EdTechTrek

A recent report by the Education Sector and the FDR Group “surveyed 1,010 K–12 public school teachers about their views on the teaching profession, teachers unions, and a host of reforms aimed at improving teacher quality.”

Here is one finding that I think merits serious thought:

Only 26 percent of teachers say that their most recent formal evaluation was useful and effective in helping them to improve their teaching. Seventy-nine percent support strengthening the formal evaluation of probationary teachers. And nearly a third of teachers (32 percent) say that tenured teachers should be evaluated on an annual basis.

I can remember some of my “formal” evaluations. They were typically done by an overburdened administrator who had the monumental task of evaluating every teacher in the building at least twice a year in addition to all of their other responsibilities. Often, those evaluation visits where rescheduled due to unexpected events that arose. And, all of those evaluations where scheduled ahead of time. The result – teachers (myself included) would plan a smashing “song and dance” lesson that included those key elements that we all knew the principal liked and was looking for. Once the evaluation was over, it was back to business as usual. In the evaluation de-briefing (which also had to be scheduled with every teacher), unless there was anything glaringly abhorrent, most constructive criticisms were insignificant at best.

So, it is no surprise to see the low statistic of only 26 percent of teachers reporting that they found their most recent formal evaluation useful and effective. Along the same lines, 32 percent of tenured teachers feel that they should be evaluated on an annual basis. That makes total sense if almost the same percentage feel that those evaluations are not all that beneficial.

So, what to do? Are K-12 administrators perhaps not the best candidates to do faculty evaluations? Are they too busy to really give useful constructive criticism? Is their own teaching craft stale and their own idea pool dry? Can we expect building administrators to really be excellent teachers as well? Perhaps you consider yourself lucky to have an administrator who is still an active practitioner and who is keeping up with teaching innovation. But, my guess is that if you did a PowerPoint, projected a web page, sang a cool song, or did a nifty craft, you would get kudos – assuming your students were well-behaved (notice I didn’t use the term “meaningfully engaged”).

Who said education reform was simple? Are new models of teacher growth and evaluation needed?

Creativity is important, but neglected in schools, the headline reads.

Tell us something that we don’t know. Imagine, a general conclusion was that it is best to foster creativity among students at school, “not only to produce a competitive workforce, but also to help all students succeed in life”. This report is yet one more example of not doing what we know is best – about obstacles that get in the way of best practices, solid learning theory, and curriculum. What will it take to bring about real change… and I emphasize “real” – no window dressing or politically charged policies.

During candidate interviews of employers seeking creative employees, characteristics were ranked as follows, from highest to lowest:

1. candidate’s ability to look spontaneously beyond the specifics of a question (78%)

2. responses to hypothetical scenarios (70 %)

3. elaboration on extracurricular activities or volunteer work (40 %)

4. appearance (27 %).

Also, employers noted that “problem identification or articulation” was of paramount importance in creative employees. Even with problem-based learning, teachers can’t resist defining the problems for their students and guiding them to solve pre-established problems with pre-determined solutions – Neither what employers see as all that valuable… nor realistic in real-world problem-solving contexts. Perhaps the solution is to test creativity (can you see the sarcasm dripping here?).
So, where do these types of reports leave educators. Where to they leave policy makers?

Where do they leave you?

A few weeks back teacher, Carl Chew, made the headlines for receiving a 2 week without pay suspension for refusing to give the WASL (Washington Assessment of Student Learning) standardized test in his Washington State classroom. Here is a reposting of his response explaining his actions. It is a MUST READ!! I am going to continue to process his detailed, response. It is not a political response. It is not a research-based or scholarly response. It is a response grounded in reality, in the personal, social, emotional, and physical learning environment.

Maybe it’s just me, but I have seen one too many of these videos now that depict the learning divide (or digital disconnect) that is occurring in this country soley due to the lack of technology’s use in the classroom. But it’s more than that. What is being depicted is a negative view of any learning that does not include technology. I just watched this remix of A Vision of Students Today by Mike Wesch, Did You Know; Shift Happens and Did You Know 2.0 by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod titled, A Vision of K-12 Students Today. In it are unhappy student learners communicating that they simply cannot learn… can not be happy learning, demanding digital learning with the exclusion of any other form of learning. What follows is the script of the video (in italics) and some of my frustration. Please exucse the high degree of sarcasm in places.

