Commentary on Classroom Rules

I had an incredibly interesting exchange today with a  colleague over the issue of rules in a classroom, specifically, rules that dictate how behaviors will be handled.  I was struggling to properly explain why classroom rules were not needed in a school like SLA because there are three rules that the community uses regarding student behavior:

1. Respect Yourself
2. Respect the Community
3. Respect this as a place of learning 

Those are the rules.  There doesn't need to be a checklist of rules in each different classroom because these three cover it.  I kept saying it to my colleague and it wasn't resonating.  So I thought a little harder about what was important about having and using these three rules consistently as a community and finally got to this... having your own individual teacher rules means that you don't trust the community to live by the three agreed upon rules.  The problem with everyone writing their own rules is that is erodes the capacity of the community to both rally around and to hold each other accountable for respectful behavior, consistently.  Now, I'm not saying that there aren't effective ways of communicating academic information about classroom procedures and routines ... I'm saying that when a community has a set of shared and reinforced rules, you don't need your own.  The community breathes life into that dynamic in a way that individual classroom rules never will.  If you want a community, the rules need to also be owned by the community.

It is a gift to work inside schools where everyone is pulling in the same direction.  As the new SLA@Beeber faculty gets off the ground, they will need to trust in something they haven't been a part of before.  I cannot express how grateful I am to be working with a group of people willing to create, grow and stretch their practice into the new campus.  At times its exhilarating and at times I think it is a little scary.  They're in a group trustfall.  Here goes!

On Being a Farm Kid

I often identify as being a farm kid and joke that if in a large room of people, the farm kids will gravitate toward each other (I also hold this theory about lapsed Catholics).  While my sister will attest, I was bad at being a farm kid.  I worked hard at it, I did what I was told (most of the time)... but I wasn't the one my Dad would want to come and help him if he had a choice, that was my (slightly) older sister.  But during one of the summers in the mid-80's, my family found itself in quite a spot.  One that required my Dad to take a job on road construction, while the rest of the family stayed home to keep the farm functional.  To the bet of my recollection I was 11 and my sis was 12 when all this went down.  With the help of a *very* interesting and colorful hired man (there is a chapter in a book waiting to be written about this whole summer), my sister and I were basically 'running' the farm... milk cows and all.  We also had a field (acres and acres) of newly planted Christmas trees to water (by hand that summer, no rain) and a kennel of 40 dogs.  On top of that there was a massive vegetable garden and summer school.Now I offer this story up, as I did many times when I was teaching, to illustrate one point... the hardest I've ever worked happened before I was 12.  That was a gift.  Everything else, that I chose (teaching), is not 'work'... it's just living the life I choose.  Knowing the difference is important.I was not meant to be a farmer, I knew this early on.  This summer I've been home on the farm a ton, watching the day to day machinations of the life in a way I have not been able to in a long time.  I'm not sure how many people realize the complexities of the job and the sheer exhaustion of it.  I sat in a field last night watching my Dad and brother (I was summoned to pick up them up at 9:30pm as they were past dark and only had tractors to drive home) fix a baler.  And it occurred to me that neither of them was a mechanic, but at some point every farmer is a mechanic and they are a vet and they are a meteorologist and and and... they take these crazy conditions of intersecting weather, machines, animals and life and put out the raw materials that make life for the rest of the country possible, at the most basic level.So on this Fourth of July, my family is usually at a parade waving flags and eating a chicken dinner at the local festival... but this year the weather timed it all so that we're haying.  Its just how the job goes.  Calves are born at inconvenient times for attending family dinners, machines break down when you really needed to be home and hay needs to be raked and baled on holidays (sometimes).And as this all transpires, I am grateful that my parents were supportive in letting me live the life I choose AND also grateful that so many Americans chose to be farmers... it really is a gift for the rest of us.[youtube=http://youtu.be/AMpZ0TGjbWE]

Personalization.

Personalization is everywhere.  Sometimes its unhelpfully paired or substituted with the word individualization.  Tomorrow I have been asked to work with a group in a pre-ISTE event, sponsored by Dell to talk about personalization.  When I first began speaking with the folks at Dell I said something like, personalization to me means that students have the agency to direct their own learning and that it has little to do with data dashboards of statistics.  They did not disagree.  And so we kept talking and it led to an invitation to lead a conversation tomorrow.To say that my interpretation of personalization is the prevalent one in education reform and edtech, would be incorrect.  It is difficult to watch technology be used to advocate for fewer adults, less interaction between students and generally micromanaging the entire student experience.  Wonder, serendipity and inquiry are some of the most fascinating pieces of the empowering potential of technology as a vehicle for access to... massive amounts of information, connection and possibility.  Continually shoehorning student learning in a path that a computer decides is necessary is not the most interesting or empowering version of personalization.Tomorrow I look forward to kicking the term around a bit, seeing where it goes and trying to continually reflect upon the terms we use to describe the learning experience.  Would love to know your thoughts on personalization.

So, it's been a year.

