Students return in one week so I want to be sure to complete the prep work on several web-based projects. The availability of so many free sites makes it easy to experiment, but I want to be sure the project pays real educational dividends, rather than simply being technological fluff.
For each of my Language Arts classes, we will be maintaining a literacy blog. Each week, two students will be assigned to post to the blog on a topic relating to literacy and our work in class. Each poster will be assigned two peer editors who will have to check their work before posting. This will tap into authentic writing and editing/proofreading skills, as well as provide an opportunity for students to publicly express their ideas, create a working portfolio of the group's growth, and provide parents the opportunity to have perspective on our work.
In Social Studies, I have created a wiki for each class. New pages will be created for each unit of study and students will use them to strengthen understanding and create their own study guides. Some of the posting to the site will be done in class (thank you, SmartBoard) but the majority will be done by the students on their own time. I am curious to see if they embrace the opportunity to develop their own study aids.
As these projects take root, I will provide updates and links. To protect their privacy, all students will be required to create an alias before contributing.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Back on Board
Yes, it’s been a while.
The Twitter version of an update: I’ll be exploring literacy, life and learning through the eyes of a middle school language arts and social studies teacher.
Being back in the classroom full-time affords the opportunity to test-drive ideas and receive ready feedback. In the five or so years since I have regularly taught middle school, there is an entire generation of new tools to use. As always, understanding is the primary destination, but I’m eager to play with some of the new toys along the way.
The Twitter version of an update: I’ll be exploring literacy, life and learning through the eyes of a middle school language arts and social studies teacher.
Being back in the classroom full-time affords the opportunity to test-drive ideas and receive ready feedback. In the five or so years since I have regularly taught middle school, there is an entire generation of new tools to use. As always, understanding is the primary destination, but I’m eager to play with some of the new toys along the way.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Slight change in direction
Research on new literacies is continuing, but I have spent less time on it lately for two reasons. One is that I am busier with tutoring, and currently see four students every week, some more than once. It is a diverse group, and all are great kids - I enjoy working with them.
The other reason is that I am working on expanding my efforts in professional development opportunities for teachers. While I like the work with individual students, being able to access their teachers would cast a wider influence.
To that end, I am developing some internet courses, which I believe to be a relatively underutilized medium for teacher training. It is difficult for teachers to take professional development days, and limiting workshops to particular after-school times may eliminate participants who run clubs, pick up their own kids after school, etc. The online delivery system allows for maximum flexibility.
My first foray is a course called Literacy for the Conceptual Age - feel free to check the link and register yourself! I hope to have more to offer soon.
The other reason is that I am working on expanding my efforts in professional development opportunities for teachers. While I like the work with individual students, being able to access their teachers would cast a wider influence.
To that end, I am developing some internet courses, which I believe to be a relatively underutilized medium for teacher training. It is difficult for teachers to take professional development days, and limiting workshops to particular after-school times may eliminate participants who run clubs, pick up their own kids after school, etc. The online delivery system allows for maximum flexibility.
My first foray is a course called Literacy for the Conceptual Age - feel free to check the link and register yourself! I hope to have more to offer soon.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
School Research 1
Now to look at some applications for school . . .
One immediate thought is to employ a scaffolded approach where students learn to apply new skills in a low-stakes environment that will encourage them to raise doubts and ask questions. Instead of immediately applying skills to a project which requires a finished (& graded) project, we should let them perform some data evaluation as a discrete skill. An analogy would be a student of tennis who practices a hundred serves a day – she is not applying this skill to win a match (a high-stakes endeavor), so the practice session is a low-stakes opportunity to explore styles and tinker with her mechanics until she finds a comfort level with her ability to make good serves. And just as a coach would work with that tennis player, a teacher could provide the equivalent guidance for a student developing data evaluation skills.
