Over the past two days, I have met with the new CFF teachers.
Meeting with CFF teachers can actually be a trick at my school. Unfortunately, just because of the way we set up the program, it isn't really all that possible to bring in subs to cover classes. And, because of time issues, there's really only a 30 minute (20 minute after waiting for students to get out of the halls and teachers to pack up for the day) window after school when all teachers must be in the building. I've tried making meetings before school, but a lot of teachers don't have time--they don't show up on time, or they have to prep for the days classes. And, we can't make teachers stay any later--even offering to allow them to leave early the following day isn't much of an incentive for most. And, most of the time, meetings can't be mandatory--I don't have that authority.
So, after a great deal of emailing, my principal finally did make a mandatory CFF meeting for new CFF teachers. I didn't get exactly what I wanted--a meeting for all teachers, CFF and non, new and old--but life is about compromise.
The meetings were identical, but divided into two groups to make sure that a) everyone had a chance to attend and b) keep attendance small (this was when I was still expecting more teachers) so that the Tech Director and I could answer questions without them getting out of hand.
The agenda was simple: real basic intro to your laptops, whiteboards, and projectors. Laptops came first. The basic rules were, know where your cart is housed (up to six teachers are now sharing each cart, and each cart has a permanent home) keep the carts plugged in, make sure students remove and replace laptops carefully and plug them in, and report tech issue to the tech department, not the person keeping the cart. I of course also emphasized that there was to be no eating or drinking while students used the computers. The whiteboard/projector intro was equally basic: how to turn it on, open ActivStudio, plug in all the wires, shut it down, flip between computer and video. The Tech Director also emphasized not turning the projectors on and off too frequently to lengthen the life of the bulb.
So all that was lacking was...any sort of mention of integration. Again, compromise. I'd been hoping to have a longer meeting (or two--one for laptops, and one for projectors). But in a school, time is not something easily come by.
I've created a sort of sign up sheet for my teachers. In some ways, I think one on one instruction/conversation about HOW to use the technology--not just how to make it function, but how to integrate it and make it meaningful--is going to work better than large group instruction. To that end, I created and shared a google doc with all of the teachers, so they can sign up for when they want to meet with me.
I probably could have done better, and maybe even thought the entire process through a little more. Since I won't have a chance to meet with teachers face to face to introduce google docs and walk them through the set up, I emailed them directions on how to set up a google account and access the shared document. Then, all they had to do was type their name into the cell on the chart for the day/period that they wanted to meet with me. It seemed simple.
But, I forgot about the verification email that google sent out. Its sometimes hard to remember these things, when I signed up for this or that program so long ago. The verification email from google had a list of links to google apps that teachers now have access to. That tripped some up. I sent out another email that had the original link to my shared document, hoping that that would be enough to keep frustration levels low, but I fear that teachers just don't have time to be patient with a mistake like that.
For now, I'm hoping that, if I wait til Monday, and send out another email with all the directions (better directions that explain that the links in the verification email will not lead to my document) teachers will forgive and forget.
Even with the sign up issues, I've still had the chance to work with three teachers one on one so far. Working one on one allows me to go at their pace, address their questions, and gives each teacher time to use the equipment--instead of doing a one size fits all group training.
And, even though I had trouble getting folks to sign up for google docs, one of the "cart keepers" decided to create a google docs sign out sheet. I swung by to help her set it up and share it. Most of my advice revolved around giving clear instructions on how the set up process worked. I hope that she has better luck than me.
Showing posts with label learning by doing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label learning by doing. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
White Board on Observation Day
One of the English teachers is being observed today. I haven't worked with her a lot, but I have had the chance to chat with her from time to time. She tends to have a lot of connection issues with her blue tooth (I am so glad that the new boards aren't blue tooth).
Yesterday, she came down to my room. She said she wanted to use the white board for the lesson she was being observed during. She wanted to project a worksheet in word and fill it in. She wanted to know the best way to do it. I'm a fan of showing rather than telling with technology, mostly because I'm not sure I tell all that well (never sure what level of terminology is going to offend or confuse, and easily travel into tangents). Besides, showing gives the learner a chance to try it for themselves right away, which helps them remember. If they don't try it until they go back to their room, they are more likely to forget, and a lot of egos won't let abide by having the same thing explained again. So, we went back to her room.