Students will use engaging technologies in collaborative, inquiry-based learning environments with teachers who are willing and able to use technology’s power to assist them in transforming knowledge and skills into products, solutions, and new information.

• I am a 21st century learner
• I game 3/5 hours a week
• I will spend 16.5 hours watching TV this week
• 5.5 hours on the computer
• 2 hours reading a book
• I listened to 5 hours of Harry Potter on my ipod this week
• We expect to be able to create, consume, remix, and share information with each other
• My parents us email
• I text, instant message, blog

Well, we know that many kids are not reading books much (Books are what my parents read, not me! What good can come out of reading a book?), still watch a lot of television, and spend more time than ever with the computer and other media-rich devices. It used to be that good teachers expected students to create and share information with each other. Now, suddenly it is the student that is expecting this – but only with technology, of course. There is no way that they could create and share meaningful learning artifacts without technology, right? Here is part of the problem, I think. It is that schools became too passive in their pedagogy, too textbook driven, too teacher centered and too assessment driven. And, in the end, the result is boring classrooms and lessons, seemingly irrelevant learning, and disconnected students.

• 76% of my teachers have never used wikis, blogs, podcasts
• At least once a week 14% of my teachers let me create something new with technology. 63 % never do.
• 61% of my reading teachers never use digital storytelling software
• If we learn by doing, what are we learning sitting here?
• How do you learn?

According to this video, it really doesn’t matter how I learn. But this I do know. The concept of learning by doing is nothing new! The true crime here is that teachers and educational systems are making it hard to allow students to learn through the creation of relevant and meaningful artifacts. To imply that students today are incapable of learning anything while sitting and listening to someone else is just irresponsible. Perhaps 61% of reading teachers never use digital storytelling software, but does this mean that these same 61% are terrible reading teachers? What is the percentage of reading teachers who do very little at all with storytelling? I would guess it is also up there.

• What kind of education would you want me to have if I were your son, your daughter,
• By the year 2016, the largest English speaking country will be China.
• There are more honor students in China than there are people in North America
• But only 1/2 of us will graduate from high school. Will I?
• I will have 14 jobs before I am 38 years old.
• Most of those jobs do not exist today
• How will this (referring sullenly to a notebook with writing in it) help me?
• How could this help me? (holding and iPod or laptop in hand)

Yes, the state of US education is in trouble. But to imply that a book and pencil has no use in the learning process flies directly in the face of countries like China and India who are still learning with books, pencils, pens, and excellent listening and thinking skills, and disciplined minds. Of course, they also use newer technologies, as so should we all. But the tone here is such that unless we are using these newer technologies all the time, we are failing as teachers, that unless we are blogging or using wikis and creating digital stories, we are hopelessly defunct.

• Teach me to think, to create, to analyze, to evaluate, to apply. Teach me to think.
• Let me use the WWW… Whatever, Whenever, Wherever
• Let me tell a story… digitally
• Engage me! (repeated by 15 different bored students)
• We are digital learners.

Once again, engaging students and teaching them to think, to create, to analyze, to evaluate, to applly… is nothing new! But to imply that the solution alone here is to let students use technology and the internet whenever, whereve, for whatever,… is just plain nutty. The bigger failure here is that we, as educators, have often failed at helping students think, analyze, evaluate, apply, and create meaningful and relevant learning artifacts. Of couse, technology today can play a powerful role. Of course we need to embrace new cultural tools and new forms of learning. But the mere act of doing so does not guarantee improved thinking, analytic, and evaluatory skills. Excellent teachers are still required. This video discounts the power of an excellent teacher, with or without the use of newer technologies. It attributes all learning power to new technologies. Just let kids have at it with all the tools that they love to use, and learning will result (and in some cases, it certainly can).

