's not why I got into this field.

This post was written throughout the school day - as time permitted - and at the beginning of our trimester conference that started at 4pm. 

A little background: I feel the relationship between a teacher and student is the premier goal and vital in the success to the student's growth. With that, it doesn't mean a teacher has to be the friend, but there has to be a mutual respect and understanding in order to facilitate that learning process.

Hopefully, I'm able to get my students to push themselves in a way that has nothing to do with pure journalism, but as a learner in general because of the relationship I've built as a teacher. The negative connotation that "management" seems to bring is that I should make kids do what I want, make them learn, if they don't then I need to manage them by modifying behavior.

A good foundation keeps a building standing longer.

Side note (again, often in this blog): right at this very moment, one of my foreign exchange students is using Face-Time to talk with her dad about school and classes in general. 

Guten tag Herr Thron!

It's through our relationship that I know talking to her dad means more to her at this moment than helping to edit the yearbook page for corrections (get this: English spelling and punctuation). It's been three weeks since she's talked to him (let alone Face-Time).

This is where the old term "Classroom Management" may come into question. Isn't that a distraction to the classroom? Yes and no. This particular class is an elective, yearbook. Because of this, students are working at different places and times. I often refer to my journalism classes not as "regular school" but jobs. Students have something specific to do; it's all (attention: buzzwords coming) authentic and differentiated. So the opportunity arose, and my yearbook students took a photo of my student and her father on Face-Time to go into the yearbook (opportunity seized): photo titled, "Reconnecting."

She is very happy to "see" her father.

As educators, we know that Abraham Maslow (1968) suggested that in order for students to become productive learners, they must have their basic needs met first (the hierarchy of learning) through five steps leading to self-actualization. *If you didn't know that, you will. I'd say my student's 20 minutes with her father counts in the "Belonging" category.

In 2007, as I was getting my Post-Baccalaureate teaching certification, one of my tasks was to write a 10-page paper. *I truly despise requiring a superficial number of pages for papers I assign. So I don't assign number of pages, we just use the rubric to makes sure content requirements are fulfilled. I suggested that, "to build a relationship is to build trust and confidence while pushing the student to become more successful than they may think possible." *Yes, it's weird citing my own paper. Also, After re-reading the whole paper, I was very naive  I have learned more in the past year of being a teacher than I ever did going through pedagogy classes.

If we get to know our students, as more than just test scores or seating charts, we can then know how to push them to get their best. And don't forget, it's not just you knowing them - it's getting the students to know you. My students in particular, are very adept to technology. As a 1:1 school, I don't take a lot of time to teach the tool any more, and that is a great benefit because that allows me more time to get to know my students, and vice versa.

Today was also one of my favorite lessons for my Introduction to Journalism students, a personal profile story about me. I'm not (completely) narcissistic, but this task allows me to assess information gathering from students, and I know the background information they find without needing to double check it. And, for the most part, I know if kids are misquoting their source.

But in reality, it gives the students a chance to ask me any question they want, find personal information on me (through my wife's blog or this one), and see photos of me when I was their age. I'm not afraid or ashamed of anything that's online of me (I leave a relatively good digital footprint). And it's the first step of the kids seeing that I am more than just a teacher. It's the first step of building a relationship. Now that I've been teaching for five years, and I've had my kids throughout Intro and into the advanced classes, I'm able to connect with them, and they with me.

My students are more able to connect technologically as well, and I believe this is why we need to change the term classroom management to classroom relationships. Students can contact me through school-based accounts via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and school email. In fact, when I'm at home sick (i.e. yesterday), I'm still able to give tasks, answer questions, and help with different aspects of the classroom as if I haven't left (although, I don't always prefer it).

It's important to be able to connect enough to have a student walk in to conferences, after being away from high school for four years, and tell you how good he's doing with his new job at a theater and how he remembers your class in particular because you were "so hard because you made me do work." This literally just happened (I feel very lucky as I'm writing this post to have all of these things just happen).

Oh, and apparently I am currently the profile photo for four of my senior's twitter pages. The narcissist in me is okay with that.

Today I stayed home sick from school. Somedays, you just need to rest.

Of course, I didn't. But, as my good friend Devin (@dschoening) reminded me:

@swift360 By the way, being home sick is a perfect excuse to get one of those five blog posts done... #justsayin
— Devin Schoening (@dschoening) December 4, 2013

And NUMBER ONE.

