Teacher Engagement and "Withitness" in the 21st Century Classroom

In the late 1990's, Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons came up with a selective attention test.  You can view it here;

 
You can learn more about this test here, http://www.theinvisiblegorilla.com/ .

In the modern day classroom, how often do we notice the gorilla moving around our room?  The term teacher "withitness" refers to a teacher's ability to be aware of everything that is going on in their classroom, both visual and non-visual, verbal and non-verbal.  Jacob Kounin first used the term in reference to his work on teacher group management skills.  Students have coined the saying, "my teacher has eyes in the back of their head" to refer to this often innate teaching ability.  It is believed that the more "withit" we are as a teacher the more effective we are at maintaining a positive classroom climate conducive to learning.

Why is this the case?  It is my belief,  that teachers, who are aware of everything happening around them can keep students on task and involved, are fully engaged in the learning of the children; they rarely take a moment to themselves during a lesson. These committed educators are constantly moving around the room, coaching, facilitating, scanning, probing, counseling and collaborating with students.  Furthermore, when the students see that these teachers are immersed in their learning, they believe these teachers care and thus they care too!


As more and more classrooms move toward 21st century learning and the infusion of technology into the learning process, what impact does this have on teacher "withitness"?  My initial opinion to this question is "nothing".  The "withit" teacher is still going to be fully engaged in the learning process and reflectively aware of everything that is going on in the classroom.   Before one-to-one laptop programs, the"withit" teacher was aware of every note passed under a desk, every student that was starting to doze off asleep and/or every child that was not feeling "quite right" and needed a little extra TLC.  Yet, in the 21st century classroom, I am hearing about and seeing more teachers sit at their desk doing other things, disengaged from the learning of their students.  Or worse yet, some face-to-face schools are purchasing programs like SynchronEyes, to allow teachers to monitor what  is happening on the screens of their students from their desk instead of taking the opportunity to engage in student learning by moving around the room, asking questions, coaching, facilitating and getting to know their learners.

I believe that 21st century learning can give students the opportunity to engage in learning opportunities that were not possible a few years ago, but not at the expense of teacher engagement.  If we start to foster disengaging habits, like sitting at our desk for long periods of time, we are going to miss the gorilla in the room!

"Nip it in the Bud" Using Formative E-Assessment

I remember growing up and listening to my grandmother proclaim to my father, "Eugene, that is a bad habit, we need to nip it in the bud, before it gets really bad."  The saying, "Nip it in the Bud", comes from plant origins, whereby gardeners would pull off buds of plants to prevent them from growing any bigger.  According to www.thefreedictionary.com, if you nip something in the bud, you stop a problem from becoming serious by dealing with it as soon as you notice it. 

In education, this could translate into using formative assessment to diagnose student problems before they write a unit test, midterm or final exam.  One of the promising practices in using formative e-assessment, is that it will give you rich assessment data in a timely manner before errors fossilize.  Many top performing schools use common formative assessment on a frequent basis. Then, they analyze these results, make adjustments to their teaching, and re-teach individual students before the student takes any kind of summative assessment.  

At my current school, we embarked on a study to see if using formative e-assessment would help raise student achievement in grade 9 science.  Two grade 9 science teachers developed over 1000 multiple choice type questions and used Moodle to deliver these question to grade 9 science students in the form of practice tests (self assessments).  Students were encouraged to take the self assessments as many times as they liked.  Each time the student submitted the self assessment, the computer would score their attempt.  Rich feedback would be available to students at the bottom of each question to act as extra information to further enhance learning, as indicated by the red font in the picture below.

Has using formative e-assessment raised achievement in grade 9 science?  Action research in the field of education is always challenging because there are so many factors that could attribute to a rise in student achievement beyond the strategy you employed.  That said, our end of year exam results over the last three  years have shown promising signs that may lead to a conclusion that formative e-assessment is helping our grade 9 science students achieve mastery.  The graph below shows what percentage of students achieved a score of 85% or higher(standard of excellence) on the end of year exam.  There is a remarkable trend in the last 3 years of the graph, which were the years we employed formative e-assessment.  