A year ago, I walked away from teaching full-time at the Science Leadership Academy.  This was not because I wanted to stop teaching or stop working at SLA or anything other than trying to continue to live my life as intentionally as possible.  It made sense to go, it was the right time.  Leaving was tough.  I still find myself looking at the world as possible lesson plans and units and shareable with learners... I'm not sure I will ever shut that off.  But, leave I did.Now.  What have I been up to?  I added it up the other day and I've been in 28 states and 5 countries in the past year.  I lost track of the number of miles flown and drove, but let's say its a large number.  My travel schedule at times feels like a Jenga game that I've been lucky to have work out more than I'm entitled to.  Working with teachers all over the US and a few internationally has been incredibly rewarding and exciting and I feel as though my efforts contribute to more classrooms and teachers feeling empowered to move their learning spaces in more modern and learner focused directions.But, I will also share that nothing is as good as teaching kids.  Teaching is like a puzzle that just keeps needing solving, everyday.  It made my brain spin, inspired hope and anger and frustration and joy and heart break at times.  I sat in a gym in Texas this past February and had to get myself under control as I almost broke out into tears.  I miss being a teacher.One would think that would lead me back into the classroom, and while I will find myself there next year as a long term sub in Flagstaff for a friend... I will not be back full-time this fall.  The best explanation is that I am not ready to fully dive into a new school community just yet.So what am I up to.  Lots of different things actually.  For anyone that knows me well, knows that I am habitually over-committed with projects and such, this year is no different.  The biggest collaboration that I am working on right now is launching a new endeavor with Chris Lehmann to simultaneously open a second SLA campus in Philadelphia as well as create a non-profit called Inquiry Schools to further the goal of offering more inquiry driven, project-based, 1:1 learning environments for students and teachers.  Additionally, I am supporting a turnaround school project in a Philadelphia K-8 school.  I will find myself back in Philly for much of August, September and a bit of October.  Later in the fall, I will once again be teaching for the University of Minnesota as a adjunct professor as well as heading off to Flagstaff, AZ to step back into the school I left in 2008 to join SLA... as a long term substitute teacher for a gentleman that used to sub teach for me back in the day (the circular ridiculousness of this is not lost on me).  Sprinkled in between all of that are speaking and professional development opportunities that take me into schools and organizations all over the US.  And let's not forget that Educon planning will start anew soon enough.And my favorite question... where are you based? Answer: I am not.  For the past year I have not (as I like to say it) maintained a home.  My mail goes to my parents place on the farm in Wisconsin and my stuff is still in boxes in my sister's basement.  Today, I am writing to you from my Aunt Carol's RV, lakeside in Hatfield, WI.  The same lake where my grandparents used to 'summer' near my hometwon.  The layers of memories are plentiful.  This is where I learned to water ski, swam until exhaustion, went out to 'fancy' dinner with my grandparents and generally reveled in being a kid.  It has been quite special to be able to spend time here hiking and kayaking and hammocking.  After the local county fair, I head back to Philly then to Flagstaff, back to WI and then Philly again.  I have my 'living' situation figured out until February when I will once again decide if its time to maintain a single address and a home.  While there are moments when I feel like I need a place, nothing seems to make sense yet.One cannot live like this without the consistent and gracious support of all kinds of people.  My SLA family takes care of me so well when I am in Philly... opening their homes and refrigerators and calendars to welcome me.  My family has been such champs through this all... to say that I made different choices than any of them would have preferred is an understatement, but they just take it all in stride and I have been able to spend more time with them this year than the last 5 years combined.  I have 7 nieces and nephews that I try hard to know.  It has been easier this year to do that and it has been a gift.  And finally, there is the place where I actually own a home that I don't live in, Flagstaff, AZ.  I consider this the space I was meant to live in, but for many reasons back in 2008 it was time to go.  My friends there are as close as family and they all do so many things to support me when I am there and on the road.  I look forward to spending more time with them all over the next year as well.So.  There it is.  18 years as a formal student.  15 years as a full-time teacher.  1 year as a 'freelance' teacher and nomad.  See you all out there on the road and wishing you all a restful and joyful summer.  

Education reform is not magic (and other obvious statements)

Yeah, there was this report right here on how much floor polish we needed, and this one right here about the possibility of changing dairies that supply our milk, and there's the annual assessment on crayon-munching and paste-eating, especially among my own personal staff. I am a busy woman. I can't be expected to remember every report, especially one that might indicate that the things upon which I have based my entire career, and which have brought me considerable fame and fortune, are the functional equivalent of swampland in Polk County. - Charles P Pierce

Michelle Rhee is playing this situation like such a politician.  It almost reminds me of Anthony Weiner denying over and over again that the tweeted picture was not him, until it became so apparent that it was... that he needed to stop the wall of denial and admit to his transgressions. Rhee is in super denial, not that she didn't know about it, but that it isn't that big of a deal.  HA!  That is rich.  She made THE BIGGEST deal about these results and their inherent affirmation of her policies.  Now, she wants us to believe that when she was made aware that her cherished results were suspect... that she didn't find it important enough to follow up on.  Shenanigans.And I wouldn't care about this at all, except Rhee sucks all the air out of the educational reform conversation.  She has spent years beating up the profession with her record.  She is unapologetic and flip about a situation that needs to be of the utmost concern for those truly interested in educational reform decisions that will yield a more effective educational program for students and learning.  As someone who has spent a lifetime in teaching and learning, let me let you in on a little secret - there is no silver bullet, there is not magic solution to 'fixing' schools.  True educational shift and change is brutal to accomplish.  It needs to be systemic and structured and intentional and persistent and it still might not work.  Its hard.  Really hard.And here's another little nugget of obvious - 20%+ gains in standardized test scores will 9 times out of 10 be related to testing fraud, not magical no excuses approaches to teaching and learning.  Gains like that are indicative of either heavy coaching or straight up cheating a la Atlanta and Philly and DC.  This is not the learning that will make anyone college and career ready for the 21st century to complete in a global economy*.  At all.There are hundreds of thousands of teachers and principals getting out of bed every morning to serve the kids in their charge.  Let's put them on the cover of magazines.  Let's have them interviewed on TV.  Let's have them receiving the praise of the public.  Teachers and principals are working toward a better version of education and school and learning each and every day.  The work is being done.  Progress is being made.  But let's be clear, it is not because of the efforts of Rhee, it is in spite of it.*trying to invoke all of the buzzword phrases that are currently in use to describe what our educational system needs to be yielding :-)

Worksheets.

