u06a1 - Stouffer

After watching and listening to Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis's virtual lesson on "Flattening Classrooms", my first thought was how old it was! It was recorded in 2012--over half a decade ago! Nevertheless, there were several conversations that occurred that prompted me to think of things I currently do in my classes with my students. One of the first things they discussed during the video was about student choice. This is something I see in some classes across my building, but definitely not all classrooms. I try to incorporate as much student choice as I can while still maintaining boundaries and high expectations in my room. For example, in class students often work on tic-tac-toe assessments where they choose three activities (in a row) to complete to demonstrate mastery (and win tic-tac-toe). Assessments like these let me easily manipulate what types of activities students are completing while still allowing for a ton of student choice. Another example is the weekly article of the week that students work through. I know how busy my middle schoolers are, so rather than give them this homework assignment and make it due the next day, I distribute it each Monday and it is due each Thursday. This allows students the choice of when to complete their own homework. Ultimately, I think that offering students choices when you, the teacher, can, fosters the respectful minds of your students. They may not express it outright, but they appreciate it when they can tell you are trying to make it interesting/accessible for them and that breeds respect.

Later in the video lesson, Lindsay and Davis discussed what a flattened classroom is per say. They generally stated that a flattened classroom is one that is "open to the rest of the world". Give all of the student privacy expectations in most districts, this can be a difficult feat to accomplish. However, when it is tackled, it helps to develop that ethical mind in our students. I can honestly say that due to my district's restrictions, I have struggled with this. Just this year, I reconnected with a former coworker of mine (we used to teach together in Buffalo, NY and he is now in Seattle, WA while I am in Hollidaysburg, PA). We discovered that we both were teaching lower-level 7th grade English classes (this was surprising to both of us, as he used to teach social studies and I used to teach science). We decided that each of our classes would do a Flat Stanley-style narrative writing project based on the novels we were reading in our individual classes. My classes read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and his classes read The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. My students created "Flat Scrooges" which they took on 'adventures' that the real Scrooge never would have 'wasted' money on. His classes created "flat heroes" who went on adventures of their own. We then mailed each other our classes projects. My students continued the adventures of his classes' Flat Heroes, and his students did the same with our Flat Scrooges. We are nearly ready to mail them back, pore over them, and then set up a Google Hangout so our students can finally officially meet. This project has been so successful that I reached out to a former classmate of mine from undergrad who also has 7th grade ELA classes. We are in the midst of planning a project for our classes where they write, direct, and film video book trailers for their favorite books that we will then exchange with each other in another pen pal-like scenario. I think further opportunities like these can only help in developing my students' respectful and ethical minds.

Davis, V. and Lindsay, J. (2012) "Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis on Flattening Classrooms". Future of Education. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVZuwIhjQvA

u05a2 - Stouffer

Spotlight on Strategies: Socratic Seminar

What instructional goal/challenge does your SOS address? 
To begin, my spotlight on strategy addresses a number of PA Common Core State Standards:
CC.1.2.7.B Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly, as well as inferences, conclusions, and/or generalizations drawn from the text.
CC.1.4.7.I Acknowledge alternate or opposing claims and support claim with logical reasoning and relevant evidence, using accurate, credible sources and demonstrating an understanding of the topic.
CC.1.4.7.U Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others, including linking to and citing sources.
CC.1.5.7.A Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions, on grade-level topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

CC.1.5.7.B Delineate a speaker’s argument and specific claims, evaluating the soundness of the reasoning and the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.
Most importantly, my SOS gets students thinking. This is, in my opinion, the ultimate goal of every teacher of every grade and subject. It also utilizes different technologies and digital medias, which addresses the challenge of meeting our students at their level via their interests and learning preferences. 