Electronic assessment has gained considerable criticism over the years.  Some claim that multiple choice questions are a poor way to assess learning.  I would agree with this claim, if it was the only way we assess students.  It is important to note that our school did not abandon other forms of assessment.  We continue to use portfolios, projects and a variety of assessment practices to ensure students are given an opportunity to demonstrate their learning in a plethora of modalities.  Our formative e-assessment project is giving students and teachers the opportunity to understand what students know, what they do not know, and is affording them the opportunity to take actions to fill in the gap in a timely manner.  We are finding that formative e-assessment is promoting student responsibility and building student self efficacy.  This low-risk approach to formative assessment in Moodle is enabling students to build self confidence.   Students do not engage in activities they believe will lead to negative outcomes.  With the help of formative e-assessments, students are engaged in their learning and more motivated to seek help and review material, because they are encouraged to make multiple attempts at constructing knowledge.

If your school is implementing a similar strategy, or considering employing this type of assessment, I would love to hear from you!

Building a PLN around Science Experiments on Twitter

Twitter has become an amazing platform for teachers to share and connect with other educators around the world.  When I first joined just over a year ago, I was apprehensive about what to tweet about.  However, with a year under my belt, I am starting to find a niche in regards to what to share.

As a science teacher, it is essential to offer an interactive hands-on experience.  Allowing students to inquire and solve problems is fundamental to a strong science education.  This year, as students embark on a science experiment or tackle a science problem, I have my iPhone handy to capture a picture (without student faces) of what they are doing and post it on twitter to share and solicit ideas from other science teachers around the world.  Here is a sample of some of those tweets:




Sharing my Tweets with others about science experiments we are doing has provided me with many benefits.

1.  Fostering Communication Beyond 140 Characters -  I have often received comments, words of encouragement, questions and ideas from other science teachers regarding how the experiment was conducted, what we used for materials, alternate ways to conduct the experiment  and what we collected for results.  This has opened the door for rich meaningful communication.  In the next few months, I am hoping to connect with another class in USA to do a joint experiment, Skype about our results, discuss conclusions and debate suggestions for improvement to the experimental design. 

2.  Soliciting Global Feedback Lab Reports-  On occasion, I have tweeted a scanned copy of a student lab report (with the name removed) and asked for advice and feedback on how the hypothesis or conclusion might be assessed or improved.  This has been powerful feedback for to align my assessment skills.

3. Expanding my Idea Bank of Experiments- Many of the experiments and labs that I do in class come from ideas in the teacher resource manual and textbook I have used for many years.  However, since I have been tweeting about some of the experiments I do, I have had other science teachers reciprocate ideas of other labs they do, which has helped me quickly build my repertoire of possible labs.

So, what are my next steps from here?  I know twitter uses hashtags (#) to allow users to post tweets on certain topics.  For example, #edchat and #edtech are very popular twitter hashtags for educators.  I wonder if one could be started for posting anything related to science experiments?  The next time I post a photo about what we are doing for a science experiment or a student lab report I will use this hashtag #sciexperiments in hopes to start a growing trend for science teachers to collaborate on the scientific method.

The Buffering Capacity of a Middle School Student: Managing the Ups and Downs

In environmental chemistry the pH of a water supply can be significantly altered and have it's ups and downs depending on environmental pressures.  At times, acids can lower the pH of a water supply and alkaline substances can raise the pH of a water supply.  I often use this clip to demostrate to students these "Ups" and "Downs".



So what does pH and color changes have to do with teaching Middle School Students?  The middle years can often be difficult times for students, as their bodies are adjusting to physical, emotional and chemical changes which can sometimes make learning a challenge.  As teachers, it is our job to adjust our pedagogy to ensure that these "Ups" and "Downs" translate into small changes that are manageable.

In environmental chemistry, we often use buffers to help water supplies withstand significant changes in pH so that the water supply does not undergo drastic alterations.  What might these "buffers" look like for Middle School Teachers to help their students?

