Greenhaus Education and Other "Effects"

 I have been applying to jobs lately for a couple of reasons. Mainly, being an independent education consultant is really difficult in a pandemic, since most of that work involves travel to schools, conferences, or different states to support teacher professional learning initiatives and basically, most of that has dried up. Another reason, which almost seems the opposite reason, is remote positions are more prevalent now, so previous full-time jobs that required specific locations and hours are now going remote. I've been working remotely since 2007, and it's such a consistent part of my life, and important to my lifestyle, especially having to support and help care for my mother with dementia, and now there are more opportunities.  What I am finding as I fill out applications (all online) is the following: It's hard to have a 1-2 page resume/CV when you have been working for over 31 years in education, so I've given up on that! I am 'perfect' for quite a few j...

I read an article this morning from Nira Dale  entitled "Why Instructional Design Must Focus on Learning Outcomes, Not Learning Activities" . While the article was focused on edtech tools and making sure the games, devices and activities used to engage students also focused on learning goals, the message actually pertains to all education activities, whether technology is involved or not. It reminded me of when I was working in Virginia Beach, where the whole district was working with creating lessons using the Understanding By Design framework from Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins.  The key message, that I have continued to utilize in all my work, is that engaging activities for the sake of having a 'fun' thing to do with students does NOT enhance student learning unless the activity chosen connects directly to the learning goals and desired student outcomes. Seems obvious of course - but, you would be surprised at how many teachers create wonderful, fun, engaging exp...

Today is October 21, 2015 and Marty McFly is set to arrive this evening, so of course, a post about the technology that actually exists today compared to what the movie predicted is in order! Someone else has done all the work for me and gone through 22 things that the movie got both right and wrong - I will let you check that out on your own. Here's a movie trailer clip that shows the some of the "things" of the future:  What I find amazing to consider is that the writers/creators of the movie were making predictions about a future 25 years down the road in a time, 1989, where none of this technology existed.   Heck - the World Wide Web was just being born in 1989. And yet now, 25 years later, some of their predictions are in fact a reality. We have 3D TVs & movies, we have Google Glasses, digital cameras, tablets, talking computers who can do things for us (Siri), and while we don't have flying cars, we do have electric cars. It's like Star Trek t...

In perusing the internet for edtech and math news of interest, I came across Sony Global Education Inc.' s Global Math Challenge.   On September 27 you can get online, take a brainteaser math test, competing against mathematicians (young and old) all over the world.  Wow! According the the description, " GMC is full of beautiful illustrations, helping to put math puzzles into a real-world context". This is true if you look at the sample.  You can sign up for the free-Trial Plan, where you will just get your score, or the Standard Plan, in which you actually get to review your results and compare your results with all the other competitors. There are some sample questions for you to 'try it out' before signing up.  Which of course I did.... I was much relieved to find I could actually answer them, though I did get #3 wrong because I misinterpreted the question (I assumed we started from 2, vs. using the given five already assembled). What I loved was t...

I have been doing some independent research on technology use in classrooms.  With all the news about 1:1 classrooms and students using technology apps to learn, I was curious about what is actually happening.  Some of my findings have made me really question whether some of our approaches - i.e. 1:1, computers vs. tablets, are really supporting the way students are learning with technology. I found this interesting report from Project Tomorrow called "From Chalkboards to Tablets: The Emergence of the K-12 Digital Learner"    with some fascinating statistics regarding the technology students are using to help them learn.  You should download the full report (available as a PDF), but I will share a few of the findings here. One thing that stood out for me is the prevalence of smartphone use by students, especially as they get into the upper grades.  Table 1 below shows the use of both personal and school provided devices.  Very apparent that 1:1 and...

I just read yet another article about the push to lengthen the school day in order to improve student achievement entitled Learning Takes Time: Growing Movement Seeks to Expand the Length of the School Day by Celia Baker. The last paragraph of the article I think highlights the advantage of this idea: "More time and money won't help if they are not well-spent, Gabrieli cautioned. The National Center on Time & Learning report suggests that additional time be used for more engaged interaction in academic classes; broader curricula; enrichment activities that boost school engagement; and more time for teacher collaboration and professional development".  As with anything in education (think technology), if it's done right and planned out and designed to address specific needs, it will have an impact.  If it's done for the sake of being done with no real plan or purpose, it is NOT going to be effective. Adding hours to the school day so that students can ...

It's that time of year when I really miss teaching - the start of the new school year where everything is fresh, exciting and new. There is so much hope for what lies ahead.  I remember going in with all these great ideas and new things I was going to try and being filled with the thought that I was really going to be better this year and my students were going to have amazing experiences that would just spark their learning. I miss that. Some years it really did pan out the way I hoped. Most years, there were ups and downs. But - every year was a new challenge and every year I tried to do things differently.  Granted, I was usually teaching the same subjects, but that didn't mean I had to do the same thing, did it? I certainly didn't believe so. Sure, I may have used some of the same projects or activities, but I had different students, I had learned some new things over the summer, and I didn't want to be bored repeating what I had done before. The same old thin...

I was trying to find some inspiration by viewing some previous Ignite talks. I came across this one by David Elliott entitled Unpacking Beliefs at this year's NCSM in Philadelpha, PA back in April. David talks about how our thoughts lead to beliefs, beliefs lead to actions, and actions ultimately lead to improvement. In light of all the things in education we are suppose to focus on these days (Common Core, curriculum, strategies, testing, teacher evaluations, etc.), what really matters is what we believe. If we don't believe teachers can improve, then they won't. If we don't believe technology can enhance learning, then it won't. If we don't believe students can learn, then they won't. Not believing means we are never going to take the right actions that will lead to change and improvement. An interesting thought....might explain why so many things 'fail' in education.  David ends by talking about belief in our students, the ultimate goal of edu...

I was in a meeting yesterday where one person mentioned that his daughter was so amazed that there was no internet when he was growing up. He talked about how she has so much technology - iPad, iPad touch, computer, and yet when she went to school, she wasn't allowed to use any of it. And that he had to buy an outdated graphing calculator for school since she wasn't allowed to use the tool she normally used, the iPad. In response to that remark, there was another person in the meeting who responded that her children were not allowed any technology, especially calculators, at home. Things should be done by hand, especially math. No calculators. It just struck me as odd - such diverse perspectives about technology (in a technology meeting mind you) and about what should or should not be allowed for students in schools and at home. My view is that we do a disservice to our students/children to not provide them with tools that could enhance their learning. I don't think...