What additional value does the integration of digital media bring to your idea in terms of students’ understanding of the concept or topic?
The digital media that I integrated into this Socratic Seminar strategy brings deeper reflection and deeper interaction and engagement between the students and the topic at hand. if students are engaging and reflecting on a deep level, they are more likely to not only understand the concept or topic, but understand it thoroughly. Incorporating the digital media that I chose, elevates this classic class strategy to new levels. 

u05a1 - Stouffer

Well, I sat down and spoke with a few of my yearbook students after school this week. Given the students I sat down to speak with, I probably got a bit of a biased answer! If I would have talked with some of my other students, I'm sure their responses would have been lackluster in comparison with a bit more, "Teachers should just let us use our phones and listen to music alllllll the time." 

When I asked my students the questions directly (What do they really value currently and/or what would they change about their learning environment when it comes to digital media and technology supporting creativity?), they give me a bunch of blank stares. So, I opted to reword the questions around a bit to get to the needed answers. I first asked what creative things they have done in their classes that they particularly enjoyed. Some of the responses I received were Google Apps, STEM Auto CAD [creating 2D designs], the 3D printer, Escape Rooms, their word processing class, their phones, and "the Internet". While the final two answers were a bit vague, I thought the initial answers were great. I was especially excited to hear that they enjoyed the Escape Rooms. I just started incorporating grammar lessons with Escape Rooms, so I'm glad it was a success. 

The second question I asked was how they used technology in their classes. I think one of the best answers I received was the Tiger TV class (the classes of students who write, practice, and perform live for our morning announcements. This is basically the perfect blend of technology and creativity. Students generally control the content and the features. Additionally, students are the ones controlling the camera, the mics, the boom, and the prompter screens. Overall, it seems as though our students are satisfied with the current levels of creativity and technology incorporation. 

u04a1 - Stouffer

To be honest, I was a little disappointed when I saw our task for this unit's blog post. Sir Ken Robinson's TED talk, "How Schools Kill Creativity" is one that I have had to view over and over again in my education courses (both in my undergrad and during this grad program). I've frankly run out of things to say! I'll give it a shot though.

Do schools kill creativity?

The obvious answer to this question is yes. I would venture to say every student in this class is going to answer similarly, unless they work for some awesome Expeditionary Learning Charter School or something. Every public school teacher faces the ever-present dauntless task of preparing students for standardized assessments. Every public school teacher feels pressured by the administrators at their school to ensure their students perform well for one reason or another. This definitively causes a deficit of "creative learning opportunities" in the classroom, as teachers are focused solely on content, content, testing strategies, and more content.

The less obvious answer to this is no. More specifically: no schools do not kill creativity — state educational protocols (fueled by the need to acquire funding from the federal government) kill creativity. If less pressure was put on teachers to get students to perform well on standardized assessments, there would be more time for creativity and the arts. Sir Ken Robinson sums up this problem slightly differently in his TED Talk "How Schools Kill Creativity" when he states, "If you were to visit education, as an alien, and say 'What’s it for, public education?' I think you’d have to conclude, if you look at the output, who really succeeds by this, who does everything that they should, who gets all the brownie points, who are the winners — I think you’d have to conclude the whole purpose of public education throughout the world is to produce university professors. Isn’t it?". When we only focus on preparing students for tests, we are effectively accomplishing exactly what Robinson outlines above.

How can you use digital media to bring creativity alive in your classroom?

This is a much easier question to answer. My district is in the process of going one-to-one with Chromebooks. Currently only the high school has made it that far; the hope is to get 9th and 8th grade to one-to-one next year. Given our goals of technological advancement, we have seen an increase in available resources over the last two years. I have a Chromebook cart that lives in my room and is shared with the other teachers in my wing. I try to incorporate these into my lesson plans as often as I can without monopolizing them.

Here are some of the things I do with our Chromebooks that encourage creativity while still furthering the students' grasp of the content we need to master by the end of the year (read: by PSSA season).

FlipGrid: Occasionally when students do a Collins Writing, I will have them hop on a Chromebook and record their response or a summary of their response on FlipGrid. This may not seem hugely creative, but my students LOVE recording themselves, seeing themselves, and personalizing their videos. Are they still writing and analyzing? Yes, but in a much more creative way for the end goal. Linked to the title of this example is my students' most recent FlipGrids. They read an article, analyzed it, did a Socratic Seminar with it, wrote a Collins Type 1 reflection, and recorded a FlipGrid at the end. Check it out!