The first problem, of course, was getting the entire word document to show at once. Fortunately, I'd just figured out where that button was in Word 2007. So, I explained where to click while she did it. I did the same thing to show her how to get ActivStudio to allow her to annotate over the desktop. This seemed a better option than using the Word Marker because she didn't want to save the annotations, and, with this being an observation, I didn't want her to have to deal with the same difficulties as the Calc teacher did--learning to wait for the program to scan the annotation, and having to remember to switch back to the marker.
After walking her through it, I closed everything down and had her try again without my help. I sometimes worry that teachers might feel that this is a bit condescending, but I find it effective. I set them up for success and let them succeed. If they can't get it without help, we start over. I try to not go too many steps without a pause for practice--that isn't going to help "set them up for success." I think that's a bit difficult for someone used to searching for the button that seems to make sense and just trying it. I can get ahead of myself if I'm not careful--and that is only going to confuse and frustrate the teachers. So I try to limit it to four or five mouse clicks in a row, then practice.
So, after getting it right, I left and let the teacher practice on her own. I promised that I would swing by right before the observation and make sure she still remembered everything and see if she needed anything else. And, I assured her, that if I was there observing, too "just in case" it wouldn't seem out of place to the Principal--the coach is supposed to observe.
This morning, about an hour before I was due to visit her, the English teacher showed up in my room with another question. She said that she had everything down, but wanted to know if there was a way to have students fill out the same form, one group at a time. I think I'm also better with being shown than told. I've found (and this is going back to when I worked at the help desk in grad school) that people who are having problems with technology don't always explain it in a way that I follow, and sometimes miss details. So, to avoid frustration on both ends, I've taken to the habit of cutting to the chase and asking them to show me, before I start trying to fix the wrong problem.
So we went back to her room. What she wanted was to put up the desktop annotation screen, write on it, minimize it, bring up a new blank one, and have the students write on it, minimize it, bring up another one, and have a different group write on it. Ok. Not a question I was actually able to answer right away. So I tried it with minimizing. Didn't seem to work--when I tried to start a new one, it just brought the minimized one back up. So, I went with save, close, open a new one. That seemed to be exactly what she had in mind.
I offered again to hang around. She decided she was nervous enough with one person observing. So, I told her I'd make sure to hang around my office and, should she need me, to just send a kid. I'll catch up with her after the observation and see how it went.
Yesterday, she came down to my room. She said she wanted to use the white board for the lesson she was being observed during. She wanted to project a worksheet in word and fill it in. She wanted to know the best way to do it. I'm a fan of showing rather than telling with technology, mostly because I'm not sure I tell all that well (never sure what level of terminology is going to offend or confuse, and easily travel into tangents). Besides, showing gives the learner a chance to try it for themselves right away, which helps them remember. If they don't try it until they go back to their room, they are more likely to forget, and a lot of egos won't let abide by having the same thing explained again. So, we went back to her room.
The first problem, of course, was getting the entire word document to show at once. Fortunately, I'd just figured out where that button was in Word 2007. So, I explained where to click while she did it. I did the same thing to show her how to get ActivStudio to allow her to annotate over the desktop. This seemed a better option than using the Word Marker because she didn't want to save the annotations, and, with this being an observation, I didn't want her to have to deal with the same difficulties as the Calc teacher did--learning to wait for the program to scan the annotation, and having to remember to switch back to the marker.
After walking her through it, I closed everything down and had her try again without my help. I sometimes worry that teachers might feel that this is a bit condescending, but I find it effective. I set them up for success and let them succeed. If they can't get it without help, we start over. I try to not go too many steps without a pause for practice--that isn't going to help "set them up for success." I think that's a bit difficult for someone used to searching for the button that seems to make sense and just trying it. I can get ahead of myself if I'm not careful--and that is only going to confuse and frustrate the teachers. So I try to limit it to four or five mouse clicks in a row, then practice.
So, after getting it right, I left and let the teacher practice on her own. I promised that I would swing by right before the observation and make sure she still remembered everything and see if she needed anything else. And, I assured her, that if I was there observing, too "just in case" it wouldn't seem out of place to the Principal--the coach is supposed to observe.
