Thinking about thinking

A new school year has started, the excitement for teachers and students is at peak level.  Books, folders, pencils and laptops are all in order for another year of school.  But ask yourself: Is this another year just like the last year and just like the years before.  What is new in school?  What is new in the realm of learning?

Too often, we school our students instead of inspire and improve our students.  School is a series of checklists and points which determine success levels.  It is my hope that my classroom is more than a checklist of points, but rather a place of higher learning.

One item that I am interested in improving is the practice of reflection.  Reflection by our students and by myself as a teacher.  One part of reflection is "thinking about your thinking."  This should occur in planning stages and after completion of a task.  When one thinks about his or her thinking the products will be better.

Traditional classrooms avoid this concept by nature.  The teacher is the provider making sure instructions, rubrics, and information are all easily understood.  The teacher then asks for the information to be shared in precise manners of the teacher's discretion.  I worry that students form the habit of completing assignments in compliance of stated objectives.  Getting an "A" in following the guidelines.  This type of assessment, even if it involves critical thinking, does not allow for complete and full growth.

The other obstacle is time.  It takes a lot of time to plan, revise, and adapt ahead of a due date.  It also takes time for a class and teacher to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of an assessment. Education must adopt a less is more philosophy in order to help students.  Standards are great but can be time dependent.

So in the Tonsoni classroom, we will be reflecting this year.  Each day the students will reflect on the class period about what they learned, accomplished or need to know.  Each student will have a personal blog to reflect on issues.  Individual meetings will be held to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of assessments.  I must conquer the time issue, but here we go!  

Creating in the classroom

I often ponder how to get the most our of my students.  It is a question that is not really easy to answer.  The answer that I keep on coming back to over and over, is "create."  When students can create something their effort and attitudes are much better.  Why is this?

I believe that our younger generation really enjoys making things and sharing with others.  They are growing up in a time of great technology use.  Video creation is a huge part of snapchat.  Picture creation is Instagram.  The technology of the day can be debated as to its usefulness but it has captured the focus of our students.

I often struggle with how to make Social Studies classes more creative.  I have used blogging to help get students' ideas in print.  We have used video creation and video conferencing to build skills and share ideas. I am also interested in learning more about Project based learning .

The conclusion for me lies with the fact, that I must provide more hands on, creation based learning activities.  Looking forward to getting better at this because what my students create has been awesome.  I know it could even get better.

Successful Students

Education in the last fifteen years has used measurement from standardized tests to determine the success of our students.  This does not sit well with me and is not beneficial for the students in my classroom.  Two years ago my wife Amy, an English teacher, and I put together a list of skills that we believe make successful students.  This list is a collection of notes that we, as parents of a college bound freshman son, heard during several orientation sessions we attended.  We heard from professors, deans and placement officers.  As educators, we thought we owed it to our students to develop a similar list for our high school students and then live it by emphasizing and teaching these skills on a regular basis.

Just last week, I was reminded about the importance of teaching in such a fashion by a tweet from Kevin Honeycutt, an author and educational speaker from Kansas.

Kevin Honeycutt  @kevinhoneycutt

As a teacher I never taught a subject...I taught about life, using the skills and wisdom of my subject.

Teaching about life - now that is real learning. That is meaningful and engaging learning. That is learning that will last. Content can be found in one's phone. Content used to improve the lives of our students can only be found in the mind of an innovative teacher.

Here is our list of skills that Amy and I believe help make Delphi graduates successful.

SUCCESSFUL DELPHI GRADUATES

POSSESS THE ABILITY

TO

CRITICALLY THINK

PLAN/ORGANIZE/PRIORITIZE/ADAPT

COLLABORATE

BE GLOBALLY AWARE

EMPATHIZE

COMMUNICATE

ACT WITH INTEGRITY

CREATE

BECOME AN EXPERT IN YOUR FIELD

OBTAIN/POSSESS KNOWLEDGE

 

Be a teacher that will help the lives of students. Be innovative. It's a lot of fun. It's what is best for all students.