Problem (Up or Down)	Buffering Technique
The student is inconsistent on  summative assessments.	Ensure that students have been exposed to a rigorous formative assessment regime.  Like learning a new sport, students need extensive practice to ensure they have mastered the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed.  This should include the opportunity to retry assignments without penalty.  Furthermore, are you scaffolding your teaching/learning to ensure students are given the necessary steps along the way?  Here is a link to more resources on middle school assessment strategies:   formative assessment
The student seems bored or disengaged during lessons.	Are you using a variety of teaching, learning and asessment practices in your classroom?  Within each lesson, try and incorporate a little bit of everything.  Research indicates that there is no one best teaching strategy.  At this age, the more you can personalize learning and make it interactive the more engaged the learner will be.  Tecnhology is an excellent tool to help ensure you are differentiating.  Have you considered using Learning Centres?  Here is a link to Learning Centres for Middle Schools: http://www.blevinsenterprises.com/Learning_Stations_Handout.pdf
The student is sometimes disorganized, loses things, and forgets things.	Not coming prepared for class with appropriate materials is a common complaint by many Middle School Teachers.  How can we teach students to come to class prepared without punishing them?  The practice of docking marks and/or sitting them in the hallway when they are not prepared for class are ineffective strategies.  So, what does work?  Patience has to be one of our first tools.  If a student forgets their book, binder or material, don't take it personally.  Often we want the disorganized student to fix the problem instantly!  I often wait at the door and greet the students as they enter my class.  I take time to remind some students as I see them coming down the hallway to check if they have their books, etc.
The student is sometimes an emotional roller-coaster: sad, happy, or aloof.	Take time each month to have individual conferences with your students to discuss academic and social/emotional progress.  I often set up a desk just outside my classroom to meet with each student privately.  While students are working on individual projects or in Learning Centres, I meet one on one with students to listen to what they have to say about their portfolios as well as their social growth.  Depending on the student, I might ask specific questions like, "I notice yesterday that you looked really tired, is everything okay?" Or, I might challenge them with a scenario like, "Let say you came to school and found out that you didn't make the basketball team and you have a big test that day; how would you handle this situation?"  Being a mentor or advisor to the students you teach will help them enjoy your class more because they know you care about them.  Here is a link to a great article about helping Middle School Students succeed:  http://www.middleweb.com/StdntMotv.html
The student is not completing their homework on a regular basis.  	Homework should be meaningful and only assigned when necessary.  If you have to assign homework, keep it to 15-20 minutes.  Students need to live a balanced life outside of school.  There is no definitive research to say that homework translates into higher gains in academic scores.  In fact, too much homework can turn students off school.   If a students comes to school and homework is incomplete, work with them to find out why.  I believe assigning a "0" or deducting late marks for homework is not a good idea.  Instead, I keep students in at lunch to help them finish the work assigned and work with the student on strategies that can help them complete homework in a timely manner.

The Power of Interactivity and Engagement

There is no denying the premise that increasing student engagement can translate into greater learning. Easier said than done!  With larger class sizes and greater diversity of learners in our rooms, how do we keep students thoroughly engaged?

This Asics commercial is a great example of how interactivity can turn passive people from slightly interested into active participants that are fully engaged.  Have a look:



So, what lessons/inspiration can we take from the clever Asics marketing team that designed this interactive advertisement?

1.  Use technology to generate and harness the power of interactivity.  Often technology can generate individual experiences which allow everyone to participate, instead of large group experiences when only a few are part of the action.  For example, equipment might not be readily available for every student to conduct math or science type experiments. However, there are simulations sites like www.explorelearning.com and http://phet.colorado.edu/, which enable students to interact with material in a one-one-one situation, creating a much more engaging experience.  Ipads, Ipods and computers have many apps that can help generate a more engaging and interactive experience for every learner.  Here is a great place to start to investigate more about using apps in education http://cybraryman.com/apps.html.

2.  Differentiate with Learning Centers.  When it is time to address content, teachers of older grades (8-12) often address the whole class to explain new concepts and review old ones.  Why not explain content in small groups or with individual students?  As a husband of a grade 1 teacher, I often marvel at how elementary teachers design "center based learning".  Learning Centers are designed so that students can explore and learn instructional material alone or in small groups.  Teachers in the older grades could use a similar strategy.  The room could be filled with various small group learning centers and one of the centers could be meeting with you in a small interactive and engaging discussion of new content.  Here is a great place to start to think about modifying learning centers for older grades http://www.cybraryman.com/learningcenters.html.

