Wednesday, December 13, 2023

What Do We Value In Education?

Throughout this month, I have been reflecting on a different word each week. This week’s word is Value.  What do we value as educators? And how do our actions support this?  I think this is a particularly important discussion to have around how we value learning.  Do we value the outcome, the process or both? Intrinsically as educators, we would say that the process of learning should, at the very least, be equal in value to the outcome.  If this is true, then what message do we send to students when we place greater point values, weight or emphasis on the outcome? Or, when we place so much weight on the process, under the guise of, “If we don’t make the practice/drafts/ worth points they won’t do it”,  that even when students demonstrate mastery, if they haven’t earned enough points during the process of achieving mastery, they can not be successful in the class.  I am asking these questions because we have all, in some way, contributed to the culture of point chasing or GPA tracking.  This is now starting as early as 3rd grade.  When students ask the value of an assignment, what they are really looking for is a gauge of how much time and effort will need to be devoted to that assignment, and what level of quality work will be sufficient.  Is that what we value? To some extent.  We do want students to see value in the work and to do quality work.  And… as a result, engage in the work itself because they see why they would want to do it to  build their knowledge and skills, or apply what they know in new ways or to real world tasks. There’s the missing piece. If we respond to the question of “what is this worth” with a point total, instead of, “It is a necessary step in the learning process so that you can build the skills you need to take on problems that matter to you in the world” [Effect size of perceived task value is .46], we continue to value the outcome above the process, and so will our students. So, the first reflective activity for this week is to take a look at how your grading/feedback process communicates what you value and reinforces what your student’s value.  And, considering Hattie’s Visible Learning meta-analysis, what opportunities do students ( and teachers) have to establish learning goals [Effect size .68], demonstrate self-efficacy [Effect size .92], and self report grades [Effect size 1.33]?


What else do we value? I know that I value relationships. So much so that it is the lens I use to prioritize my weekly time budget.  Building relationships with peers, students, parents, and the community are an important part of our work. [Effect size of teacher student relationships .52]  What do our actions say about how much we really value relationships? “There are only so many minutes in a class day, and by the time we fit in all the things we need to stay on track, there just isn’t time to do a class circle or a check-in, or a shareout”. Or, “ I am so far behind on my to-do list, I can’t possibly attend _____, come to that meeting, spend more than 15 minutes touching base with you.”, Or, “I really want to send out a regular newsletter or have a parent roundtable but I just can’t find the time to get that started”, Or, you are scrolling emails and on your phone multi-tasking when you do have an opportunity to engage with students, or colleagues.  Does this sound like you sometimes, all the time? If the first thing that gets jetisoned overboard to lighten the time load is the time that you would be spending building those relationships, stop it. Without those relationships,  achieving your goals becomes much more difficult. Sometimes the time you think you are “saving” is actually added to the time it will take to accomplish your work.  It is those relationships that you can lean into when life becomes complicated with a student or colleague, when you run out of innovation energy, when you want to light that spark of inquiry or creativity, or when you and your team face a challenge that you can’t see around.   


What do we value? This would be a good starting question for a team meeting, TBT or BLT, or DLT meeting, board work session, or admin council meeting.  The answer will drive what data you prioritize, how you allocate funds in your budget, staffing decisions, what is included or not included in bell schedules and course guides, your grading systems, your PBIS model…

Knowing what you value and agreeing on what it looks like in action is work worth doing. 


Resources To Spark Your Thinking


Upcoming Opportunities

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Wednesday, December 6, 2023

What Does Augmented Leading and Learning Look Like?

For December, I am focusing on a word a week. Last week’s word was Authentic.  This week I’m thinking about the word Augmented.  I’ve been using it a lot in conversations around how to use Generative AI to expand our capacity as leaders and learners. Augment in this context means  to complement or extend the skills.  What are augmented leaders doing? 

  • leveraging Generative AI to process data efficiently and accurately so they can make informed decisions.

  • utilizing Generative AI’s ability to identify patterns and predict future trends to anticipate opportunities and challenges and make proactive plans.

  • relying on Generative AI to handle routine tasks freeing up time to focus on collaboration, strategic thinking, and culture.

  • recognizing Generative AI as a thought partner in creative thinking and problem solving.

  • Maximizing Generative AI to personalize leadership development and goal setting for themselves and their team.