History Museum

How do you make history class relevant to high school students?  This has been a question that I have kept at the center of my planning for the last twenty years.  This question is not an easy one to answer. However, it is a question that must be answered in order to provide today's students with the best experiences possible.

My choice this year was to run my class in an even more student-centered manner than I had ever done in the past.  I incorporated student choice and blogging into our weekly routine.  In addition to these activities, we are acting as curators of our own history museum. Why?  Good question.

I believe that students learn more when they are part of the learning.  Some of the best learning happens in the ag shop, the art room, and the choir room.  Why?  Students in those classrooms act as mechanics, artists, and musicians.  They practice skills and with repetition improve and remember those skills.  Isn't this what I want in my history classes? YES!

A historian is a good reader, writer and critical thinker.  These skills can be practiced in a history classroom by using historical content. So, our history museum is off and running. Right now we are learning how to handle our responsibilities.  Soon, we will be making decisions on which content belongs in our museum and how we are going to exhibit this content.

Our main museum will be a class website. This website will contain pictures, videos, editorials, historically relevant definitions and explanations.  We have three committees and three departments in which students act as historians throughout the week.  Being a historian may not be as much fun as being a mechanic, artist, or musician, but we are trying to get there.

At the end of the year we will have a collection of what we learned and what we as a class find important about being a citizen of this great country.  I want my students to be better when they leave high school than during high school and this museum will provide them with skills they can use the rest of their lives.  

I teach history but hope to impact the future.

It's All About the Learning!

Student Choice

The idea of allowing students to make choices in the classroom has always been interesting to me.  After 22 years of teaching, I have finally adopted student choice as a main component in our classroom.  Early results are so encouraging.

Relevance of material contained in curriculum is vital for students to comprehend and maintain knowledge.  How do I make content relevant?

I have debated the appropriate balance between content knowledge and skill knowledge for a long time.  How do I teach what I need to teach while making my students better thinkers?

The answers for me are found by using our states Historical Literacy standards in connection with state content standards.  Identifying the power content standards first and then using the literacy standards to implement and compliment.

OK.... that was great teacher speak.  That's the textbook answer.  I actually do all of the above; however, that is not the key to our classroom.

The key.....student choice.

Allowing freedom in the classroom is both enjoying and troubling.  Joy in watching our students work hard, create and learn.  Troubling in the fact that I as teacher have to monitor and record progress of many different tasks all at one time.  The joy far outweighs the troubling aspects of student choice.

Here are a couple of examples of student choice.

1.  Weekly Vocab:  Students choose the words and how they will demonstrate they learned said words.  The creativity I am seeing for a 10 point assignment is amazing

2.  Blogging:  Each student spent time creating their own personal Blog.  Time spent designing and formatting blogs has been eye opening.  I have learned about embedding video from one of my students.  The creative names and the pride they are taking has been great to witness.

3.  Notebook choice:  Students can keep a notebook on Google Docs, Evernote or LiveBinders.  They choose.  Discussions with students so far has been great and I am learning so much about online binders.

4.  Committees and Departments:  We are creating a year long US History Museum that will house examples of what we have learned, what we believe is important and what we have created.  Students can apply for these positions and will work together in creating this museum.  Leadership opportunities exist for this student driven activity.

I know it is early in the school year and understand that there may be bumps in the road.  However, the hard work, the focus and the excitement I have seen with our students so far is simply AMAZING!


IT'S ALL ABOUT THE LEARNING

Relationship Education

Today's blog is a reprint of a document I wrote in 2011 for the Indiana University Armstrong Award program.  It discusses the importance of relationships in education.  Regardless of the methods, technology, standards and testing, this still remains the most vital aspect of teaching.  Hope you enjoy.