Worksheets, like lectures have taken a beating in the 21st century education dialogue.  A few weeks ago, a hard-working and thoughtful teacher said to me, "But my kids like worksheets."  I do not doubt the veracity of that statement.  I do, however, take issue with the implied value because they like it.Instructional approaches need to be varied and many, diverse, differentiated, interesting, scaffolded, layered, remediated, curiosity invoking.  Sometimes a worksheet can be a means to that end.  Similarly, so can a lecture or even... *gasp* ... a reading out of a textbook.  The issue is not that these are instructional tools that are bad, the issue is when these are the only instructional tools being used.  Much like McDonald's, if a kid has a worksheet a week, they will be fine.  If McDonald's is all they ever eat... I think we all know how that turns out.Let's think critically about what kind of instructional diet we are feeding our students everyday. 

The new *must have* literacy

The new must have literacy is... there isn't one.  It isn't creativity or innovation or media or digital'ness.  What is becoming incredibly clear to me as I watch the information and learning landscape become this global, always on, shifting, changing ball of overwhelming awesomeness is that there is no new *must have* literacy.  Be human.  Have some instincts.  Live.  Those are the things we need to be doing.  The thought that we need to once again define something as *the* thing so we can replicate and systematize and scale-up, sigh.  C'mon.I believe that the only thing that is a must have is the ability to adapt and change as circumstances merit.  Flexible, agile, adaptive... that is what the learning needs to be. As the architects of learning environments we need to make sure that those spaces/places allow all members of the community to preserve their adaptive capacity and be resilient.  Beyond that, there is no new literacy that is going to prep us all for what is developing.  We need to stop worrying about what this future might be, and get real about what is actually happening now and how we can stay in tip top condition for the unfolding future.We are living in a time that allows us to be in the moment and it is the only way we will know what to do next.  There is no map. No specific literacy to have. We need it all. By defining one thing as the *new* thing we only perpetuate this silo'fication of skills. We need to drink it all in and then use our entire toolbox of skills to find our path.  And heavy emphasis on the 'we', because this is one complicated, massive thing we are in the middle of and I know that I need smart, savvy people around me to help me make sense of it all.  So, yes... we (and our schools) need to be creative, innovative, informed, media-literate, etc.  But not as different *literacies*, as tools for staying agile, adaptive and flexible in our learning.  This is it people.  Let's go.

A Night with Michelle Rhee

On Wednesday evening I attended an event at the Free Library of Philadelphia to listen to Michelle Rhee speak about her new book, Radical: Fighting to Put Students First.  Full disclosure that I knew walking into the event that I disagreed with the most of what she champions in the name of education reform.  During her tenure as the chancellor of the Washington, D.C., public schools from 2007 to 2010, I was teaching in Philadelphia. The stories of her strategies for improving the schools were commonly finding their way north to the papers and blogs in Philly.  When I realized that I had the opportunity to hear her speak, I opted to do so.So, on Wednesday night I found myself walking into the auditorium of the Free Library with two other lovely teachers (Larissa Pahomov and Meenoo Rami), which I have done on so many occasions. One thing that was different this time, though, was that the greeters were handing out index cards in order to collect questions ahead of time.Pardon?As I walked to my seat, I processed what was occurring... Rhee's visit at the Library was contingent on her screening questions.  In that very same auditorium I had seen Colin Powell and Madeline Albright take questions from the crowd and answer with grace and dignity.  These former Secretaries of State served during major wars, botched intelligence incidents and scandals.  They took questions from the crowd.  Down at the National Constitution Center, I saw Donald Rumsfeld, one of the most polarizing figures from the Bush administration, do the same, accept questions cold from the crowd and answer with poise and clarity.  Rhee needed screening. *sigh*Two things.

1. I am incredibly disappointed that the Free Library agreed to these parameters for Rhee's speaking engagement.
2. Rhee need be ashamed.  For the past 4 years, I have known the Free Library Author Events as a place for the exchange of ideas on timely topics with authors.  This was more advertisement than a thoughtful exchange of ideas on Rhee's career in educational reform.

When one chooses to place a 'radical' set of ideas out into the public sphere to alter the function of a major societal system like schools, one need be prepared to engage thoughtfully in conversation with those that disagree with those ideas.  To do otherwise is a sad commentary on book sales and public persona 'handling'.  I am glad I went, but could not be more disappointed in the manner with which the audience was kept at bay during the hour long exchange. 