This morning, about an hour before I was due to visit her, the English teacher showed up in my room with another question. She said that she had everything down, but wanted to know if there was a way to have students fill out the same form, one group at a time. I think I'm also better with being shown than told. I've found (and this is going back to when I worked at the help desk in grad school) that people who are having problems with technology don't always explain it in a way that I follow, and sometimes miss details. So, to avoid frustration on both ends, I've taken to the habit of cutting to the chase and asking them to show me, before I start trying to fix the wrong problem.
So we went back to her room. What she wanted was to put up the desktop annotation screen, write on it, minimize it, bring up a new blank one, and have the students write on it, minimize it, bring up another one, and have a different group write on it. Ok. Not a question I was actually able to answer right away. So I tried it with minimizing. Didn't seem to work--when I tried to start a new one, it just brought the minimized one back up. So, I went with save, close, open a new one. That seemed to be exactly what she had in mind.
I offered again to hang around. She decided she was nervous enough with one person observing. So, I told her I'd make sure to hang around my office and, should she need me, to just send a kid. I'll catch up with her after the observation and see how it went.
Sight Project--Assessment Day Two
Day two went a little more smoothly for me at least.
I checked in with the teacher at the beginning of the day, and she hadn't been happy with any of the grids she'd typed up, even though we had the rubric more or less finished. I offered to type it up for her and make copies. We then used the new grid to revisit our notes from watching the videos.
It was slow going at first, with a lot of second guessing. The teacher was unhappy that the students hadn't had a rubric to begin with. It was a big problem. It wasn't an oversight--we both knew at the beginning that not having a rubric was not a good idea--so much as planning/logistic/experience issue. In the end, we decided to grade the projects according to the rubric, and then give a 2% curve.
As far as the experience issue here, I think it would be good for both the teacher and the students to have experience. Of course, experience with projects, not just the same project multiple years, will help the teacher feel more confident in making a rubric ahead of time, and give her a better idea of what to look for. And, it will give the students more time to get better with the tech so that the tech is not detracting from the skills and content of the class. And it will help them to know how they are going to be graded--not just because they'll have a rubric, but they will be used to having this teacher grade them with similar rubrics (and used to having their classmates as an audience).
After getting through most of the already viewed stories, I decided to bring up some of the ideas that I'd had. For some reason I'm always nervous about that part of working with teachers. I don't want them to feel that I'm being pushy, or criticizing. And I don't want to step on toes.
I started by suggesting she introduce the background work for the project sooner--have students collecting pictures for the length of the unit. This would give them more in class time to work with the videos, and make it more likely that they would take time to find images that interested them, and not just images they had on hand. She definitely liked that idea. Then I suggested that since they would be doing it during the play, she could tie it more to the play by having it be about what students would show Helen Keller, and why, instead of just what they wanted to see. I couldn't tell how she felt about that, though.
The bell schedule was normal for day two. We watched the videos with rubrics in hand. I used the back to take notes to compare with the teacher later. I then circled what I felt were appropriate scores in each category. I'd say the hardest part was quickly getting student names on the papers so I would know which comments went with which students.
I saw a lot of the same patterns that had emerged on the first viewing day. Students often felt like they missed or lost the point of "sight" vs. dying. There were long meaningless stretches of photos with no narration, no captions, no explanation, and no music. And, several stories had sections that just felt insincere. I really believed that some students wanted to see Paris. Others, I had a hard time buying that they would ever go to Italy to see Venice "and other sighs." For the most part, though, everyone had several good elements to their story.
At the end of each class she did something that I wasn't expecting, but was really pleased to see. She just asked for feedback on the project. Apparently she does this for every project. I did this from time to time when I taught, but not nearly enough. It was very informal, too. She just asked, and kids raised their hands to comment.
Fortunately, I happened to have my computer on me and just took notes (for my own reflective benefit, and for this blog). (The computer is a good thing because I type faster than I can write neatly).
Predictably, the conversation took a pretty similar course in all of her classes. The first two offered their comments with little extra prodding. The last class was hesitant to speak at all, though. They did come to many of the same conclusions as the first too, but it took some leading questions to get them anywhere. It reminded me of the first day I'd been in that class and, as this group of girls came through the door talking a mile a minute, the teacher told me "if you ask them to talk, you get stares. If you let them talk, they won't shut up."