This post is dedicated to the (almost obvious, but sometimes it's so ingrained in us we forget) tech tools teachers use everyday... or should.

1) Twitter - Perfect for connecting to other like-minded educators, and creating PLNs and social networks. But my favorite use of Twitter, finding new ways to do things through the ideas of others (check out the #madewithpaper tag, and imagine).

2) Email - I know this is pretty obvious, but email has become my number one tool for contacting parents. Not because I don't like calling (I mean, I don't mind it and all), but for my kids, it's hard to get ahold of parents by phone because it may be turned off. But most of my parents have an email address.

3) Facebook - If Facebook is blocked by your district, see what you can do to undo that. Another great tool for connecting with parents. Some of our districts' younger grades have class sites where parents can see progress of classes, and again, make that connection with teachers.

4) SoundCloud - I actually had a teacher today (yes, while I was home sick) ask me if SoundCloud is a tool a teacher could use to record text from a book for a special-needs student to listen back through while at home. They had their school issued Google Chromebook and an internet connection, so I pushed this first.

5)  Wix - One of my new favorites. While my school is partnered with Google on many things (and it's a wonderful partnership), we are able to try new things as well. I actually heard of Wix from a teacher in another building, and he's been using it for years. It's a free website building site. You can upgrade (at a cost) for more personalization, but for his students' photography and video portfolios, it's perfect... and simple. I just recently upgraded my class website: www.cbjacketjournalism.com.

6) YouTube - Another of the more popular sites to block by districts, YouTube is worth fighting for. There are many branches of this site you could use as well, like YouTube for Education. You could also use filters such as splicd.com to get only the part of the video you need.

7) TED.ed - A video site for educators that help "flip a lesson." In general, TED Talks inspire me to be better at life, and these are specific for education and lessons. Sometimes I just watch these for no other reason that I am hooked on watching them.

8) Paper.li - In Paper.li, you can create a "playlist" of sorts of content you want to read about. The site gathers the information you tell it to (based off of tags and terms, tweets, and other content filtering methods) to create a personalized paper for you... and you can share it.

Of course, I have an EdTech365 Paper.li to share with you.

9) Blogger.com - A Google tool I use with my students. I always start my Intro to Journalism class with having the students create a blog. Then, I ask them students to answer questions (to get them writing, and used to writing in it). Eventually, I stop making them use it.

A little Pavlov-ian, I believe. *Ring Ring

10) 3D Printing - I have recently been tinkering with this since I learned it was possible through my Grad class. Not just possible, but relatively accessible! Our district has a printer, and UN-Omaha has one. Right now, other than a select few students (and teachers) it's not utilized by the masses. But, UNO offers students the ability to print what they create relatively cheaply.

Because of this, I am learning about blender.com right now to create some 3D artifacts: namely some flags for our microphones!

The potential for students to use these to create models, tools, or ANYTHING THEY CAN IMAGINE is awesome.

My #paperface is #madewithpaper (by fiftythree.com)

edit: I am using Paper (an app by fiftythree.com for iPad) a ton lately, and I would be sad if I didn't add it as a special bonus. There are many educational ways to use it... it is just like paper. But, it just fun to use as well. I'm hooked. 
What tools do you use every day that didn't make this list? Just add in the comments below!

Oh, and Devin, I got this done before 10pm, so I was productive today.

Video Below

*This post was written for a newly created district website at my school. I will link to it when available (called CBLearns365). There is a lot of potential for the blog and who (and what) it can impact!

I am a journalism adviser. I don’t see myself as a teacher, but a sharer of responsibility. In the five years I have been teaching, I have only had to work a handful of times. And, I came from the journalism field. I have a degree (because experience needs validation), and I have met famous people (a requirement for being recognized in our society).

I also write exactly how I think (and the use of parentheses is important to me).

But why is this important? Because when I was asked to write a blog post for CBLearns365, my focus was a question: “What is the role of a student journalist?” And I needed to break it down.

To me, I want the role of a student journalist to be that of a learner and a problem-solver. Writing is important, but getting to the meat of a story is better. And I thought, “Where is the meat of my question?”

Students.

So I brought the question to the kids. I collaborated with them, and I wanted the kids to be a part of the process… of my thinking process. This is what we created:

Our journalism program has a long and rich history. I am only a part of it. The students in this video are an even smaller part of it. But as educators, we are able to impact the history of our school, and more importantly our students’ lives.