The importance of sharing positive stories

Most mornings I start the day by running through my email, play a few rounds of LetterPress, casually browsing Twitter and catching up on my RSS reader.  I will not read 'everything', but rather take a wander through content and ideas shared since I went to sleep.  Some mornings, the posts and writing that are shared seem to be moving in a direction.  Such was this morning.First I came across the most recent post from Sam Chaltain asking us to tell a different story about public education.  At the end of the post he asks, "Everyone knows what it feels like to go to school.  What if everyone knew what it felt like to go to a great school?"  He posits that we are having the wrong conversation about public school and that we need to be cognizant of the damage done by buying into the idea that our public school system is all about 'content, conflict and catastrophe".  We need to share widely stories that move past this layer of negative storytelling and offer a better narrative of learning.  He is highlighting the A Year at Mission Hill project, that endeavors to do just that.Next, I was thrilled to see that Karl Fisch had posted the Arapahoe High School faculty dance performance for 2013.  I'm not sure how many years Karl has been posting these, but its been for several years.  (I am reminded of Chris Lehmann's post, Take the Work Seriously, But Don’t Take Yourself Seriously as I watched this.)[youtube=http://youtu.be/9cQUiyyXRZM]To say that I love that this occurs annually, would be an understatement.  You can absolutely sense the energy and enthusiasm by both the staff and student body.  In this moment, the students stand to encourage the work of their teachers.  Pulling this off is no small feat.  This took some time and dedication by the staff to contribute to the school community in a very 'non-academic' way.  And it is spectacular. Teachers were willing to publically perform when they weren't perfect or gifted, and it was celebrated.  What a moment of modeling risk-taking, joyfulness and performance.When I coached middle school basketball (girls and boys, for years), I recognized that the hours I spent with the students after school made the classroom flow so much easier.  Understanding that the work of the classroom is derivative of the culture of the whole learning environment ... is so important.  As the adults in those spaces, we can play and laugh and be silly while also expecting much out of the students academically.  These are not mutually exclusive.Thanks for Karl and Sam for bringing a few moments together this morning to evidence the importance of telling positive stories of education and joy in our learning environments.What is your story?  What are the positive moments of learning and school that you see happening?

Where I come from... part two

A second installment - the first installment was written in 2008.For anyone that has been around me for about 5 minutes will probably hear some reference or story about my hometown.  Alma Center, WI - population 454 (at least while I was living there).  As kids we jokingly referred to it as Action City, because the only time people were out past 9pm was if there was a basketball game at the high school.  Growing up here was pretty idyllic, surrounded by a large extended families, both sets of grandparents within 5 miles of my house, 16 sets of aunts and uncles, more cousins than is fit to count and a community.  Now, when I was growing up here, I really understood the smallness of it all, how it was unlike 'the rest of the world', and I didn't always love it.  But it was here that I was able to play 3 varsity sports with a limited amount of talent, play in the band, sing in the choir, have a part-time job, work on the farm... One summer I spent afternoons in the hammock reading every book Steinbeck wrote . It was uncommon.  Not better, nor worse than another place, but it is the place I know best and continues to be a unique place in the world.  When I would share these stories in my classroom, I know they often thought I was making some of this up, that these places just don't exist anymore.For the past three weeks I have been staying with my parents in a lull between my work on the road.  I've been running errands, playing Yahtzee with my grandmother, snowshoeing with my mom, babysitting my 7 nieces and nephews and generally trying to have fun and be useful.  Luckily, my Dad hasn't found many reasons to recruit me to help out with the cows or his current logging endeavor. Being here for this amount of time allows me to remember just how different this place really is... especially as my mom picked up the phone this evening to talk to my grandmother.  Here is the story...On Christmas Day, my grandmother, who is 80, called to let us know that her car has a flat tire. My Dad went up early the next morning and put air in it, but we knew it was going to need some attention, so my grandmother left a message at with the mechanic.  I was waiting for the call from her to let me know what time I needed to come into town to take the car up and drop it off... its only a few blocks, but not a distance for her to walk with all the ice and snow.  When the mechanic arrived into the garage that morning, he called my grandmother back.  He said not to bother me, that he would just walk up and get the car.  So, he walks the few blocks, to her door, collects the keys and takes the car to the shop.  Later in the afternoon, he brings the car back, puts it in the garage and hands the keys back to my grandmother.  She then asks what she owes him.  He responds $5.  She gave him $10.Now, while I am pleased to see how excited people are to document their #26acts of kindness and genuinely touched by the memory it is serving to honor.  I find it incredibly important to also realize there is a version of human that lives it everyday, not because it is shared with or applauded by their network, but because this is the type of life they live.  As you look to those who are sharing stories of their generosity over the holiday, please make sure to also look around in your daily life to celebrate those that live it everyday.  While not a grand gesture, I could not be more impressed with the actions of this lovely mechanic who went out of his way to help my grandmother.  He's quite a guy.  And I could not be more proud to call this place my hometown.