Google Slides: Google's G-Suite for education is really a dream when it comes to technology integration in the classroom. Linked to the title of this example is quite possibly the most boring topic we tackle in 7th grade English: PSSA Vocabulary Terms. While I do teach these concepts individually, students need to know the definitions as well. Rather than breaking out a dictionary, I have each class create their own visual dictionary using the integrated creative features in Slides. Check it out!

Pear Deck: This is an Add-On for Google Slides that I just discovered in the last few weeks. It turns a normal Google Slides presentation into an interactive one for students. While I cannot link a presentation that I've created (you need to view it live with a code), I did link an article that describes the add-on in depth and shows examples. Students have a device (a Chromebook in my case) while the teacher is presenting the Slides. There are slides interspersed that students must directly engage with. That could be a matching activity, a true or false question, a written response, etc. At the end of the presentation/notes/whatever the teacher can export the students' responses and use them as formative assessments if they wish. If anyone would like to see how it works live, I'd be happy to set up a time to demonstrate it.

Resources:


Robinson, K. (2006, February). Do schools kill creativity? Retrieved February 08, 2018, from https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity

u03a2 - Stouffer

Prezi on MLA Citations and Plagiarism


The media-infused presentation I created can easily help to foster the development of both the disciplined and synthesizing minds. In Chapter 2 of "Five Minds for the Future", Howard Gardner argues that, "The training of disciplinarians takes place through ... the modeling of ways of thinking (“here’s how we go about proving a theorem of this sort”); the successful completion of certain signature assignments (“that’s a good analysis of Sonnet 23; let’s see whether you can carry out an analogous interpretation of Sonnet 36”); the provision of timely, useful feedback on earlier disciplinary efforts...and the passing through successive hoops en route to becoming a master of the discipline (“you’ve now learned how to write a good lead to the story; the next job is to order the paragraphs so that the important points will survive, even if the story has to be cut in half”)". I realize that is an exceptionally large quote to pull from the text; however, I feel as though I highlighted the key portions that are relevant to the presentation I created. The Prezi Presentation I created accomplishes the above steps from Gardner that delineate how to train the disciplined mind. This Prezi models how to go about properly citing texts in MLA, it shows the success criteria, it could be used to provide timely, useful feedback, and it scaffolds the "passing though successive hoops" on the way to mastery. 


This Prezi presentation also helps to foster the developments of a synthesized mind. Works cited pages are a literal demonstrations of synthesis in themselves. Further, the arrangement of this Prezi allows for it to be used in rather versatile ways. After initial instruction, students can come back to it as a means of reference so that they cited correctly in future assignments. It also provides a bridge for beginning interdisciplinary work. In Chapter Three of his book, Gardner states, "Perhaps the most ambitious form of synthesis occurs in interdisciplinary work" and "Even when students have begun to master the disciplines singularly, there is no guarantee that a combination of disciplines will be appropriately or productively linked". Learning how to cite sources correctly allows students to properly integrate sources of various origins and disciplines, thus accomplishing "the most ambitious form of synthesis". The mix of disciplines would then have been appropriately and productively linked, as students will have been able to use the Prezi on proper citations and plagiarism to accomplish this. 

u03a1 - Stouffer

https://educlipper.net/edu_clip_boards/5a7379855b9fb804566ef74b/embed

I chose to curate a EduClipper Board on a Socratic Seminar activity. The link for this board is hyperlinked above. I chose the topic of Socratic Seminars as we will be doing our first one of the year tomorrow, and we will build on them for the remainder of the year. I included a YouTube video demonstrating what a successful Socratic Seminar looks like, several images, a website to implement collaboration, a PDF outlining the process with graphic organizers, and a PowerPoint for enrichment.

As a side note, I found the EduClipper website a bit cumbersome to navigate. It is not very intuitive for new/inexperienced users, and it lacks some desired features. For example, I could not figure out how to unpin something from one of my boards. Given this, I would find it unlikely that I would use this website with my classes.