Education is constantly looking for the proverbial magic bullet. One could look at this as a delusional quest, but I see it as a product of our nature as teachers to try to do the best we can for our students. We have diminishing resources, often overcrowded classrooms and an ever-changing set of standards to meet. Trying new innovations when the current methods fall short is a rational exercise. The “latest thing” in our attempt to achieve better results is the “flipped classroom.” In the article, Questions to Consider Before Flipping the authors weigh the pros and cons of adopting this latest trend based on several studies (Moran & Young, 2015).
Moran and Young’s article suggests that certain subjects, like Math and Science, are more conducive to a flipped model than subjects like Language Arts and Social Sciences (Moran & Young, 2015). While some aspects of Language Arts like the memorization of literary terms worked well in the flipped model, others such as, “dramatic performances, spoken poetry, literature circles, reading and writing workshops — would not be as appropriate for flipping and would still require an interactive and dynamic classroom approach” (Moran & Young, 2015, p. 3).
I appreciated that the article highlighted that the strategies to make a flipped classroom work involved more effort from the teachers in creating and administering the lessons. Anyone thinking that a flipped model made teaching easier should think again. To make a flipped classroom more effective than simply assigning reading from a book, the teacher must make greater efforts to engage the students through technology.
The article suggested using a program called educanon.com (which is now playposit.com) to enhance video lessons. Playposit allows a teacher to interject questions to make sure students are actually comprehending what they are watching through a series of interactive quizzes. Students may not continue without answering the questions. Results can be monitored and collected by the teacher. I signed up for an account and plan on using it if I were to ever try a flipped model for a lesson.
Another suggestion the article gives teachers is to vary their lessons. It suggests that flipping occasionally is a more effective use of this model than simply flipping exclusively.
In conclusion, the article says we should not “flip out” completely. If teachers do consider flipping they should also commit to the extra time and effort to make this latest trend a lasting tool.
Moran, C. M., & Young, C. A. (2015). Questions to consider before flipping. Phi Delta Kappan, 97(2), 42-46. doi:10.1177/0031721715610090 Retrieved from http://pdk.sagepub.com/content/97/2/42.abstract
Friday, July 22, 2016
Friday, July 15, 2016
Education Redesigned, But Will It Last?
Emily Pilloton’s 2010 Ted Talk entitled “Teaching Design For Change,” recounts a design job that turned into a complete life change for a pair of designers and a rural county. Her design company’s core philosophy was based on communal design implemented to create a difference in communities. In 2009, Emily and her partner were hired by the new Superintendent to help revamp some classrooms in a failing school system in Bertie County in rural North Carolina. They created an outdoor play space that could also be used as an innovative, interactive outdoor classroom. They created a computer lab that was aesthetically more appealing to students than what Ms. Pilloton called the “kill and drill” testing facilities normally found in the county’s schools. The new labs could also be used for computer based instruction. They also launched an awareness and support campaign to provide every student with a computer and access to the internet, but that was just the beginning.
The design job’s scope increased to include Ms. Pilloton and her partner creating a year-long, high school curriculum where students would create a design project aimed at improving their community. The projects were a return to the hands-on skill learning of yesteryear’s shop class, but with a different target audience and goal. Instead of shop classes aimed at the less academic-minded, students enrolled in “Studio H” were charged with building skills to use in college and the work force. The students were to implement their design through their own labor thereby learning practical skills as well as developing teamwork, leadership, analysis, design and critical thinking skills. The student’s first project was to create an open air farmer’s market. The goal was to create a legacy of pride and giving back in the community.
The timing of this project was interesting to me because of its relation to the roll out of the new Common Core standards. I was struck how Studio H, as well as the redesigned classrooms, seemed in concert with the Common Core objectives. If Common Core was to emphasize the development of critical, creative and analytical thinking as well as de-emphasize the “teaching to the bubble” created by No Child Left Behind’s test score mandates, then Ms. Pilloton’s projects seemed to be in step with the new age. But, the design team was hired in 2009 which was a year before Common Core was first adopted and several years before full implementation of the standards were put into practice. Recently, North Carolina passed legislation to “review and replace” Common Core. It remains to be seen if they will do away with the standards in the future completely.