Black Friday with my family

I write this post from a hotel room overlooking downtown Kuala Lumpur, watching all the twitter updates and Facebook statuses about Black Friday and I cannot help but reminisce about the Laufenberg family tradition for Black Friday that held for 25 years.  Anyone who knows our family knows that we are a haven for small ventures off the farm - selling firewood, timber, sweetcorn... we raised 100 puppies a year for 10 years and parakeets for 4 years... there were horses, cows, chickens, pigs.  This was a farm with all members contributing to make it work.  We raised, worked and sold all kinds of things.  To date, my favorite part was our Black Friday tradition - setting up the Tree Lot.My dad planted christmas trees in the mid-80s - and the shortly after was a drought.  I vividly remember that my sister and I were charged with carrying a 5 gallon bucket and cup, up and down the rows of acres of trees, in an attempt to save them from their natural fate.  And then years later, I remember working with my dad to unload those same trees at our lot in Eau Claire, WI.  Set up on the massive front yard of a longtime Eau Claire family, we assembled the Laufenberg Tree Lot on the day after Thanksgiving every year for 20+ years.In the beginning it was mostly just my dad, then my sister started helping out and eventually it turned into an all hands on deck affair.  I didn't start helping out a ton until I moved to Eau Claire for college.  Working at the tree lot meant very busy weekends and then occasional sales when I was able to stay later into the evening on week nights, so my dad could get home and reload before it became much colder and/or darker.  The hours were such that I could work on my homework, in between sales, tucked inside this tiny camper with space heaters blasting.  Some years the weather was glorious, one year it was so warm we were in t-shirts and I was interviewed for local TV about the weird weather and how it affected the lot.  Some years the weather was dreadful, people pulling up and cracking their windows about an inch to say, "Put your favorite tree in my trunk, I'm not getting out of the car".  My sister made 100's of handmade wreaths and toward the end of the run, her kids would stop by to see the lot and help out here and there.  It was a family affair.Our lot was situated overlooking the highway that led to the mall.  While we were setting up we would wait to hear the screech of tires and one year even watched a semi blast down the hill toward us as it slid out of control.  Getting to the mall was so important that bodily harm was risked.  The weather may have changed from year to year, but the crazy situation on that highway did not.  For those that enjoy the sales and the energy of the mall, I wish you the best.  But to this day, I find myself unmoved to consume on that day.  The day after Thanksgiving will always be about family and assembling this space that brought so much wonder and joy to the families that would visit.  I have never been one to enjoy selling 'stuff', but the things that I raised, or picked or cared for - I didn't have trouble with that.  People would ask where the trees came from and I was proud to be able to say, our farm.As a farm kid, I had an increasingly uncommon childhood that required an intense amount of productivity.  We were hardworking at school, in sports and on the farm.  It was not always a pleasant existence.  I was not always the best worker.  The tree lot, at times, was brutal.  We would find ourselves laughing and cursing at how the cold or wind brought general unpleasantness.  At other times, it was glorious, watching the families return year after year, kids getting bigger as time passed.  And, there we were year after year, led by the unending work ethic of my father.  That was our Black Friday tradition for more years than not.  And it was about the two things that are still most important to us, being with family and being productive.  Because you can add all the college degrees you want, but my siblings and I will always be most influenced by life on the farm.

The Election Day Interviews: A Look Back

Four years ago I was in Philadelphia at the Science Leadership academy working with that first graduating class.  On this day they fanned out into their neighborhoods to conduct voter interviews.  There were photos, videos, audio...  I thought I would share some of that audio from that first round of interviews![audio http://laufenberg.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/ayana-jones-mccants.mp3][audio http://laufenberg.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/jerome-mcleod-jasmine-thomas.mp3][audio http://laufenberg.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/gianni-ferrera-2.mp3][audio http://laufenberg.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/sabrina-lebron.mp3]Many of these students will be casting their first ballot in a presidential election today.  Some have reached out on all manner of social media to let me know they are voting and encouraging those around them to do so as well.  I could not be more proud.

If I were in the classroom right now...

I would teach something like this.Watch this -[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4h62jRiUcc]

• Ask students for general observations.
• Watch again and ask them to focus on a particular region of the country and repeat the observations.

Introduce them to this tool- http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/10/15/us/politics/swing-history.htmlYou can go a number of ways from here -

• Students can again do general observations.
• You could have students look at a particular election.
• You could also have students watch a particular state over time.
• They could be watching for trends, anomalies, you could ask them to come up with which state was most consistent, least.

After all this observing and analyzing, ask them what questions they have about these trends and patterns and presidential elections.Possible continuation of the inquiry – have students sample examples from The Living Room Candidate - http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/ - these are my favorites!Students are to look at a particular election year, reference the graphic and start to make some connections about what was happening at that time.  Students could then (either) create a new campaign ad for the current candidates in the ‘old’ style or create a new campaign ad for an old candidate in the new style.  You could give them the charge of appealing to a particular swing state… now or then.  This can all move in the direction of having them assess their own issue preferences, what they are concerned with and how that compared in history to other times.Then spend sometime with this amazing graphic to discuss the cascading possibilities on election day this year - 512 Paths to the White House.  Then on Election Day have them go out to the polls - http://www.curriki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Coll_dlaufenberg/ElectionDay - and as you watch the results roll in open a todaysmeet room or a private chat room (we used Moodle at SLA)

Getting it Right - Arrowhead Union High School

Months ago I received and email from the resourceful and talented Donna Smith where she invited me to join her staff in October.  This past week I then joined the staff of Arrowhead Union High School for a day of professional development.  The general structure of the day was simultaneously traditional and a departure from the usual.  Professional development can be regarded as an awesome experience, but more likely it is regarded as something the likes of eating your least favorite vegetables.  To quote the thoughtful David Jakes

Professional development carries baggage, and lot's of it.  For teachers, it's seen as more institutional control and time-wasting on topics of little interest and meaning to them.  And for the institution, and one even with the best intentions and programs, it's about low attendance and interest on the parts of teachers, complaints about time, and little carry-over to the classroom.

While I cannot ensure that every person was thoroughly engaged in the day, I believe that there were some incredibly intentional features of the agenda that contributed to a productive and enjoyable day.