The most common comment from students was that they needed more time. Going a long with that, several agreed that if they had been able to work on it from home it wouldn't have been so bad. Or, they would have been able to work more efficiently (my word) if they had had more time ahead of time to learn and get used to the program. (It makes me feel like I'm doing a decent job of reflecting that I was able to anticipate this before hearing the student feedback). Some other criticism were that a lot of the projects were too similar to one another and not enough were original; the computers themselves froze or didn't connect properly which wasted a lot of in-class work time for some students; some people didn't have access to cameras so they didn't have access to personal pictures; some people had so many pictures they didn't know how to fit them all in or what to do with them; the background noise of the class made recording hard; they were embarrassed to show them; and some students (mostly the same that had been making this complain since day one) didn't see a point in having to record themselves talk. One student said she didn't see a point to the project at all, and another said she didn't really see how it was related to Helen Keller.
A lot of these problems could actually be fixed with more time, more explanation in the beginnig, and now having a few projects to show as examples. More time will let them learn the program, give them more time to plan out thier story, allow us teachers to make accomodations for small groups to record outside of the classroom, and give students time to really fine tune their projects for a better finished product. I would say that, using the analogy of an essay assignment, students did some prewriting and a first draft, but some didn't have time for much, if any, editing.
One thing I didn't anticipate was the a lot of students didn't know how (or didn't want) to limit their pictures of friends. They wanted to use every picture on their camera. Next time when I explain about not over using transitions and making the story flow and using music that makes sense, I will a) better explain what I mean about music making sense and b) explain that sometimes less is more and using too many pictures that have nothing new to add to the story will bore the audience. I would also like to add an audience grade component to the project. I don't know how many teachers would be willing to use this as part of the grade, or how heavily they would weigh it, but I think allowing students to critique one another, with their feedback being worth something, it would encourage them to a) do better on their own projects, b) feel a little empowered in class, and c) if they were allowed to critique their own projects, too, help them learn to be more reflective.
Only one comment really bothered me. One student said that she didn't see a point in using the computers for the project. She liked the idea of what they were doing, but would have prefered to just make a scrap book. I know that this particular students had a good deal of trouble with getting the laptop to boot up properly and connect to the network. And, she missed a day, and therefore missed in class time to work. I think perhaps we need to do a better job of explaining to students that they need to learn how to figure out how to do things. I hope that, even though she was complaining in class, she actually did get something out of the project, even if she doesn't realize it yet. I hope that she didn't just learn a little about Photo Story, but that she was able to reflect on herself, and to pick up a few tricks about learning something new.
There were some good comments too. I just like saving the posititves for last. Students called the project unique. Some said that, given more time, they could have really gotten into it ("I could have talked for days about what I really wanted to see.) Some enjoyed working on the project, and even used the word fun. And, my favorite comments, were the students who wanted to do it again, and felt that they could do so much better next time.
Fortunately, a lot of these same students are working on the bio project, and will have the chance, if they choose, to use a Photo Story for the creek project.
I checked in with the teacher at the beginning of the day, and she hadn't been happy with any of the grids she'd typed up, even though we had the rubric more or less finished. I offered to type it up for her and make copies. We then used the new grid to revisit our notes from watching the videos.
It was slow going at first, with a lot of second guessing. The teacher was unhappy that the students hadn't had a rubric to begin with. It was a big problem. It wasn't an oversight--we both knew at the beginning that not having a rubric was not a good idea--so much as planning/logistic/experience issue. In the end, we decided to grade the projects according to the rubric, and then give a 2% curve.
As far as the experience issue here, I think it would be good for both the teacher and the students to have experience. Of course, experience with projects, not just the same project multiple years, will help the teacher feel more confident in making a rubric ahead of time, and give her a better idea of what to look for. And, it will give the students more time to get better with the tech so that the tech is not detracting from the skills and content of the class. And it will help them to know how they are going to be graded--not just because they'll have a rubric, but they will be used to having this teacher grade them with similar rubrics (and used to having their classmates as an audience).
After getting through most of the already viewed stories, I decided to bring up some of the ideas that I'd had. For some reason I'm always nervous about that part of working with teachers. I don't want them to feel that I'm being pushy, or criticizing. And I don't want to step on toes.