A Google search revealed that the forward thinking Superintendent Dr. Z, who initially orchestrated this endeavor, left the district for another job in Texas and died in 2014. Ms. Pilloton (despite her proclaimed love for Bertie County) returned to California and now conducts her renamed “Project H” at a Charter School in Berkley. The Info tab on Project H’s website says that they have kept in touch with all 600 of their students and that 92% of their graduates have gone on to college. Could the story of Studio H be a harbinger for the fate of Common Core? I hope not. Like the old Christian parable, “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach him to fish and he will never be hungry,” I believe that we should be teaching our kids how to think, not what to think. If we give them practical, analytical and critical thinking skills, they will be able to apply them to anything they wish to achieve.
Clearly, if the statistics are true, Studio H was a tremendous success, but then why did it retreat to California? Why isn’t there evidence of the program still existing in Bertie County’s high schools? Sometimes good ideas are big. Something big ideas need time to bloom into reality. My question is will Common Core like Studio H (with its Common Core-esque curriculum) be a big idea that takes root or will it whither and fade away before its lasting beauty can truly be revealed?
Photo: Meet Emily Pilloton, ThinkRevolution Product Evangelist | Lenovo
Sources:
Pilloton, E. (2010, July). Teaching design for change [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/emily_pilloton_teaching_design_for_change (TED Talk, 16:43)
Sanchez, Claudio (2015, January 14) North Carolina rethinks the common core [article] http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/01/14/371656747/north-carolina-rethinks-the-common-core
http://projecthdesign.org/info/
The design job’s scope increased to include Ms. Pilloton and her partner creating a year-long, high school curriculum where students would create a design project aimed at improving their community. The projects were a return to the hands-on skill learning of yesteryear’s shop class, but with a different target audience and goal. Instead of shop classes aimed at the less academic-minded, students enrolled in “Studio H” were charged with building skills to use in college and the work force. The students were to implement their design through their own labor thereby learning practical skills as well as developing teamwork, leadership, analysis, design and critical thinking skills. The student’s first project was to create an open air farmer’s market. The goal was to create a legacy of pride and giving back in the community.
The timing of this project was interesting to me because of its relation to the roll out of the new Common Core standards. I was struck how Studio H, as well as the redesigned classrooms, seemed in concert with the Common Core objectives. If Common Core was to emphasize the development of critical, creative and analytical thinking as well as de-emphasize the “teaching to the bubble” created by No Child Left Behind’s test score mandates, then Ms. Pilloton’s projects seemed to be in step with the new age. But, the design team was hired in 2009 which was a year before Common Core was first adopted and several years before full implementation of the standards were put into practice. Recently, North Carolina passed legislation to “review and replace” Common Core. It remains to be seen if they will do away with the standards in the future completely.
A Google search revealed that the forward thinking Superintendent Dr. Z, who initially orchestrated this endeavor, left the district for another job in Texas and died in 2014. Ms. Pilloton (despite her proclaimed love for Bertie County) returned to California and now conducts her renamed “Project H” at a Charter School in Berkley. The Info tab on Project H’s website says that they have kept in touch with all 600 of their students and that 92% of their graduates have gone on to college. Could the story of Studio H be a harbinger for the fate of Common Core? I hope not. Like the old Christian parable, “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach him to fish and he will never be hungry,” I believe that we should be teaching our kids how to think, not what to think. If we give them practical, analytical and critical thinking skills, they will be able to apply them to anything they wish to achieve.
Clearly, if the statistics are true, Studio H was a tremendous success, but then why did it retreat to California? Why isn’t there evidence of the program still existing in Bertie County’s high schools? Sometimes good ideas are big. Something big ideas need time to bloom into reality. My question is will Common Core like Studio H (with its Common Core-esque curriculum) be a big idea that takes root or will it whither and fade away before its lasting beauty can truly be revealed?