• Teachers were heavily involved in the process of planning and scheduling the day
• There was fun involved - the intro of the day was a staff created video, a script that was read by multiple staff members peppered throughout the auditorium, prizes were given out at the end of the day
• Delicious food was served - breakfast included such rare features of a school breakfast as fresh berries, muesli, yogurt, melon - there was a much anticipated snack break with caramel apples and toppings.  Lunch was delicious -  two types of chili - four types of cheese (it was Wisconsin after all).  These moments of breaking bread and shared meals really matter in maintaining community.
• The morning sessions were short and moved quickly, lots of idea gathering.
• The afternoon session was completely unscheduled with staff members free to work with the material from the morning and make sense of it in their own practice.

None of this is incredibly revolutionary, but it points out a few things I've watched schools get wrong in the past: no time given within the day to process the information learned, no sense of fun, teachers left out of the planning process.So, this week's installment of Getting it Right goes to the fine staff at Arrowhead Union High School in Hartland, WI led by their supportive principal Gregg Wieczorek.  Thank you for including me in your day. 

Getting it Right - San Marcos Unified

The excitement for learning and teaching with inquiry and amplified by technology... pretty darn awesome here.— Diana Laufenberg (@dlaufenberg) October 19, 2012

For the past 12 days I was on the road doing a nice blend of conference presentations and workshops as well as some school-based professional development.  The two conferences were lovely experiences as I was able to share best practices, take apart this curriculum maze we are all trying to navigate with technology and learn with some really dynamic and thoughtful educators.The final two days of the stretch were spent with the San Marcos Unified School District in California.  Adina Sullivan and Brian Frost are working with a large cohort to launch a new endeavor to go 1:1 in a ton of classrooms this year, while working on using an inquiry-based framework for shifting the teaching and learning.  On Thursday, I met with the middle and high school teachers and on Friday I met with the elementary teachers (special shout to Anthony Barela, one of the Elementary principals who I had the pleasure to meet at ISTE this year, for all the obvious support and energy he gives his staff and school).

Teachers are deconstructing an inquiry unit looking for the questioning, research, discussion, creating and reflection pieces.— Diana Laufenberg (@dlaufenberg) October 19, 2012

After spending eight hours over the two days with these teachers, it became apparent that what was happening is that they are getting it right.  Now, I am not privy to the specifics and I know there have been challenges and hiccups along the way.  At the base level, though, this is an endeavor that brings an initiative for technology on board while also focusing on how one can teach and learn differently with the new tools and expanded access to information.  We spent the first half of each day discussing how the teaching and learning was progressing.  Teachers were openly sharing their successes, stresses, strategies and work arounds.  But most of all they were in engaged in meaningful dialogue about teaching and learning using a shared protocol for lesson planning and discussion.  From my vantage point they:

• Established a pedagogical framework for teaching and learning that was to be used in the initiative
• Provided release time, extra support and feedback throughout the process
• Disseminated the resources/gadgets/'the shiny' to the teachers
• Continue to revisit, share and reflect frequently.

While this should not be something unique, new initiatives are increasingly bungled in many districts due to trying to do more with less, change on the cheap.  SMUSD is just doing more, smartly.  Thoughtfulness and planning went into this structure and not everyone gets this right.  Kudos to all of the hard work and transformation that they are cultivating.  Am excited to see where the future of this initiative leads.

Professional Collaboration in Action Continued

On Monday night #engchat and #sschat joined forces to have a combined #engsschat.  There were a ton of good ideas flying around and one such idea was explored by Larissa Pahomov - @lpahomov - and I.  The question came up around what teachers were planning to do with the upcoming Presidential Debates and she remembered this great poster on logical fallacies that she used last year.  In addition, I played State of the Union Bingo with my students last year and an idea started to form.  Right after the chat Larissa posted a lovely reminder about the reach of professional collaboration.  She writes:

We teased this idea out during #engsschat, and then I shot of a quick e-mail to the 11th Grade English and History teachers at SLA. Is this definitely going to work out, or look anything like I just described? I can’t say for sure, but we’ll end up with some variation on this idea for sure.

So yesterday I took a moment to revisit the bingo card from the State of the Union, care of the National Constitution Center.  Then I set about creating one that would work for the debate.  So the thought process goes:

1. Students need real experiences to learn content and skills.
2. The debates are an authentic event that lends to building fluency with issues related to policy and government.
3. One of the key parts of analyzing the language of debates is to understand logical fallacies.
4. Kids like to play games.
5. Therefore, a game card that reinforces the role of logical fallacies with the content of the Presidential debates will accomplish a plethora of learning goals.

So yesterday, I spent a few minutes and made a game card and suggested directions for use.  Here is the PDF file (Presidential Debate Bingo - 10:03:12), as well as the raw .doc file (Presidential Debate Bingo) and the page where you can see the logical fallacies sheet we used.  There are more logical fallacy sites out there with greater detail - here and here.If I were to use it... I would have students review the different types of logical fallacies and then place them on the squares themselves.  Allowing choice means a thought process evaluating the options, which will increase their ability to interact with the information as it plays out in the debate.  I would also allow for fallacies to be placed 2 or 3 times if that is what the student felt was going to play out in the debate.  Other teachers may make a different decision.Thanks to Larissa and #engsschat for the venue to spin up ideas for use in the classroom.