As far as particular skills, a primary one would be the ability to clearly state the goal of their research by defining what they are trying to prove or disprove in specific terms. A goal like, ‘Finding out more about the Civil War’ is too vague and general to provide much guidance for most students. Instead, students should be able to enunciate a series of goals like, ‘Where were the majority of Civil War battles fought’, or ‘What Union generals were most effective’, or ‘What were the hardships people living in the Confederate states faced’, and so forth. Students should engage in a form of backwards design wherein they gain a clear understanding of what their finished product should look like before they begin to gather data.
After clarifying particular research goals and sub-goals, students should then embark on a data-gathering journey. This journey may start by brainstorming potential sources of data, and should be marked by numerous roadmap meetings along the way with peers or teachers, at least until they have gained fluency with the process. When a piece of data is found, its content should be studied in light of the goals of the project. If the data does not contain information relevant to the project goals it can be discarded. If it is relevant to the goals, it becomes part of the data that the student must then evaluate for quality.
To repeat, data should first be examined for relevance – if it passes the relevance test, it then gets evaluated for quality, which will be our next entry.
One immediate thought is to employ a scaffolded approach where students learn to apply new skills in a low-stakes environment that will encourage them to raise doubts and ask questions. Instead of immediately applying skills to a project which requires a finished (& graded) project, we should let them perform some data evaluation as a discrete skill. An analogy would be a student of tennis who practices a hundred serves a day – she is not applying this skill to win a match (a high-stakes endeavor), so the practice session is a low-stakes opportunity to explore styles and tinker with her mechanics until she finds a comfort level with her ability to make good serves. And just as a coach would work with that tennis player, a teacher could provide the equivalent guidance for a student developing data evaluation skills.
As far as particular skills, a primary one would be the ability to clearly state the goal of their research by defining what they are trying to prove or disprove in specific terms. A goal like, ‘Finding out more about the Civil War’ is too vague and general to provide much guidance for most students. Instead, students should be able to enunciate a series of goals like, ‘Where were the majority of Civil War battles fought’, or ‘What Union generals were most effective’, or ‘What were the hardships people living in the Confederate states faced’, and so forth. Students should engage in a form of backwards design wherein they gain a clear understanding of what their finished product should look like before they begin to gather data.
After clarifying particular research goals and sub-goals, students should then embark on a data-gathering journey. This journey may start by brainstorming potential sources of data, and should be marked by numerous roadmap meetings along the way with peers or teachers, at least until they have gained fluency with the process. When a piece of data is found, its content should be studied in light of the goals of the project. If the data does not contain information relevant to the project goals it can be discarded. If it is relevant to the goals, it becomes part of the data that the student must then evaluate for quality.
To repeat, data should first be examined for relevance – if it passes the relevance test, it then gets evaluated for quality, which will be our next entry.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Sources with Scientists, Part 4
School thoughts on this topic . . .
The type of research that Katie and Bruce perform is very much about knowledge construction, where they build meaning out of a situation that does not have a predetermined end result. One thing I will be looking to document is whether other fields require this type of research as well.
I contrast the knowledge construction model to many of the research projects I recognize from years of working in schools, primarily at the middle school grades. School research projects often take on the form of a scavenger hunt, where students gather and organize clues from various research sources to complete an assignment that meets an expected set of outcomes.
For example, a research paper on Abraham Lincoln is assessed on how well a student covers and includes certain bits of data, like Lincoln’s early life, his political career, the incidents of the Civil War, his assassination, etc. There are certain expected elements of the finished project.
So we are looking at two types of research projects that are quite different in their approaches. One primarily requires convergent research skills while the other builds in a divergent way; one reports facts while the other constructs a story; one is guided discovery, one is led by self-discovery.
Perhaps an early step in planning research reports in school will be to determine the goals of the project and decide whether those goals are best met through the knowledge construction model or the scavenger hunt model.
More to come . . .
The type of research that Katie and Bruce perform is very much about knowledge construction, where they build meaning out of a situation that does not have a predetermined end result. One thing I will be looking to document is whether other fields require this type of research as well.