So, what is the role of the student journalist? It is that of a student impacting and remembering our (collectively as a school and as a body) daily history.

I want to start a new project this school year that will ideally benefit students as much as teachers. It might start out as a little ... obvious ... for some, but hopefully it can grow. Here's the plan:

I want to try out a new Web Tool for Teachers (WTFT) every week with a group of students. I plan on introducing the tool or website early in the week, followed by some practice with it/ utilization, then a blog post on Friday (presumably published shortly there after, or the following Monday) with a rating on a system to be completely determined.

*Side note (as I am prone to do): I understand WTFT is web slang for What the French Toast? but I am deciding if sharing it would actually benefit the spread of information as well. Because, if there's one thing I'm certain about, it's when adults start using something and think it's cool, then kids will gravitate away from it!

photo credit: http://oedb.org/ilibrarian/101-web-20-teaching-tools/

Here are some basic ground rules:
1. Use sites that are for the students' benefit.
2. Use some sites that might not have been specifically created for education (i.e. YouTube or Soundcloud) but have a definite, educational potential.
3. Rate on the following: Ease of use (easily learned), Potential Drawbacks, Student Productivity/Feedback, and OS compatibility (mobile friendly; PC only; etc.) or availability.

I can hear some naysayers already:
"But the tool isn't what's important." - You're right. I just want to offer options.
"It's going to take too long to teach them a new tool every week. That takes away from learning." - The goal is to not have that happen. Even good lesson plans have gone wrong. Finding simple sites with a minimal learning curve is important. The potential is there for students to gain knowledge and learn how to use the web in a more effective way.
"You rated SC, but forgot YT. And FB? Kids should never be on that site at school!"  But if we teach them a way to use it effectively, they potentially won't see it as an "escape" from the classroom, but a tool.

That's all I have tonight, it's late. My youngest daughter (2-months) has a hard time falling asleep at night, and I had time to think. I just wanted to get this down before I went to bed and forgot about it. If you have ideas for sites to try or anything on the project, just leave a comment!

In my current Grad course, we were asked to write a "Belief Statement" on why we teach. At first, I thought I could struggle. It's for a project we're doing as a final. It is an Intro to Tech Tools class (and I don't think I'm an Intro student), so we will be adding video and such.

The class has two weeks to go.

I started thinking. And in five minutes, I wrote. It was wonderful. I just starting typing.

In the comments, and possibly for another project, tell me why you teach.

I am going to put the whole text below, but here is the video I created (my professor hasn't seen it yet edit: my prof has now seen it):

I decided to become a teacher because I have experience that will benefit young people. Let me present that information from a different angle: I became a teacher because I was stuck in a job I didn’t like, taking a break and reading the newspaper, and saw an advertisement that said, “Are you stuck in a job you don’t like? Have you always wanted to be a teacher?” And I thought, “yes.” So I dove in.

And when I dive in, it’s full-steam ahead. I’m passionate. I care. I’m loyal. And I truly believe that every child can learn, and every child hopes to become better than their parents. And that’s a good thing. So I want to lead them. I want them to become involved in the world. I want them to become engrossed in their lives. I want them to be passionate.

What can I do? The same thing that every educator in the world can do. Teach. Advise. Mold. It’s a little bit of a power-trip to know that I can mentally push a student so hard that they become angry at me, only to become so thankful that they’ve been pushed that they break down at graduation and write me a letter more fluent and more thoughtful than any “History of British Literature” essay paper that was ever written during the 180 days-a-year I see her. And I can do it 30 times over.

And so I teach. I show students the dirt path, but I don’t pave the road. In the “real world” workers have to be able to be jacks and jills of-all-trade, even if all they do is as mundane and ineffective as memorizing something solely for getting it right on a test, the workers have to be able to relate and live socially. And I can help them learn those skills. What people forget is school is the real world. It’s 12 years of your life where you become who you are. It’s not a throw-away time that doesn’t matter. It matters.

A lot of what I’ve been saying is about me. But realize, none of this is about me. It is about the student. It is about the kid. The child. The learner. It’s about educators and administrators and faculty and parents that want to be involved in the growth of a seed into a flower. It’s not about graduating, it’s about growing. It’s not about getting to the next level, it’s about being prepared to learn for the rest of your life.

So why did I decide to teach? Because somebody decided to teach me 25 years ago. And that person decided to be passionate about it, and it resonated with me. And I wanted to do better than my parents. And I wanted to be better FOR Chambers, Lowe, Klocke, Tilton, Clarke, and Faris, Troutman, Bowman, and Hughes.