  • modeling the ethical use of Generative AI tools.


And if we’re augmented leaders, we need to have a clear understanding of what augmented teachers and learners look like:

  • using Generative AI to better understand the unique needs of individual students and tailor instruction to personalize learning.

  • interacting with Generative AI as an engaging lesson planning thought partner, accessing standards, analyzing data, and connecting curriculum to the lived experiences of students.

  • embracing Generative AI as a student learning tool through interactive and immersive tech experiences, AI supported language learning, and real-time tutoring/feedback to make learning engaging and accessible for everyone.

  • integrating Generative AI and other advanced tech tools to expand learning experiences and prepare students to meet the demands of living in the digital age. 

  • maximizing Generative AI as a tool for fostering collaboration, creativity, communication, critical thinking, and self-reflection.

  • prioritizing the ethical use of Generative AI in an inclusive environment, ensuring equitable access and user support.


If we are going to become augmented leaders supporting augmented learners, we need to spend time updating the process that we put in place for implementing and revising policy and administrative guidance around technology. Specifically artificial intelligence and Generative AI policies that are worded to  limit and restrict vs  policies put in place that empower and support, safe, efficient, ethical, creative, collaborative use of these tools. Are we modeling this for our students and our staff?


Resources to spark Inquiry



Things To Pay Attention Too

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Saturday, December 2, 2023

What Does Authentic Mean In The Context of Education?

Merriam- Webster’s word of the year is authentic.  What does authentic mean to you? Where are you using it in your professional conversations?  In the past few months I have been asked to define authentic in a number of education contexts.  First up, what makes a text authentic? One way to define authentic text is real-world written material that reflects the culture and societal context in which it was created.  By using text sets made up of authentic texts, we can build student knowledge by first giving them the opportunity to read texts with explicit background information, and words that are used and defined within the context of the text. These first texts  in a text set are like keys that will then unlock doors into more complex texts and learning opportunities that are also included in the text set. Authentic informational texts bring voice and perspective to classrooms, while  authentic literature can provide windows into the culture of a period of time. Creating text sets puts historical events into a context rather than a series of isolated dates and people. And, authentic text sets help students to make connections between what they are learning and their own lived experiences and interests.  


Next conversation, authentic math.  How do you provide opportunities for students to work toward far transfer, and take the instructional leap from textbook math to choosing how to approach a real world problem through math?  Samantha Fales, a math educator with Nordonia Schools, shared her response to this question at the OCTM state conference.  She has developed a relationship with a local Tool and Die manufacturer, which led to identifying multiple industrial applications that build on the kind of mathematical thinking that students develop in a HS geometry class. Samantha then took those applications and back -mapped them to her class, creating sets of authentic math tasks based on the Tool and Die jobsite. 


My most recent conversation,  are traditional points based grades an authentic measure of student learning? No. They aren’t. In fact, points are arbitrary and may be based on multiple factors including effort, participation, extra-credit, and timeliness- along with meeting a set of criteria that is equated to a demonstrated level of mastery.  More authentic measures include standards based grading, that uses consistent, mutually developed, performance descriptors.  Even more authentic, the use of student self-assessment. Again, with access to performance descriptors and sets of exemplar work.  Well designed performance tasks that are paired with assessment tasks  give students the opportunity to build knowledge and skills through an intentional set of learning tasks, then demonstrate mastery through an authentic, novel assessment task.  This was the model that was developed through the Ohio Performance Assessment Pilot (OPAP) project. Karin Hess has done a lot of work building out resources for creating and implementing high quality performance tasks.   The link to her resources is below. 


The current conversation that I am having is around how we will reframe our definition of authentic in the age of Generative AI.  President Biden’s executive order on Artificial Intelligence includes a section on how to watermark or identify images, voices, music, and texts that have been generated by various AI tools, to distinguish them from the “real thing”.  This is in response to concerns around intellectual and creative property, deep fake audio and vido recordings, and how to interpret copyright through the lens of AI. Yet, at the same time, we are also starting to shift how we think about “real things”.  The two articles below from The Conversation, a news site featuring articles written by university researchers, reflects this current discussion. As an advocate for the use of Generative AI in the education space, I see this as an opportunity for a “Both And” discussion.  What are the upsides of human autonomy? What are the upsides of augmented human/Generative AI work?  What are the downsides of each side of this discussion? How will we know when one side or the other is out of balance? What can we do to maximize the upsides of both sides? What can we do to minimize the downsides? 



