Building Stronger Professional Learning Communities

Professional Learning Communities have been around for a few years now and when adopted properly, they can create powerful and rich learning for teachers and more importantly help improve student learning.  This video clip from the Liberty Mutual Responsibility Project demonstrates how groups of people working together can have a positive impact on a community.



I spent that last 3 days at my school learning how to become a "Critical Friend" for other colleagues at my school.  Our training was provided by the National School Reform Faculty (NSRF), http://www.nsrfharmony.org/. The hope is for our school to strengthen our Professional Learning Communities (PLC) by training a group of us  to be Critical Friends that might fascilitate rich conversations with other teachers or groups of teachers in the school as it pertains to improving student work, lesson planing or solving a pedgagical issue. 

What can a Critical Friend do to strengthen a PLC?   There are several stumbling blocks when it comes to whether a school's PLC is meeting it's objectives of improving student learning and building collegial relationships.  Rarely do PLC develop on their own.  Like any relationship, they may require deliberate effort on the part of the participants.  Critical Friends are trained to help intentionally foster openness to improvement, trust and respect, improve foundation in the knowledge and skills of teaching and support leadership.  The focus on making this happen is learning several "Protocols" that would guide a Critical Friend through a structured process.

The Protocol list provided by the NSRF is impressive and comprehensive.  There are activities that build trust and respect like the ZONE OF COMFORT.   There are also many Protocols that provide guidance and structure for Critical Friends as they work with teachers on improving their practice like EXAMINING STUDENT WORK. All the NSRF Protocols are available for Free at this link http://www.nsrfharmony.org/protocol/a_z.html.

The 3 days of training was very valuable for me as I learn more about how I might strengthen my role at my school in fostering a robust Professional Learning Community.   I appreciated the structure that the Protocols provided in ensuring that conversations with other teachers are meaningful and productive.  Yet, I still am left unsure about how to deal with the reluctant teacher.  Would these Protocols be effective when you have a teacher in your PLC that isn't open or willing to grow and learn?  I still have 2 more days of training in February and I am looking forward to our facilitator addressing this very important issue.  

What has been your experience in dealing with teachers in your PLC's that aren't open to growth?  Do you have any ideas of strategies that might help me and others?

 

Some Thoughts on Assessment: "Is this going to count for marks?"

We have all had our undecided moments in the classroom.  Mine have often been around a common student question, "Mr. Frehlich, does this assignment count for marks?"  When I hear this I pause, and reflect.  If I say, "No", will my students put less effort/enthusiasm into the assignment or project?  Why have we conditioned students to ask this question?  Shouldn't learning be lifelong and therefore marks are irrelevant?

The reality of many middle school classrooms is that marks are relevant and they do act as a barometer for students to decide how much care, effort and detail they contribute to a project or assignment.  Yet, the philosophy of many schools is to create "life long learners", which has little to do with marks and other such rewards and incentives.  I recently watched this TED Talk, about a Marshmallow Challenge,which teaches us that incentives don't always translate into higher performance.




As a teacher for 19 years, I have often wished the students I taught were not so motivated by marks.  In many cases, it brings out the worst in their performance, as it creates extra stress.  As a science teacher, I often have design challenges in my own classroom similar to the one highlighted in the TED video.  In the past, each design challenge had a rubric or marking scheme that was discussed before students embarked on the challenge. Here is an example of a rubric we used for a design challenge to build a structure that cushioned the fall of a water balloon.

Evaluation (9 marks)

Criterion/Score	1	2	3
Performance	The balloon breaks each time and the landing pad is unstable	Balloon breaks once and the landing pad is mostly stable	Balloon does not break on both drops and the landing pad remains stable
Following Specifications	The student follows little to no design rules and procedures	The Student follows most design rules and procedures	The student follows all design rules and procedures
Evaluation and reflection	Little thought, care and effort has been put into the write up and more detail is needed	Some thought, care and effort has been put into the write up with some detail	Significant thought, care and effort has been put into the write up with great detail

In most cases I discuss, collaborate and build the rubric with the students so that the marking criterion is a democratic process.  However this year, it was different.  One student asked, "Mr. Frehlich, do we have to make this challenge worth marks?"  My heart skipped a beat, and I asked the student to repeat the question because I was sure I didn't hear her correctly.  She repeated, "Do we have to make it for marks?  I find it stressful when a mark is associated with these building challenges."  I took a deep breath and said, "No, every challenge doesn't always have to be for marks."  I then asked the rest of the class how they felt. Most agreed, marks often make the challenge more stressful.  So, we revamped the rubric above and changed the numbers into qualifiers like, "expert", "intermediate", and "beginner".  As the TED video suggests, when students are learning a new skill it is important to keep the stakes low.  In the end, the quality of the student structures were even better than when I had used a marking scheme.  Here is a sample of one of the finished structures;



It is time for a change.  There may be other reasons why students are asking this question, "Is this for marks?".   I should not always assume it is because they are looking for an opportunity to contribute less effort.

If you are interested in learning more about how some incentives might weaken our performance on certain tasks, please consider reading Daniel Pink's book, Drive. 

"You Miss 100% of the Shots You Don't Take": Finding Guest Speakers with Twitter

Wayne Gretzky once said, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."  This holds true for anything you do in life.  If you are not will to try something, then you will never be successful.

Recently, I decided to take this courageous attitude on twitter.  Twitter is a powerful social media tool because you are able to follow and learn from some very famous and influential people.  Currently, my Grade 9 Science Class is studying water quality, and we watched the following episode from the Canadian Television Series, CBC Marketplace.



After watching this investigative report on water filtration systems, my class had many unanswered questions.  So I decided to tweet the host of the episode, Tom Harrington (@cbctom) and invite him to speak to my class about the episode and see if he would field some of our questions via Skype.  And,  much to my surprise, as I know media personal are very busy people, Tom responding to my tweet within minutes.  You can read our dialog below.

 

The interview with Tom Harrington was very informative. You can view some of the interview here.  Mr. Harrington spoke about how investigative journalists have the motto, “we afflict the comfortable, and comfort the afflicted.”  In other words, he feels he has a responsibility to speak for Canadians who don’t often have a voice in regard to consumer issues.  Some of the student questions he addressed were: “What do you like best about your investigative journalist position with CBC?” and “How has being an investigative journalist changed your view of Canada?”  

Tom Harrington, like Wayne Gretzky and other great Canadian’s, showed us the importance of going beyond our comfort zone.

 Implications for Educators

With a multitude of people now using twitter the possibilities of extending the walls of your classroom are endless.  Most celebrities/famous people have websites that will list their twitter account.  A teacher could tweet;

1.  the author of a book you are reading in class

2.  the singer/songwriter/composer of song you are doing in music

3.  a person that won a Noble Prize in science

4.  the inventor of a device or machine

5.  a famous artist or sculptor for art class

6.  a professor who is doing research on a topic you are studying

7.  an actor or screenwriter for drama class

8.  a famous athlete for PE class

My advice when making contact with these people is to keep it simple.  In truth most celebrities want to help out but they truly are busy.  So, invite them for an informal low-key event.  Once you have made initial contact, try and communicate more complicated details like time of interview, Skype Names, and other logistics by email.  Try not to involve large groups like the entire school, as this will formalize the event and involve more time for both you and the celebrity.  My Skype session with Tom Harrington will only be 30 minutes long in my own classroom with approximately 40 of my Grade 9 Science Students.  I will use my school laptop, projector, Skype and  Skype recording software like MP3 or Pamela.  Be sure to ask the person you are interviewing for permission to record your Skype session. 

So, what are you waiting for, take that shot!  Get out there and start tweeting!

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.