I started by suggesting she introduce the background work for the project sooner--have students collecting pictures for the length of the unit. This would give them more in class time to work with the videos, and make it more likely that they would take time to find images that interested them, and not just images they had on hand. She definitely liked that idea. Then I suggested that since they would be doing it during the play, she could tie it more to the play by having it be about what students would show Helen Keller, and why, instead of just what they wanted to see. I couldn't tell how she felt about that, though.
The bell schedule was normal for day two. We watched the videos with rubrics in hand. I used the back to take notes to compare with the teacher later. I then circled what I felt were appropriate scores in each category. I'd say the hardest part was quickly getting student names on the papers so I would know which comments went with which students.
I saw a lot of the same patterns that had emerged on the first viewing day. Students often felt like they missed or lost the point of "sight" vs. dying. There were long meaningless stretches of photos with no narration, no captions, no explanation, and no music. And, several stories had sections that just felt insincere. I really believed that some students wanted to see Paris. Others, I had a hard time buying that they would ever go to Italy to see Venice "and other sighs." For the most part, though, everyone had several good elements to their story.
At the end of each class she did something that I wasn't expecting, but was really pleased to see. She just asked for feedback on the project. Apparently she does this for every project. I did this from time to time when I taught, but not nearly enough. It was very informal, too. She just asked, and kids raised their hands to comment.
Fortunately, I happened to have my computer on me and just took notes (for my own reflective benefit, and for this blog). (The computer is a good thing because I type faster than I can write neatly).
Predictably, the conversation took a pretty similar course in all of her classes. The first two offered their comments with little extra prodding. The last class was hesitant to speak at all, though. They did come to many of the same conclusions as the first too, but it took some leading questions to get them anywhere. It reminded me of the first day I'd been in that class and, as this group of girls came through the door talking a mile a minute, the teacher told me "if you ask them to talk, you get stares. If you let them talk, they won't shut up."
The most common comment from students was that they needed more time. Going a long with that, several agreed that if they had been able to work on it from home it wouldn't have been so bad. Or, they would have been able to work more efficiently (my word) if they had had more time ahead of time to learn and get used to the program. (It makes me feel like I'm doing a decent job of reflecting that I was able to anticipate this before hearing the student feedback). Some other criticism were that a lot of the projects were too similar to one another and not enough were original; the computers themselves froze or didn't connect properly which wasted a lot of in-class work time for some students; some people didn't have access to cameras so they didn't have access to personal pictures; some people had so many pictures they didn't know how to fit them all in or what to do with them; the background noise of the class made recording hard; they were embarrassed to show them; and some students (mostly the same that had been making this complain since day one) didn't see a point in having to record themselves talk. One student said she didn't see a point to the project at all, and another said she didn't really see how it was related to Helen Keller.
A lot of these problems could actually be fixed with more time, more explanation in the beginnig, and now having a few projects to show as examples. More time will let them learn the program, give them more time to plan out thier story, allow us teachers to make accomodations for small groups to record outside of the classroom, and give students time to really fine tune their projects for a better finished product. I would say that, using the analogy of an essay assignment, students did some prewriting and a first draft, but some didn't have time for much, if any, editing.
One thing I didn't anticipate was the a lot of students didn't know how (or didn't want) to limit their pictures of friends. They wanted to use every picture on their camera. Next time when I explain about not over using transitions and making the story flow and using music that makes sense, I will a) better explain what I mean about music making sense and b) explain that sometimes less is more and using too many pictures that have nothing new to add to the story will bore the audience. I would also like to add an audience grade component to the project. I don't know how many teachers would be willing to use this as part of the grade, or how heavily they would weigh it, but I think allowing students to critique one another, with their feedback being worth something, it would encourage them to a) do better on their own projects, b) feel a little empowered in class, and c) if they were allowed to critique their own projects, too, help them learn to be more reflective.
Only one comment really bothered me. One student said that she didn't see a point in using the computers for the project. She liked the idea of what they were doing, but would have prefered to just make a scrap book. I know that this particular students had a good deal of trouble with getting the laptop to boot up properly and connect to the network. And, she missed a day, and therefore missed in class time to work. I think perhaps we need to do a better job of explaining to students that they need to learn how to figure out how to do things. I hope that, even though she was complaining in class, she actually did get something out of the project, even if she doesn't realize it yet. I hope that she didn't just learn a little about Photo Story, but that she was able to reflect on herself, and to pick up a few tricks about learning something new.
