Category: Students

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How do I put students in charge of thinking in my classroom?

I spent the month of February in Oregon giving a series of workshops across the state.  But I didn’t do all the talking. I had many chances to listen to students, teachers, and administrators in a variety of settings – focus groups,  planning sessions and classrooms walk-throughs.

Img_0262One question posed by a teacher captured a central challenge to education in the 21st century – “How do I put students in charge of thinking in my classroom?”

<<< North Bend OR 4th graders investigate the phases of the moon

Accountability is here to stay. There’s no going back to the “bell curve” of academic winners and losers. Life-long learning dictates that children will need to become self-directed learners. But too many teachers feel compelled to rush through course material to cover a multitude of benchmarks and standards. For them, the demands of time and testing, limit their opportunities to teach to greater depth.

My workshops attempt to point a way out of this dilemma. We take the approach that instruction must be organized to help students gradually take responsibility for their learning. We focus on idea that learning is relevant to students when the student:

  • Understands how the information or skill has some application in their life.
  • Has an opportunity to try their own learning approaches, rather than just learn the facts.
  • Is not just learning content and skills, but is learning how they learn.

Teachers need support to make the transition to this style of instruction. Administrators  need to reinforce the idea that teaching for greater depth beats teaching to the test. The curricula needs to be compacted to provide more time for students to explore their own approaches. Staff development and curriculum resources need to target more rigorous and relevant instructional models.  Teachers should be given opportunities for faculty collegial interaction and classroom walk-throughs to showcase best practices.

These initiatives  come with a reciprocal accountability. Administrators support teachers to foster greater rigor and relevance in the classroom. In return, they can expect to see those strategies being utilized when they visit the classroom. 

I’m encouraged by the bright students and dedicated educators  I met in Oregon – working together to redefine the 21st century classroom.  As one teacher commented, “I realize that all children are capable of higher-level thinking. We need to continue teaching kids to think for themselves, teach each other, get involved… their futures depend on it.”

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Motivate Students with FlipNLearn

I’m proud to serve as the educational advisor to FlipNLearn –  the innovate foldable that students design, print and share.  FlipNLearn uses a special pre-formatted paper and FREE design software to make it easy for students in grades 3 through  high school to design, print, share and learn. FlipNLearn enables students to think like designers, to apply their learning strategies and to organize and express their learning. It exemplifies the best of the information revolution –students as creators of content rather than as a passive audience.

FlipNLearn uses research-based CCSS learning strategies that produce results. FlipNLearn helps students master course content while developing project management and teamwork skills. Students are motivated by producing tangible evidence of their learning. Creating and sharing a FlipNLearn promotes peer discussion of both content and design decisions. It serves as an authentic assessment when shared with the wider audience of friends and family.

Visit FlipNLearn to find out more. 

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Engage Student Thinking with a Response System

Teachers everywhere strive to make classes more engaging –learning environments where students can reflect and share their thinking. This year, a pilot project in Oregon’s Klamath County School District is using TurningPoint student response systems to help teachers achieve that goal.

I have used a TurningPoint response system in my workshops for two years, and with the right questions, I’ve used it transform to a 300-seat auditorium into a “Socratic seminar.” The team at Klamath County attended a few of my workshops and decided to bring the technology back into their classrooms. They’ve asked me to serve as a project advisor to help teachers learn to utilize the system to create greater rigor and relevance for their students. The district is providing ten teachers with presentation stations which include a 30-seat TurningPoint Student Response Systems.

This past week I helped kick off the year-long pilot with a full day introduction to the systems and its full instructional power. I was joined by Mike Venrose of TurningTechnologies. Together we trained the teachers in creating TurningPoint presentations, and using a variety of programs tools to create interactive lessons for their students.

I asked the teachers to share some of their ideas for using TurningPoint.

Krista Nieraeth: 7 – 12 Science and 7th Grade Math
My goal for using TP is to keep all of the students on their toes so I don’t lose any to cognitive wanderings during class.  I want to have the ability to make the lessons fresh and exciting at all times and to ensure that all of my students have the ability to participate in the discussion!!!

Scott Preston: 6th grade teacher – all subjects
I want to get all students actively participating in discussions, thinking deeper than yes/no.

Niki Kuykendall: 6th Grade – inclusive
I hope to introduce my students to this system on day one.  I plan to incorporate this into daily lessons in Math or Language Arts.  I want to use this for discussion prompting for reading, pre-assessment for Math and Spelling.  Review games occasionally.  I also would be open to letting my students create a PPT and then add in the TurningPoint questions to present to the class.  I will have some tests that will be done using the remotes, the ease for putting into the grade book is an incentive!

I’ll be headed back to Klamath Falls next month to help teachers to reflect on their progress and set new goals for use in the classroom. I’ll post some observations to share with readers. For more information on the pilot contact project coordinator – Michelle Smith, Klamath County Schools Staff Development Coordinator.

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Writing the Book on Test Prep

I don’t think the answer to improving student achievement is by narrowing the curriculum to devote more time to test prep. As I said in a prior posting.. “as if being a struggling learner is not punishment enough, increasing numbers are pulled out of classes that offer hands-on learning and outlets for their creativity. What awaits them is likely “drill and kill’ that doesn’t sound like much fun for students or their teachers.” More

I’m pleased to have just concluded a project that turns test prep on its head. In this case, eighth grade students designed and published their own guide to passing the eighth grade NYS English Language Arts exam. I was joined on the project by Pat Martin. We worked with the nearby Albion Middle School. Ten sections of students spent about 6 weeks reviewing various literacy and test taking strategies with their teachers. As they did, they generated their own guide to the strategies they felt worked best. Thus learning strategies find audience and propose. Students had the opportunity to reflect on strategies and rework them for a peer audience of “seventh graders.” And don’t kids love to give each other advice!

A team of student editors from each class worked to do the final edits with the three teachers who supervised the project. Each class designed its own 100-page book using Lulu.com’s web-based, print-on-demand publishing technology.  The publication cost was about $6 per book. (color covers and interior b/w pages.) Ten editions of the guide were published and a finished book for each student author arrived about a week before the exam.  This gave students time to take pride in their accomplishments and refocus their thinking to the task of the taking the exam.

The state test is given in mid January, but it will be months before we see the final results. As Albion’s superintendent said to me – this project isn’t just about higher test scores. It’s about giving the students and their teachers a chance to see themselves as innovative creators of content, not just a passive audience. Already there is talk about starting a new test taking guide written by the seventh graders.

For more on student publishing see our website Read > Think > Write > Publish. Check my blog entries under the Commentary heading for more on students and 21st century literacy skills.

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So why aren’t your students publishing their own books? Part II

ABCs Human Body
ABCs Human Body

It’s been nearly a year since I first raised that question. In case you haven’t heard – print on demand technology has made it possible to produce beautiful hard cover and paperback books without minimum runs or prohibitive upfront costs. During the last year, I have helped teachers from across the country get started on digital publishing. Kids are motivated by producing books for an authentic audience. Publishing helps students master course content and develop project management and teamwork skills. The power of publishing enables students to think like writers, to apply their learning strategies and to organize and express their learning. It exemplifies the best of the information revolution –students as creators of content rather than as passive audience.

I find that a publishing project is a great way to ensure that my training workshops get put to use back in the classroom and result in teachers having the chance to reflect on their practice by looking at student work.

I continue to add material my website – Read>Think>Write>Publish. Go there and you’ll find downloadable template books and tech guides. I also have posted sample student books that you can use as models to motivate your students. You can download them as a free pdf or order them published at cost.

Stay tuned – student publishing is going to be big!