Kids, Voting and the Classroom

For as long as I can remember, I felt voting was an incredibly important piece of being an American.  Registering to vote was not a question, it was happening and I was lucky to vote for the first time in 1992 - the holy grail of first time voting experiences - a Presidential election.  Since then I've voted in countless elections and registered to vote many times as I can't seem to commit to any one address or state for very long.  In each location, I spent a considerable amount of time in the classroom helping students to understand what voting is, what participating or not participating means, how to get registered, what voting day is like, etc.  Ahead of a conversation that will be held later on today, I'd like to outline a few things that have worked in my classroom over the past decade and a half (has it really been that long).Ideas for getting students more interested, engaged and active in the democratic process:

• Election Forum - Back in my very first teaching job in Wellsville, KS I helped students organize a community wide election forum event that recruited candidates to take questions in a public forum.  In addition, the students produced a booklet that outlined the main platform and biographical information for each candidate running in the 1998 election.  In addition, they did all the communicating with the campaigns, production of the booklet (which was placed at the bank, post office and gas station in town), vetting of and asking of the questions during the forum.  We also know that any good community event has food, so it was an ice cream social as well.  To this day, one of the most stunning examples of what students can do when allowed the room to do it.
• Offer extra credit to go and see candidates speak.  Anyone who has been in my class knows that I rarely give out extra credit, but going out to campaign events is an interesting part of the political process.  One of my favorite moments was watching the Secret Service approach 5 of my HS students (all boys on the FB team) to ask for help in repositioning the stage prior to the arrival Bill Bradley at the local Kansas City airport.  They were beyond speechless and respectful.  To get the extra credit, the students needed to turn in a one page written reflection on the experience, the next day.  Every single one of those boys brought in some of the best writing they had done all year.  Doing REAL things matter.
• Invite the official from the city/county that is responsible for registration to speak to the students about what to expect in the registration process and then in voting.  In addition, ask the official to specifically address what they students should be doing to ensure they can vote at college, or absentee at their home address.
• Weave current events and the election into the daily/weekly routine of the class.  The students need to start early to pick apart the rhetoric from the real conversation.  This is not something that just happens once someone turns 18.  This 'crap detection' takes some serious time to get the hang of and students love being in the know and wise in their consumption of media.
• Citizenship/Civis Homework - Students need to attend more public meetings and events where decisions are being made that affect their future.  For the past 4 years, SLA students were assigned quarterly Citizenship Homework: 1st Quarter - Voting Day Interview, 2nd Quarter - Attend a public meeting, 3rd Quarter - Volunteer Work, 4th Quarter - Free choice of any of the previous three options.  The point of this homework was for students to actively participate in their communities, become aware of policies and procedures that govern those interactions and reflect on their own future roles in those spaces.
• Although part of the previous bullet point - let me assure you that having students go to the polls on election day and interview people is a fabulous idea.  The process and all is a whole 'nother blog post, but if it is at all feasible in your area have the students AT the polls.  One of the barriers to voter participation is the fear factor of looking stupid or doing it wrong.  Having students enter that space and see the process when the stakes are low is key.  This works.

As educators, we are in a spectacular place to help bring awareness to students and empower them in this process of participating in the democratic process.  To waste this opportunity means that we do not value an active and informed citizenry.  Let's move this goal up, in the long list of priorities we have for the classroom.  It matters.

33 years.

Starting in the fall of 1979 until the end of school 2012… I have never, not been enrolled in or employed by a school.  K-12, led directly to college, which led directly to teaching… 33 straight years of first days  After deciding last spring that I was going to take a year to travel, consult and breathe, I knew that the day would come and go that I was supposed to go back to school.Today was that day, as SLA started school this morning.  Now, I wasn’t exactly absent the process, as Ms. Hull and I are still working with the ever talented and delightful Hullenberg Advisory.  While Ms. Hull distributed 350 computers to SLA 10-12th students, I was in a Google Hangout with the advisory, doing their transcript review, giving out locker assignments, filling out paperwork and answering questions.  I was there (via webcam) for two hours.  It was lovely.  But it wasn’t my first day of school.I certainly have embraced change in my path over my career, but it was always from one school to the next.  Today, today is a different kind of change.  Good in its own way, just different.  I love working in schools and with teachers and students.  This year will be different from the previous 33 in some big ways.  Today, was a first day of sorts for me, just not the first day of school I’ve been accustomed to.

Teaching History Thematically

The Pitfalls of Chronology

History is a series of events and causal relationships, stories and tragedies and successes, that when strung together weave narratives of peoples and places. To teach this has proven quite tricky throughout American education. Any history teacher watching Jay Leno and his random trivia questions cringes in horror at the utter lack of historical understanding in the greater American populace. However, one must ask, "If we teach history every year in school, why do the students retain so little of the information?"

This is the perfect time to invoke Einstein's famous quote, "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." After a number of years of teaching history chronologically, I made the curricular decision to shift to a thematic approach. I am privileged to work in schools that allow me the flexibility to make these types of classroom decisions.

My rationale for this change was grounded in a number of gut-check teacher experiences but also in the writings of Sam Wineburg, Eric Foner, David Perkins, andJames Loewen. America has never excelled at knowing its own past. As I watched the school days pass, I observed that students participated and engaged, but still did not meaningfully retain the information. Something had to give. I ditched chronological teaching.

The way that I choose to envision the problem for the average student of history involves papers, books, and bookshelves. We teach students history by giving them pieces of paper (facts) with no real understanding of how to connect or make meaning. These papers stack up, but the learner can never find anything because the information is without structure or organization. Our students need bookshelves before we can really expect them to put any of the information away. Once the bookshelves exist, they can then begin to shelve their information in a way that allows for understanding and recall. In my classroom, each of the themes then becomes a shelf and as students understand the greater historical narrative they look for patterns and trends and flow over time. This long look at history invites the student into the story. Also, it provides shelves on which they can then store historical knowledge as they move into adult life.