This video implies quite strongly that learners today (“digital natives”) are ONLY digital learners and that learning any other way (meaning without new technology) is simply a waste of time… it doesn’t work any more. To embrace such a view that throws away books, pencils and othe more traditional learning technologies, and discounts the ability to listen and process relevant information, that writing in an analog world is not writing and has no value, that the only form of social learning is the digital form, that public speaking is a dying artform,… is a huge mistake. To buy into this idea that this digital generation cannot learn unless digitally connected is wrong. The learning community in general would be much better served by videos that depict best practices and strong rationales for any technologies rather than gloom-and-doom, woe is me, China is going to take over the world types of messages. For, I think, these types of messages as in this particular video serve only to “preach to the choir” and get played mostly by the very communities that aspouse the inherent values and ideas presented in the video. Yes, this generation thinks, socializes, and learns in new ways. Yes, we need to harness these new forms of learning in a very digital world. Learning networks. Social learning. Creation tools. Creative tools. Tools to facilitate collaboration beyond physical space…. There are so many fantastic learning tools and opportunities out here like never before. We should be using them in the classroom. But, at no point should we be communicating to both kids and the educational community at large that unless we are using ALL of these tools ALL the time, we are somehow flawed…. educational fuddy duddies. And, there is no reason why kids cannot and should not learn by listening to a developmentally appropriate “lecture”, from reading a book or textbook, by writing with a pen or pencil… on paper, by participating in a community project or apprenticeship,… The heart of the issue really is engaging students in meaningful learning, both with and without technology. Be a great teacher! And yes,  to be relevant and meaningful today, technology must be used to a new level. Teachers must stay fresh and current in all that they do – not only with technology.

Just please stop making and promoting these kinds of videos that portray a distorted and flawed view of learning.

I just got back from my son’s first baseball practice of the season. The kids were quite excited and jittery. But, here’s the kicker. When the coach called them all over, they came. When he spoke, for the most part they listened attentively. When he have the rule about sportsmanship (any insults or unsportsmanlike conduct, you’re out of the game or practice), everyone understood. Then, we broke up into groups for small group work – infielding, batting, pitching, outfielding, catching. Coaches modeled, guided practice, and left time for independent practice, with small cycles of reteaching and modeling continually interspersed where needed. The kids were engaged, challenged, and having a good time learning and playing the game. We finished with a short game to put all of the skills to practice. That is when I was reminded of a poster that I used to have up on my office door. It was by Alison Gopnik. It reads,

“…But routinized learning is not an end in itself. A good coach may well make his players throw the ball to first base 50 times or swing again and again in the batting cage. That will help, but by itself it won’t make a strong player. The game itself — reacting to different pitches, strategizing about base running — requires thought, flexibility and inventiveness.

Children would never tolerate baseball if all they did was practice. No coach would evaluate a child, and no society would evaluate a coach, based on performance in the batting cage. What makes for learning is the right balance of both learning processes, allowing children to retain their native brilliance as they grow up…”

So, what does this all mean? Well, for one thing, unless we make learning relevant and give it practical application, students will never experience the true love of learning – love of the game. For, without practical and authentic application, all that remains is information and decontextualized skill acquisition. Students need to experience the thrill of the game and its inherent skillset, strategies, problem-solving, creativity, inventiveness, flexibility, teamwork…

So, ask yourself anew – are your students experiencing authentic information and skill acquisition situated in larger context of “the game”? Are they getting a chance to play the game, or is it just practice, practice, practice? Are we preparing our students to be successful at “school”, or are we preparing them to be successful at [the game of] life? And, ask yourself if the “game” has changed over the years since you were in school. Are there new technologies to prepare for and play the game? Are there new ways to facilitate the playing of the game? Are there virtual ways to experience the game and take part in it like never before? If there are, then it stands to reason that the game can be kept fresh and real if we embrace these new and powerful tools for becoming better players of the game. But, yes, if the game is not important, then we can just be happy with learning about the game and practicing the skills that were needed for the game a few decades ago.

Oh yes – there has to be assessment, right? The test….  In baseball, the true test is what one does on the field… in the game. Imagine if baseball players, or any athlete for that matter, where assessed primarily by their performance on a written test on the rules and strategies of the game. Would  such performance ensure excellent players and a winning team?

I never thought that tonight’s practice would bring up so many things to think about. Play Ball!