Photo: Meet Emily Pilloton, ThinkRevolution Product Evangelist | Lenovo
Sources:
Pilloton, E. (2010, July). Teaching design for change [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/emily_pilloton_teaching_design_for_change (TED Talk, 16:43)
Sanchez, Claudio (2015, January 14) North Carolina rethinks the common core [article] http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/01/14/371656747/north-carolina-rethinks-the-common-core
http://projecthdesign.org/info/
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Boom! My brain just exploded! Or did it?
Everything I have been warning my seven-year-old about playing too many video games is wrong. Dr. Daphne Bavelier, a self-described brain scientist, reveals in her engaging Ted Talk "Your Brain On Video Games" that playing video games might actually be beneficial to the brain. In her Ted Talk from 2012, she debunks common thinking about how staring at video monitors will ruin eyesight and exacerbate attention deficit. Instead, she sites scientific studies which show certain video games improve eyesight and help a “gamer” see more details in the real world. Dr. Bavelier also demonstrates the difference between focusing on a video game and distracting your brain with “media multi-tasking.” While video games sharpen focus; listening to music while texting and driving, for example, is destructive behavior.
The Ted Talk was focused on the physical manifestations of video games on the brain, but I wonder if learning patterns aren’t also a secret gift of gaming? When I bought my first Macintosh computer I remember marveling at the absence of instruction manuals. Today, I watch my son enter a game such as Mine Craft or Terraria where intuitive and deductive skills must be used in order to play. Kids today jump in and figure things out as they go. They also share what they’ve learned and see commonality before differences within their gamer community. They have “tags” and “skins” to represent them. This anonymity creates a commonality that isn’t often experienced in the real world. Races, religion and citizenship are usually not identified in the gamer world. The gamer world is in effect “one world.” If I were a brain scientist or a sociologist, I would be interested in researching what lasting effects this aspect of video game culture could have on our society and in the world at large. Beyond the physical ramifications of frequent gaming, I ponder what the psychological and learning applications of gaming could be?
Dr. Bavelier closes her lecturer with the image of chocolate covered broccoli. It is an analogy for a game that would be beneficial to the brain while also being desirable to play. I firmly believe that video games teach children some of the modern day skills they will need to succeed in college and in the work force. If the scientific and entertainment community in fact do produce “chocolate covered broccoli” I want to play it with my son.
Source: Bavelier, D. (2012, June). Your brain on video games. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/daphne_bavelier_your_brain_on_video_games#t-199442
The Ted Talk was focused on the physical manifestations of video games on the brain, but I wonder if learning patterns aren’t also a secret gift of gaming? When I bought my first Macintosh computer I remember marveling at the absence of instruction manuals. Today, I watch my son enter a game such as Mine Craft or Terraria where intuitive and deductive skills must be used in order to play. Kids today jump in and figure things out as they go. They also share what they’ve learned and see commonality before differences within their gamer community. They have “tags” and “skins” to represent them. This anonymity creates a commonality that isn’t often experienced in the real world. Races, religion and citizenship are usually not identified in the gamer world. The gamer world is in effect “one world.” If I were a brain scientist or a sociologist, I would be interested in researching what lasting effects this aspect of video game culture could have on our society and in the world at large. Beyond the physical ramifications of frequent gaming, I ponder what the psychological and learning applications of gaming could be?
Dr. Bavelier closes her lecturer with the image of chocolate covered broccoli. It is an analogy for a game that would be beneficial to the brain while also being desirable to play. I firmly believe that video games teach children some of the modern day skills they will need to succeed in college and in the work force. If the scientific and entertainment community in fact do produce “chocolate covered broccoli” I want to play it with my son.
Source: Bavelier, D. (2012, June). Your brain on video games. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/daphne_bavelier_your_brain_on_video_games#t-199442
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