I contrast the knowledge construction model to many of the research projects I recognize from years of working in schools, primarily at the middle school grades. School research projects often take on the form of a scavenger hunt, where students gather and organize clues from various research sources to complete an assignment that meets an expected set of outcomes.
For example, a research paper on Abraham Lincoln is assessed on how well a student covers and includes certain bits of data, like Lincoln’s early life, his political career, the incidents of the Civil War, his assassination, etc. There are certain expected elements of the finished project.
So we are looking at two types of research projects that are quite different in their approaches. One primarily requires convergent research skills while the other builds in a divergent way; one reports facts while the other constructs a story; one is guided discovery, one is led by self-discovery.
Perhaps an early step in planning research reports in school will be to determine the goals of the project and decide whether those goals are best met through the knowledge construction model or the scavenger hunt model.
More to come . . .
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Sources with Scientists, Part 3
The previous post on evaluating sources from a scientist’s perspective dealt with the sources themselves . . . now we’ll look at the skills of the scientist.
In order to effectively evaluate the worthiness of data, the scientist must be able to:
• Understand the limits of data
• Clarify the purpose of collecting the data
• Build a framework for understanding what’s needed
• Employ the process of ‘brain-dropping’ (finding and setting aside nuggets of data for later consolidation)
• Create flexible outlines
• Evaluate visual data
• Recognize bias
• Deconstruct sources
Over time, we will examine and process these skills, especially as they relate to the classroom. We will also be looking for consistency of skills in the data gathered from researchers in other fields.
In order to effectively evaluate the worthiness of data, the scientist must be able to:
• Understand the limits of data
• Clarify the purpose of collecting the data
• Build a framework for understanding what’s needed
• Employ the process of ‘brain-dropping’ (finding and setting aside nuggets of data for later consolidation)
• Create flexible outlines
• Evaluate visual data
• Recognize bias
• Deconstruct sources
Over time, we will examine and process these skills, especially as they relate to the classroom. We will also be looking for consistency of skills in the data gathered from researchers in other fields.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Sources with Scientists, Part 2
We covered a number of areas in our discussion, one of which was what to consider when assessing data. In other words, what do we want to know about the data before deciding whether it is worth using.
Here are some of the considerations:
Age of the data
• What has changed since data was published?
• Is there newer data on same topic?
What are the qualifications of who supplied the data?
• Background
• Reputation
• Potential bias
• Credibility
How close is data source material to raw data?
• How is source using raw data?
• Is the data research-based and cited?
• Can the data be confirmed?
How clear is the data?
What is the volume and specificity of information?
Is there depth and sophistication to the data?
In a school setting, perhaps a pre-requisite research skill would be to assess data sources before having to use them. Create a rubric that will allow students to ‘grade’ a data source as a way of developing a more critical eye towards the data they collect, rather than assuming that all sources are of equal value.
A further thought is that this evaluative process may be done through a ‘low-stakes’ exercise to encourage kids gain comfort with the process without feeling that asking questions or making mistakes will result in penalties.
Still more to come . . .
Here are some of the considerations:
Age of the data
• What has changed since data was published?
• Is there newer data on same topic?
What are the qualifications of who supplied the data?
• Background
• Reputation
• Potential bias
• Credibility
How close is data source material to raw data?
• How is source using raw data?
• Is the data research-based and cited?
• Can the data be confirmed?
How clear is the data?
What is the volume and specificity of information?
Is there depth and sophistication to the data?
In a school setting, perhaps a pre-requisite research skill would be to assess data sources before having to use them. Create a rubric that will allow students to ‘grade’ a data source as a way of developing a more critical eye towards the data they collect, rather than assuming that all sources are of equal value.
A further thought is that this evaluative process may be done through a ‘low-stakes’ exercise to encourage kids gain comfort with the process without feeling that asking questions or making mistakes will result in penalties.
Still more to come . . .
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