That’s why I teach. And that is my belief.

The following is my final paper for my grad class: Current Issues and Trends in Education for the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

This was published on my blog before submission to the University. The goal of the paper was to mimic our text's style of Dialectic Reasoning, and my format reflects this.

Feel free to comment or critique in the comments. And, as time allows, I will try and hyperlink more within the story (most links can be found on the resources page).

Photo credit: Dale Edwin Murray for Waldrop's article in Nature.

Massive Open Online Courses:

New trend may revolutionize Education

Rob Lindquist

TED 8060

Current Issues and Trends

Final Paper

4/30/13

University of Nebraska at Omaha

Graduate Studies

The Next Chapter

Massive Open Online Courses:

New trend may revolutionize Education

Will the free online education format trickle to K-12 and change the way we evaluate what is learned?

POSITION 1: MOOCs PRODUCE EDUCATED LEARNERS BETTER THAN THE CLASSROOM

Anyone is free to join, create, interact, analyze, and reflect according to his or her own learning needs.

-Apostolos Koutropoulos et. al, 2009.

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are just starting to make waves in post-secondary education. The product of a Stanford University team was started by professor Andrew Ng in 2007 when “his approach was fairly crude, he admits: just record the lectures, put them online and hope for the best” (Waldrop, 2013). Ng wanted to educate the masses. “When one professor can teach 50,000 people,” he says, “it alters the economics of education” (Waldrop, 2013).

Daphne Koller was a part of the team, and wanted to make the online learning more internalized for the learner. More than mere lectures, Koller wanted to mimic “flipping the classroom” and in her work in 2009, she started shortening video clips to 8-10 minute segments, allowing for reflection and giving time to answer questions given in the video.

With intrinsically motivated learners, it’s easy to see the benefits of MOOCs, and the opportunities for more learning. And the best part, you don’t need anything to join but an internet connection and the motivation to learn.

ROLES OF LEARNERS - GAINING BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE

Modern education has not changed much since its current incarnation which was first established. To emphasize this point, one major piece of educational technology was the blackboard, which is still used to this day in my school. The blackboard was created by James Pillans in 1801.  And much to the same extent, the modern school student has changed only as much as the tools around him. It’s not to say that students aren’t more advanced than they previously had been, because there have been other tools that have obviously helped educators since the blackboard. But, there is an opportunity to introduce a new tool that can change the role of the learner even more so than a “flipped-classroom” or teacher role reversals to secondary students.

BENEFITS OF MASSIVE COMMUNITIES

Students have the ability to connect on a larger scale (by definition) in a MOOC. Duke University researcher Randy Riddle (2012) notes

“there’s nothing particularly new about MOOCs.  Most universities have offered online courses for many years and the basic technologies involved – video lectures, discussion forums, tests, and the like – are the same we have used with on-campus and distance students.  The only difference is the scale.”

The benefit for the student in this scenario is the opportunity to be a part of a community that connects with the learner on that particular subject, and it’s not a small community. Generally, MOOCs consist of at least 500 participants (Koutropoulos, et. al, 2009). On the larger side (as noted by Ng), there is potentially no limit to the maximum size of like-minded people; interested in the learning for the sake of learning.

The peer-evaluation form of assessment used in some courses allows for sharing of ideas and more in-depth learning (for both parties involved). The forum system utilized by Ng and Koller in late 2010 “let students vote items up or down, much like on the link-sharing website Reddit, so that the most insightful questions would rise to the top rather than being lost in the chatter” (Waldrop, 2013). MOOCs could, in essence, become an educationally-fueled social network rivalling today’s standards.

REVOLUTIONIZING K-12 EDUCATION

Some students don’t get the opportunities of others because of the luck of the draw. In his book, The Snowball, philanthropist Warren Buffett (2009) uses his “ovarian lottery” theory to explain that you get one ball, and you don’t know what you’re going to get. He goes on say that the luck of being born where and when you were helps set you on your path. My school is a low-income secondary school, where priorities are more with make sure siblings are healthy than education. The students didn’t have a choice as to what situation they were born into, and sometimes the can use some help.