3.  Use Games and Role Play to learn.  Games are often interactive, fun and therefore engaging.  Kinesthetic games whereby students have to get up and become active are a great way to learning concepts.  Once such game, I designed as a project for my Masters of Education was called, The Hypnotic Game.  At the start of class students would be given "hypnotic cards", which outlined that if the student heard a specific word during class they would pretend to do something, like get up and erase the whiteboard or read an excerpt out of a book.  Then, after every student was given a card, I would pretend to hypnotize the audience/class with a stop watch.  Once all students were "hypnotized", I would snap my fingers and begin the lesson.  As the lesson evolved, certain key words would trigger student responses, interactivity and engagement.  This type of role play was based on humor, personalization and the premise that is better to be active.  It was well received by most students.

Here are two links related to learning games;  http://www.cybraryman.com/learninggames.html, http://www.nova.edu/~spahn/games_for_learning.html.

"This" or "That" in Education

After more than twenty years of classroom teaching, trying new strategies and reflecting on pedagogy, I have shaped my teaching philosophy from "This" to "That".  Let me use this funny commercial to introduce the concept.



We all have different ways to learn lessons and adjust our direction in teaching.  Trial and error, watching others, reading books and talking to  colleagues are just some of the various methods.  Regardless of the method of learning, the result can be very powerful and forever change the way we approach assessment, pastoral care, dealing with parents, curriculum and instruction.  Here is my list of ways I have grown over my many years of teaching from "This" to "That":

“This”…(But, now I  ..)	“That” (I used to….)
Now, I allow them to come in at lunch so I can give them the opportunity to complete the work and at the same time I find out how I can help them with meeting deadlines.	I used to take late marks off student assessments when they didn’t hand them in on time.
Now, I give lots of formative assessments, allow students to redo work and learn from their mistakes and I give fewer quizzes and tests.  I never give “pop” or surprise quizzes.	I used to believe that my class would be more rigorous if I administered more summative assessments in the form of “pop" quizzes, regular quizzes and tests.
Now, I differentiate many of my lessons and one of my “stations” involves students working with me, one-on-one, to discuss their portfolio.	I used to work on marking or planning while students were working individually on a quiz, test, project or assignment.
Now, I ensure students complete all work assigned to ensure we are getting a chance to formatively assess their learning progress.  I never assign a zero.	I used to give students a “0” if they failed to complete an assignment.
Now, I stand at more doorway to greet students with a smile and sometimes a joke and I deal with latecomers with kindness and respect (waiting for a private moment to discuss what happened).	I used to lock my door when the bell rang and if a student arrived late I would make them wait in the hallway until I was able to deal with their tardiness.
Now, I have taken care to ensure we discuss the assessment scheme (or rubric) for all assignments before students. And, I go over a few samples as exemplars (high, low, medium) so students have a chance to use the rubric before they begin.	I used to give projects and assignments with what I thought was a clear assessment scheme.
Now, I incorporate experiential learning into my instructional design so kids can experience what we are learning in the community by booking trips to wetlands, pond studies, fire stations, ski hills, etc.	I used to feel most comfortable teaching in the classroom.
Now, I am sharing ideas and communicating with other educators around the world everyday through Twitter and Blogs.	I used to believe that professional development only meant conferences and attending sessions.
Now, I never give notes, nor do I have students take notes.  I use a variety of different instructional strategies to ensure students have engaged and inquired to a point where their learning is “beyond notes”.	I used to believe that students needed to take notes in my class to ensure they had the content necessary to regurgitate back to me on assignments, quizzes and tests.

So, as hamsters in the video proclaim, "The choice is yours, you can deal with 'this' or you can deal with 'that'!"

Some Thoughts on Assessment and Grading

As our school starts to "wind-up" for parent conferences and prepare for report cards, I can't help but notice rising stress levels in the faces of many teachers.  The assesssing and grading of children can be less stressful if we follow current educational research.  Here is my prezi on some of these effective assesssment and grading practices I have adopted over the years:

Effective Assessment and Grading Practices on Prezi