Resources To Spark Your Thinking
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Friday, June 2, 2023

How To Find People Who Act As Windows, Doors and Mirrors In Your Life - The Importance of Diversity In Your Network

How do people act as windows, doors and mirrors?  I have been thinking about the people in my network as a kind of living text set that has enriched my personal and professional life , challenged my thinking, and expanded my knowledge base.   


Windows are willing to share their own experiences, customs, traditions, and points of view that are different from my own.   Taking time to see the world through their windows has helped me to develop empathy, bring a more global perspective to my own experiences, and be a more creative problem solver.  When interacting with someone who is a window, I start with a lens of curiosity.  I take time to listen… to stories, to their interests, to their music,to their ideas.  I ask questions to gather more information, to learn new words. I ask for recommendations of things to read, places to go, people to meet.   


Doors are confident in their own expertise, and are willing to challenge me to try something new.  Being willing to accept an invitation to stretch outside my comfort zone -either in thought or in action is always a learning experience, even if it isn’t always fun or successful.  When interacting with a door, I start with a learning pit mindset.  I ask questions that help me make connections between what I already know and what I hope to learn.  I am also willing to ask for help when I find myself in the pit wrestling with that new knowledge or skill.  


Mirrors are reflective and willing to ask hard questions to better help me frame my own thinking and ideas. Mirrors also share common interests and experiences with me and can help me to see my best self, especially during times when I need someone to be in my corner or help me to see opportunities to make a positive impact.  When interacting with a mirror, I welcome honest feedback, ask questions that might help me see my own blindspots, and listen to suggestions  for how I can apply my own skills to a problem.  


Who are the windows, doors, and mirrors in your life?  What steps do you take to be intentional about adding to your personal and professional network? How do we help students see the importance of having windows, doors and mirrors in their lives? How do we serve in these roles for our colleagues, students, and friends?  And…how do we use actual text sets to serve in these roles as well? 


Resources To Spark Your Thinking  - This week I am sharing resources I include in my ongoing text set
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Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Why Modeling Co-Regulation Can Lower Stress As The School Year Comes To An End

Do you have enough water left in your pitcher to continue to fill the cups of others as we approach the end of this school year? I hope the answer is yes, and that you have conserved enough water to fill your own cup over the next few weeks. If not, what are the quiet spaces, the activities, the people, the music, the books that you can dip into to refill your pitcher?  The end of the school year is a time that requires the ability to model co-regulation skills. 


Everyone feels the stress that comes with end of year -- relationship shifts, as colleagues announce retirements,  administrators make moves to new buildings and districts, students graduate, younger students begin to look toward the next year, the next school, and new opportunities while finishing their projects and lessons in their current classes, and collaborative time with colleagues feels rushed or finite.  It is time to reflect on how you are feeling about the end of the year. Check in with yourself.  Then check in with your colleagues and students. 


According to Cathy Papp from the Lorain County ESC, one component of co-regulation is creating warm, responsive relationships. After spending a year learning alongside one another, in the safe environment of your classrooms, some students may be looking at a summer of adventure while others may be facing a summer of uncertainty. As a school or district, what safety nets are in place to maintain positive relationships with the students over the summer?  So many educators refer to their colleagues as their school families, and talk about the importance of the friends they work with. What can you do to maintain those friendships over the summer? Are there colleagues who may need your support?  


Another co-regulation component is to structure the environment.  How can you think about intentional end of the year routines to help students celebrate their successes and recognize their learning, while beginning to think about goals for next year? How can leading with empathy help us plan inclusive end of year activities that take into account student voice, and the impact of living with chronic trauma has had on our students, and our colleagues? What formal and informal summer learning opportunities can be put in place for students, and educators, to explore their own interests, and build expertise?