At my school, there are credit recovery programs for students that miss for differing reasons. There are opportunities for credits for things such as core classes and even an online P.E. credit recovery class. And here is where we can introduce MOOCs to students. We can give students an opportunity to learn with others, from all over the world, some of the basic concepts and skills needed from a massive, open platform, at a time and pace that student can manage. Completion of the massive courses could translate directly into the core class material and eventually, possibly, into a certificate similar to a GED, if not a high school diploma.

The design of the course would have to revolve around ease of use and accessibility as well. Some students in my school do not have access to the internet at home, but from a purely observational standpoint, at least two-thirds of my students do have access to a mobile device that has access.

The students in this type of MOOC would revolutionize their curriculum as well. As the Common Core is being established for U.S. students, a common curriculum for “graduation” from these courses could be easily derived, with modifications and different channels of learning dependent on a choice of post-secondary plans. It might be scary to think about how many educated people could be walking around without a piece of paper that signifies completion; the reason for completion of the MOOC isn’t for the physical paper, but for the knowledge gained to better the post-secondary life of the learner.

POSITION 2: THERE ARE TOO MANY FACTORS IN MOOCs THAT PROHIBIT LEARNING

Don't ever email the professor. Never friend the teacher on Facebook. Those are some of the rules A.J. Jacobs learned when he joined the ranks of millions enrolled in massive open online courses, MOOCs.

- Jennifer Ludden, host of NPR’s Talk of the Nation, 2013.

VERIFICATION OF LEARNING

One of the many flaws of Massive Open Online Courses is the verification of learning. With relative ease to sign up for a course, anybody can participate in almost any topic they want. And with the lack of accountability and no academic credit currently given, MOOCs are left with professors pleading to students not to cheat.

“Students taking free online courses offered by the startup company Coursera have reported dozens of incidents of plagiarism, even though the courses bear no academic credit” (Young, 2012). This led to Coursera adding a non-plagiarism message to their courses.

At the secondary level, the honor system can’t be the only way to curb cheating. If MOOCs move into the realm of awarding credit (as stated above in the form of GED or graduation credit) then procedures will have to be in place to thwart dishonesty.

Even with a tool, such as Turn-it-in, a for-profit tool my district is utilizing primarily in English core classes, the cost of implementing and verifying for the masses would be detrimental to the whole idea of the learning format. And there are too many opportunities for dishonesty that can go unchecked in order for completion status of the program.

RETENTION

Self-reported retention rates are generally low for MOOCs. “Yes. Granted, my retention rate was low, and I can’t think of any huge practical applications for my newfound knowledge” (Jacobs, 2013). He continues that a “classmate” of his “told me he’s planning to include the course on his résumé, I probably won’t go that far,” presumably because of the lack of proof that anything was learned.

Koutropoulos, et. al, (2009) point out that a majority of their participants could have just been “window shopping” or lurkers, those that are following along and digesting knowledge, but not actively participating during the interactive portions of the course.

Because of the initial phases of the format and the variables involved, there isn’t a systematic way to know if the small percentage of those completing the courses are retaining the information gained, and in turn, using the knowledge in a productive way (if that was, in fact, the goal of the learner). Pair this with a lack of student-teacher interaction, and the ability to quantify is nearly non-existent at this point.

The true test of retention will be when a student (like Jacobs’ classmate) does get a job in a field relative to the course, and the knowledge is put to use. Will the skills or information be readily recalled or utilized?

COMPLETION

High school students, nationally, completed high school with only a 7% drop out rate in 2010 (US Dept. of Education, 2012). In some schools, particularly urban schools with high-poverty rates, the number increases. The four-year graduation rate for my district was 81.51% for the 2011-2012 school year (Coffey, 2013). And, the rate of students who complete a massive open online course rarely rises above 15% (Waldrop, 2013).

In a study done with Coastline Community College in Fountain Valley, California “students who dropped or failed a course were more likely to believe [distance learning] courses were easier than campus-based classes. This suggests the need to manage student expectations about this mode of learning, especially for those new to the format” (Nash, 2005). These students tended to rank themselves lower in management skills as well. In this case, when given the opportunity to work at their own pace, self-direction and motivation were lacking.

This is a phenomenon talked about by many in education. While resources are available, no matter the time or resources available, sometimes the student just isn’t motivated. Sometimes teachers are the same way. When talking about motivation to Devin Schoening, I talked about needing classrooms to be “differentiated; make it something they want to do. Look at the possibilities and what this could be” (Schoening, 2013). If we are able to keep students interested at their level, they will find more relevance, thus helping to keep motivation to complete the course.