But What are the Themes?

The themes that I teach in American History are: American Identity, Political Participation, War, Business, Balance of Power, The American Dream, Environment, and Pivot Points. This is certainly not a comprehensive list or the "right" list, but it is the one that I settled on after much collaboration, discussion, and debate with a number of teachers. We work through two themes per quarter and have a project attached to the learning goals of each theme.

A Closer Look

One unit that gets better each time I teach it is the War unit. Many K-12 history students feel like history class is one long study of America at War, rather than of the rich narrative that accompanies the nation’s endeavors. My War unit asks students to define war. One would think that with the amount of conversation about war we foster in America that this would be an easy process. Let me assure you it is not.

I start by asking students to write their own definition, then work with a partner to get one definition between the two.

After that, the partners join another partnership. We stop for a bit at this point and the students take their group definition and apply it to the American historical record. Each student is responsible for a section of years and applies their group's war definition to determine if America was at war that year. They then name the war and the place it occurred and report the death tolls. This is a bit time consuming, but I find that this process makes students reconsider the definition as well as thoroughly examine the historical record. We then return to the definition activity and repeat the consensus process until we get to a whole-class discussion.

The goal of the whole-class discussion is for the students to come to consensus on the definition of war. It takes all 65 minutes of class. I do not actively participate at all; I observe. This is about them and their ideas. The students sit in a circle and decide a process and go. Watching it unfold this year was like educational bliss: students asking really tough questions, listening hard to the answers, pushing back when they did not agree—but doing so respectfully, other students making sure each person’s voice was honored in the process. In the end they have a definition, but they also have a sense of the concept that I could not possibly instill in them in any other way. They did this. The creation of the definition was also the creation of their learning.

We then layer this theme over the previous themes and discuss connections and patterns and flow and trends that exist when we look at multiple themes at once. Then we move forward with another theme. By the end of the year they have seven shelves onto which to load their learning. The final unit has students choose a pivotal point in history and change the outcome. This final unit draws upon all the previous themes to craft a story that retells history.

Thematic teaching may not be the answer to improve the responses for the Jaywalk All-Stars, but in my 14 years of teaching, I have never felt more confident that my students are learning history in a way that allows them to learn beyond my classroom, beyond the textbooks, and beyond the boredom that many of them attribute to history class. Our struggles as a nation require a populace that is engaged and informed. Our history classes need to be a place that establishes the framework that assists them in becoming the citizens we need them to be. I believe that thematic teaching moves us closer to that goal.

Thoughts on Group Work

Tomorrow I will be working with a group of roughly 65 professors at West Chester University.  I am thrilled to have the opportunity to talk to the about PBL and the pedagogical foundations that support such learning.  The organizers of the event did a survey and asked if the attendees had any requests or questions.  One consistent theme ran throughout the submissions:  How do we create functioning, collaborative groups?  So I did a little thinking about the pieces of the puzzle the I consider when to facilitate effective collaboration and searched for some reputable sources for more ideas.My thoughts on group work and collaboration:

1. Group work is tricky.  For me there are two goals with group work: individually assess student capabilities and fostering more effective collaboration skills.  In order to accomplish this goal I grade a portion of the group work as individual and the other portion as group.  For instance, at SLA we use a common rubric.  There are 5 categories and for most group projects I assess the students individually on Research, Knowledge and Process while assessing the group grade through Design and Presentation.  This allows for students to evidence individual learning while also collaborating on a group endeavor.  I find that this lessens the… I’ll do everything myself syndrome that plagues group work.
2. Another idea is to contract for the work…  I create a work contract that identifies the different roles/products the group members are responsible for completing.  All members of the group sign the contract.  When there are concerns or questions, the contract is referenced and used to settle confusion or disputes.
3. Allow students to identify one person in the room they would like to work with and then pair up the partners.  Choosing to work with at least one person they know or trust goes a long way to moving the collaborative process along.
4. Allow for mid-project reflection.  Ask them how it is going.  Let them tell you when it is going successfully or poorly and you should have some suggestions for course correction.
5. Let students self-assess work.  This gives you an interesting insight into how the student views their accomplishments while also providing some context to the whole learning endeavor.
6. Use a project management tool to keep track of the progress.  There are any number of project management tools out there to pick from - http://www.wrike.com/ or https://trello.com/ or http://www.zoho.com/projects/ or... google it, the list goes on.  having the work process out in the open provides a level of transparency between group members and the instructor to communicate what is happening in the day to day working of the group.
7. Call out the free rider.  It is incumbent upon the instructor to address issues of the 'free rider'.  I have often severed them from a group and given them an adjusted (and hefty) individual version of the work if they persistently underperformed after multiple conversations about improving the working relationship.
8. Don't make every project group work.  It is completely possible to have meaningful collaboration with your class while creating an independent project.  Class time can be used to workshop ideas, assist in thinking, run scenarios, etc.  Just because someone is working independently, doesn't mean the classmates can't collaborate on their work.
9. Try to work on a group project yourself.  Own the fact that it is challenging, and have some compassion for the difficulty that comes from working with others.
10. Be prepared to keep tweaking your approach, talk to your colleagues, adjust the parameters... tinker.  This is a process much like anything else and there is no list with all the special tricks that if you complete, you will have the perfect groups.  This is learning as much for the instructor as the students.

 What ideas do you have in the way of suggestions for effective collaboration and group work?