Finally, Cathy Papp shared that teaching and coaching self-regulation is important.  The end of the year is emotional. It is a good time to remind students about the self-regulation skills they learned and practiced throughout the year and identify situations at the end of the year, and through the summer, when applying those skills will help them to avoid frustration, and achieve a positive outcome. Many of the pictures/symbols/reminders of self-regulation strategies that we have posted in our classrooms and buildings are not going to be on the walls of student rooms at home (or on our walls at home either).  A good end of year activity might be having students create their own system for reminding themselves of the strategies that work for them.  As I was looking for resources to spark your thinking around this week’s topic, I found a number of resources that point to the power of positive self-talk.  It was interesting that one article included research that showed the effectiveness of self-talk in the second person - as in “You’ve got this” vs “I can do it”.  How will you talk to yourself in a positive way as you navigate the end of the school year?  You can do it, take a breath, focus on really listening to your friends and students and what they have to share with you as the year wraps up.  



Resources To Spark Your Thinking

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Wednesday, May 3, 2023

How To Take Depth of Knowledge (DOK) From Aspirational To Actionable

How many of you have used Dr. Karin Hess’s Cognitive Rigor Matrices at some point in the last few years? They are one of my go to tools when discussing rigor, DOK and how to think about designing lessons that get at the full range of DOK levels.  Depth of Knowledge becomes more actionable and less aspirational when teachers can work with the specific content area matrices that Karin has created. These tools help to create learning opportunities that lead to deeper learning.  We are in the middle of state testing season…and this is a really good time to revisit these matrices, the learning standards, your own common assessments, and the state’s released item scoring guides, to get a feel for how to  continue to create learning tasks and assessments that help students engage in deeper learning across all DOK levels..  


I had the chance at ASCD 2023 to attend  Dr. Karin Hess’s session on her new work, Assessing deeper learning.  I loved her opening quote, “In order to teach for deeper learning, you have to experience it yourself. When do we have opportunities to continue to be learners? How do professional learning plans incorporate DOK 1-3?  


Here are my key takeaways from her session:

One goal of deeper learning is the transfer of knowledge.  Near transfer is the ability to do something the way that you were taught = DOK 1, DOK 2.   Far transfer is how you can apply what you learned to anything - real world projects that have an impact = DOK 3,4.    As a student, you can think about it in this way: What am I learning? How is it impacting me? What am I going to do with it? How do I want to show you what I can do with it? What problems do I want to solve?


Assessment is actionable.  This statement fits right into my thinking on Evidence Centered Design that I have shared with you a lot!  Assessment is about uncovering thinking, identifying where students are in the learning journey and planning next steps, or providing feedback to understand themselves as learners, thinkers or strategizes, or ourselves as educators. 


Stop Random Acts Of Rigor: Hess has identified 5 teacher moves that lead to consistent, intentionally planned deep learning opportunities.

  1. Use essential questions to lead to probing questions

  2. Build schema in each content area

  3. Use strategic scaffolding for different purposes

  4. Design complex tasks - with emphasis on student voice/choice and evidenced based solutions

  5. Allow time for students to engage in metacognition and reflection throughout their learning.


Student engagement can be negatively active, negatively passive, positively passive, and positively active.  This was a different way to think about this.  Terms on this engagement line start with disruptive, avoidance, withdrawn <<--->> participate, invested, drive    How does this change the way you see students in your classroom? Students who are disruptive are actively engaged in a non-productive way.  What’s the difference in how they are experiencing the learning compared to a student who is driving the learning and is actively engaged in a very productive way? 


Finally, she suggested some engagement activities that involve the most students. The two I found most interesting were using Scrum Boards to help student teams monitor their own work and seek input from peers. And, doing gallery walks of work, converting rubrics into feedback sentence stems and look-fors.  


I appreciate Dr. Hess’s research, and her willingness to make so many of her resources freely available for educators to use.  

  

And, because I want to continue to model how to use ChatGPT in an ethical, efficient way - You can ask ChatGPT to become a DOK bot and create sample problems/tasks/activities for you.  Try using this prompt: I need you to be a DOK bot.  When I give you a standard, I need you to create a set of tasks or activities at a DOK 1, DOK 2, DOK 3 and DOK 4 level.  You can follow that up with this prompt: Create a set of lesson plans using the 5 E model based on this standard, incorporating DOK 1, DOK 2, DOK 3 and DOK 4.  And then, use this prompt: Create a reflection sheet to help students focus on their own learning at each DOK level. Make it in a chart form. Refine these prompts to meet your needs and to produce the response that will be most useful for you.



Resources To Spark Your Thinking


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