There were some good comments too. I just like saving the posititves for last. Students called the project unique. Some said that, given more time, they could have really gotten into it ("I could have talked for days about what I really wanted to see.) Some enjoyed working on the project, and even used the word fun. And, my favorite comments, were the students who wanted to do it again, and felt that they could do so much better next time.
Fortunately, a lot of these same students are working on the bio project, and will have the chance, if they choose, to use a Photo Story for the creek project.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Promethean Boards and ActivStudio--Calculus Classroom
A few days ago, one of the new CFF teachers, a calculus teacher, got his equipment installed. He was very eager to get started.
His first question was how he could use the board to fill out a worksheet in MS Word in a way that, when he scrolled thought the document, the new drawings would move with the board. I went down to visit his classroom. I showed him how to use the Word Marker. He practiced a lot while I was there.
What he wants to do is use this to give students notes. I believe he is going to give the worksheet to students, and then fill it in with them--for their notes. There were pros and cons to using the board this way. Ultimately, it did what he wanted. It wasn't text recognition, which worked better--it allowed the students to clearly see the different between the pre-printed worksheet and the added notes. However, he found in very annoying that, once he paused in annotating, he had to wait for the program to scan his notes as images. Then, he was frustrated that he had to reselected the pen tool. And, we found out the hard way that trying to use the pen for anything while the program was trying to scan the annotations was a bad idea.
However, with practice, he got used to the steps he had to take. He later told me that he started using the board with classes that very day.
Yesterday, I got an email from him about ActivStudio again. This time, he was recording his flip charts and wanted to post them to his websites for students to review. However, he was concerned that students without ActivStudio at home would not be able to view the flipcharts. His fear was correct. I looked into the recordings, and at first recommended that he export them as swf files. I planned to see him at the beginning of the day today to show him how.
By the time I got there, he had not only figured it out for himself, but had also found that they wree not posting correctly to his website. When he clicked on the swf files, they didn't do anything. I was about to start trouble shooting, when he saw that he could export them as ppt. Since he was not concerned with the students following each pen stroke as an action, but was more interested in them being able to see the end product, this worked very well for him.
I was really impressed with this teacher for taking initiative, and learning by doing. This is the sort of skill that we want students to have. I think this teacher could be among the leaders in the school moving towards 21st century education.
His first question was how he could use the board to fill out a worksheet in MS Word in a way that, when he scrolled thought the document, the new drawings would move with the board. I went down to visit his classroom. I showed him how to use the Word Marker. He practiced a lot while I was there.
What he wants to do is use this to give students notes. I believe he is going to give the worksheet to students, and then fill it in with them--for their notes. There were pros and cons to using the board this way. Ultimately, it did what he wanted. It wasn't text recognition, which worked better--it allowed the students to clearly see the different between the pre-printed worksheet and the added notes. However, he found in very annoying that, once he paused in annotating, he had to wait for the program to scan his notes as images. Then, he was frustrated that he had to reselected the pen tool. And, we found out the hard way that trying to use the pen for anything while the program was trying to scan the annotations was a bad idea.
However, with practice, he got used to the steps he had to take. He later told me that he started using the board with classes that very day.
Yesterday, I got an email from him about ActivStudio again. This time, he was recording his flip charts and wanted to post them to his websites for students to review. However, he was concerned that students without ActivStudio at home would not be able to view the flipcharts. His fear was correct. I looked into the recordings, and at first recommended that he export them as swf files. I planned to see him at the beginning of the day today to show him how.
By the time I got there, he had not only figured it out for himself, but had also found that they wree not posting correctly to his website. When he clicked on the swf files, they didn't do anything. I was about to start trouble shooting, when he saw that he could export them as ppt. Since he was not concerned with the students following each pen stroke as an action, but was more interested in them being able to see the end product, this worked very well for him.
I was really impressed with this teacher for taking initiative, and learning by doing. This is the sort of skill that we want students to have. I think this teacher could be among the leaders in the school moving towards 21st century education.
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