References

Coffey, A. (2013, March 3). Bluffs schools: Hard work led to higher graduation rate. Omaha World Herald. Retrieved from http://www.omaha.com/article/20130303/NEWS/703039872

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In a recent #CBModelTech meeting (a group of teachers in our district that help to incorporate technology in our schools), our moderator Devin Schoening (@dschoening) reminded us of an idea that all teachers know about, even if you don't realize it. And that's the idea: unintentional learning.


The backstory:
His daughter is taking part in an invention convention, and had an idea that works with trash cans. She needed consumer feedback, so created a Google Form and shared it with the world... literally. First, she had her mom (Erin) and dad retweet the form. And it went from there. By the time of our meeting the next day, she had over 100 responses, globally. One of the responses was from Australia, and in the comments mentioned that they don't have "trash cans" but instead call them "rubbish bins".

Devin pointed out that this unintentional learning is something she (or most of us) wouldn't have sought out on her own; and I think it's learning like this that will leave an impact. I find that most of what I have unintentionally learned is great trivia knowledge. But how I gained that knowledge was the basis.

The reason I wrote:
By no means is this an original idea. And, obviously, I am not claiming to have come up with the terminology or anything. But how much can we teach students about the world? We are striving to ready our students for post-secondary endeavorers, give them the (buzzword) 21st Century Skills necessary to be productive global citizens.

So, I am now (two days post-meeting) challenging myself to teach kids something they wouldn't normally know from their Journalism Adviser. But to do it discreetly, so they don't think they're learning anything. I don't know why.

• Yesterday: if your handwriting slants in multiple directions , you could be an identified as a stressed-out person (I read it somewhere, in a book). 

• Today: Trash cans are called Rubbish bins in Australia and Europe (I know, I really skimped on this one).

When I was in school, I distinctly remember one of my science teachers knowing everything about everything. Of course, I now know he just knew a lot of trivia, but it inspired me to dig into things more, and created a need to investigate. Honestly, it did. 

So, what has been your "rubbish bin" lately?

You've heard that right? Don't try to reinvent the wheel. Why work so hard on something that's already done? When I cook, I try to keep this mantra in mind - why would I make a homemade pizza if I can order one?

When I was student-teaching, my co-op teacher told me this. And don't get me wrong, I loved her for it. I needed to learn the basics before I tried something advanced. But as I am in the early stages of my educational technology career, I want to reinvent it. Or maybe a better term is re-imagine. 

The evolution of the wheel.

No matter what you think, the wheel has changed. How would our cars look with stone tires? The wheel has gone through an evolution, and it looks like within the last 10 years or so,  education has been doing the same (NCLB anyone?).  Add to that the explosion of technology in the classroom, it's time to re-imagine the wheel. 

10 years ago, I didn't care. I was just graduating high school and thought I would be the next ESPN Sportscaster of the Year.  I wanted to do whatever it took, by whatever means my teachers told me, to get through and move to the next steps. Just get me on TV. I wanted people to hear what I was saying. And I did this because it was easy. I got the Journalism degree, worked in a TV station, moved on to a radio station, and eventually burned out. All within about four years. I was doing enough to get paid, but I felt like I should be doing more. I was in a rut. I was tired of doing the same thing. 

Enter teaching. I lucked out. I felt that this was my way to make a difference (side note: I think I am). After two years of teaching freshmen English, my "dream job" opened up. Now I'm entering my 2nd year teaching journalism (print and electronic media). In order to be happy, I re-imagined how I could better serve people. Now people listen to me... and I think a few are even learning!

The flipped-classroom, one-to-one classrooms (whether bring your own device or a common device), and grading scale modifications (from As and Fs to a 4.0 scale) are all examples of how we are already moving forward and away from the old "one-size-fits-all" thinking. 

But we have to get over the hump. My grad class professor mentioned that he feels that education is the one field where we don't always abide by the research for what is working. He likened it to a surgeon who has heard of this new technique for doing a surgery that has proven to be more efficient, and have a lower mortality risk, but wants to continue because he/she is more comfortable doing it the way it has always been done. 

The Dyson fans. No blades and "cooler" air; figuratively and literally. 

I am excited to be a part of the change. And I hope that someday I can do more than just relay information, but contribute to the growth. I love education, and I love technology; and I really think that the image of the "wheel" will be like that of the Dyson fan, something completely revolutionary. 

What do you think? Do you agree with my professor? Are we changing? And is it for the better? Let me know!