Relationship Education

Education is a career that is fulfilling in many ways.  As a teacher, one can influence the lives of young people and can impact society.  I believe that the most important aspect of being an educator involves relationships--relationships where the teacher understands the students and makes them feel important, where the teacher understands that enthusiasm for learning and life can determine outcomes, and where the teacher maintains a level of life-long learning to adapt to the best practices available.  Relationship education is a combination of personal and professional relationships where a level of excellence can be achieved by all.

Throughout my career, I have learned that the most important aspect of a classroom is the teacher.  A teacher that demonstrates positive attitudes towards students and the learning environment.  The idea that all kids can learn is absolutely true.  What kids learn can fluctuate based on factors that each student brings to the classroom.  Some will learn the content, some self-confidence, some proper behavior, and some how to dream.  It is the responsibility of the teacher to get to know each and every student in a proper teacher-student relationship in order for learning of all types to occur.  I have learned that teaching is more than delivering content.  Teaching includes the building and molding of young people into productive adults.  In order to achieve this level of learning, a teacher must be open to all methods and maintain a sense of accountability in the classroom.  If expectations are high then students will achieve.

People with passion are more successful in any career, but especially in education.  I have found a passion in the lives of my students.  I mention the lives of students because I want help the students improve on a daily basis.  I strive for helping students understand their strengths and to work on their weaknesses.  The underdog in the classroom is especially important to me.  I really enjoy seeing someone who struggles in school finding success in my classroom.  A recent student who is autistic was a big focus for me last semester.  I did not just want to get him through the curriculum, but wanted to help him understand how to overcome his difficulties.  The “C” and “D” students hold special places in my heart.  To help these students improve and be validated as important is very fulfilling.  This is accomplished with great enthusiasm.  A teacher must enjoy what they teach but must also enjoy the students.  Every day it is important for teachers to be full of positive energy so students can achieve more.

Life-long learning has been taught to me by the best teachers I ever had, my parents.  They both were educators and strived to stay current in their profession to the day they retired.  Currently, I am involved in designing a digital curriculum in social studies.  Instead of adopting textbooks, our department decided to use laptops and the internet as our classroom resource.  The decision to implement the digital curriculum was due to the idea that we can help children learn if we meet them at their points of interests.  We also considered the fact that using computers would help them after high school in college and in the work force.  We are on a pace to attempt to go completely paperless, as students often submit work electronically.  I am the pioneer for this program in our school and have been asked to help other educators as they move in this direction.  By building the curriculum from state standards we are able then to find resources relevent to each required subject by using a website called Nettrekker as well as other popular search engines.  Students are more on task and able to dig more deeply into subjects than with a text.  The level of communication with students has improved due to email communications that are available with our school website host Google Classroom.  We have witnessed better note taking and organization.  Projects are used such as podcasts, movies, and powerpoint presentations to assess student understanding.  There are unlimited resources available with technology to improve the education of students.  It has been a privilege to be involved in such a ground breaking curriculum.

Relationships, passion and life-long learning are important to me as an educator.  I take pride in constantly looking for ways to improve my classroom.  I appreciate the faith my superintendent and principal have in me to allow me to be involved in such a project.  I look forward to improving each day and to sharing what I learn and what I do with other teachers.  Our students are too important not to strive to be the best we can be.  These students are the future of our society and they deserve the best we can offer.

Welcome

Welcome to my Education Blog.  I hope to write on a weekly basis about items in the world of Education.  This will include general items, classroom issues, classroom techniques and the use of technology in the classroom.

I am a teacher at Delphi Community Schools in Delphi, IN.  I am going to refer to myself as the "lead learner" of the classroom.  I must give credit to Dr. Tony Sinanis and Jason Bodnar, two educators I follow on twitter for the idea.  This shift is to remind me that I am working with my students in learning every day.

I have taught for the last six years using digital curriculum, which is a fancy way of saying without textbooks.  I believe that resources online provide more relevant information and help our students move forward at a faster pace.  I would suggest following Matt Miller @jmattmiller on twitter and DitchThatTextbook.com

Thanks for reading and please follow.  Send me suggestions and I will share what works and what does not work in the high school classroom.