We in Oneco's Gifted Program are preparing for ROW InTOONational Family Night and I am starting to reflect just a bit. "ROW InTOONational" is Round #13 of an International Collaboration entitled "Rock Our World", which is founded by Carol Anne McGuire who is a Technology Integration Specialist, Vision Specialist, STAR Discovery Educator, Apple Distinguished Educator, ISTE Outstanding Teacher of the Year, Top Online Educator, Disney Teacher, SMARTBoard Exemplary Educator, Google Certified Teacher and American Film Institute Screen Educator. This project has a several components GarageBand Tracks, Geography , Challenge Based Learning Project on Peace, and Video Conferencing. These components covered a multitude of Standards , which include Florida's Framework for K-12 Gifted Learners, Grade Level Sunshine State Standards, Manatee County Strategic Objectives and National Educational Technology Standards. With my reflections, I want to focus on the principles behind Oneco’s Gifted motto “We are a Laboratory and Not a Factory” and how they fit in with a few components of ROW InTOONational.
I thought I would start with video conferencing, which at their very nature are conversations. Throughout this round we have spoken to many places South Africa, Israel and different states throughout the US. At first, I felt the need to prepare what we would chat about and at times over prepared my students. Then I realized over preparing my students really was not how real conversations were going to take place. So in class we have spent time discussing good conversation skills: the importance to not speak when others are speaking, respond when spoke to and how to ask good questions. Truth is when students were allowed to ask their questions and to lead conversations things became more natural. Thanks to the students, we learned about things that I would have never thought to bring up. Sure there are moments of silliness like when my students performed “The McDonald’s Rap” during a video chat with Tel Aviv, Israel or having my boss participate with us as we did the"Chicken Dance" for students in South Africa. However, isn’t silliness part of establishing relationships and I think some times we forget that learning should be fun (and that it is okay to laugh). We have truly enjoyed laughing and learning with all the ROW classes we have had the pleasure of meeting.
Another ROW component, I really saw our motto come to life in was our animation piece on this round theme, which was Peace. We were generously given a copy of the Animation-ish software by Peter Reynolds’ Company Fablevision, which we have enjoyed very much. However, since this software was relatively new to me and completely new to my students we all just learned it together. Putting myself in the learning process really does change the dynamics in my classroom. All of sudden, students weren’t coming to me for all the answers. Instead, students were forced to do the reading, go through the tutorials and experiment more then if they had just waited for me to walk them through each step. Truth is, many times my students find better ways to do things then if I had been involved with their solution. It was my students that figured out that using a photograph would help cut down on our time needed for the animation and also help to make our project look neater. I believe in giving my students choices, options and some controls. Basically, I give them the guidelines and expectations of what needs to be done, but not a manual. Our ROW InTOONational animation piece is just one more example of how our laboratory works.
Before I close this post, I want to send out a BIG thank you to Carol Anne McGuire, Peter Reynolds and all the other Rockers. We have had a blast!! Rock Our World has truly been a program where we have been given room to explore, discover and learn from each other. It has kind of been one big global laboratory that we have felt lucky to be a part of.
To see more on Oneco Gifted Program's experiences check out Oneco's- ROW InTOONational Wiki.
October 20th was National Day of Writing and that day all I wrote was a four page newsletter. After seeing a few others' posted writing, I jokingly tweeted to ask if my newsletter would count for my writing for the day. I did get a gracious reply that my newsletter would in deed count, but it came with a hint that maybe I could write a blog post about something that was going on in my classroom. Honestly, my first response to this request related to my very long To Do List. My thought was I would love to, but when. I feel like I have been running a marathon since walking on campus this year, which I am sure is a feeling many educators can relate to. This is not meant to be a complaint, I love my job and feel lucky to do what I do. However, it just seems like things have been coming at me so quickly lately that I am barely having time to process them. Then I thought, that might be a problem. Maybe this little hint could be used as a wonderful reminder to me to slow down and take that needed time process what is going on. Not just for myself, but for my students as well.
This past summer some of my colleagues and I participated in an online book study for the book Nonfiction Mentoring Text by Lynne R. Dorfman and Rose Cappelli. Which is is wonderful book about using mentoring text to teach nonfiction writing. It was through these online conversations that I was able to really reflect on not just what I had read, but also on the writing instruction in my classroom. However, there was one question during this study that seemed to relate not just to writing, but to so much of what I try to encourage in my classroom.
“ What does noticing and questioning look like in your classroom?” Which I responded:
Honestly, student questioning and observation is what we do on a regular bases in the gifted program. It is really just in their nature to question. Big part of my job it to help channel this energy by providing and guiding student in the use of graphic organizers and formats like Big 6 (http://www.big6.com/kids/), Super 3 (http://www.big6.com/kids/K-2.htm), Challenge Based Learning (http://ali.apple.com/cbl/) so that they learn to take their essential questions and do something with them. It is not enough for my students to ask questions, finish projects or piece of writing if it isn't also about what did that child learned that can be apply to the next time he/she has a question or a real world problem. The ultimate goal is to lead students into thinking for themselves and owning their own learning.
As I reread my response this week, it got me thinking again about what are the things that our students are going to need to know to go forth into their futures. Is it really going to be about memorizing information that can be found with a Google Search or is it going to be more about their ability to apply strategies and solve problems? Maybe when it comes to curriculum we need to not look for scripted programs. Rather ideas, activities and frameworks that teach students to research, investigate and problem solve. I have heard several times in the last couple of weeks about the importance of staying in the question and I feel this is so important. However, this is going to mean that we, as educators, need to be willing to step out of the way to allow our students time to explore and come up with their own answers. It means that we don’t begin our lessons and/or projects with an idea of what the end product will look like. It is an uncomfortable, but necessary place for us to be. Truth is, I want to have students that grow up to be adults who ask questions, research problems before jumping to solutions and this must start with me. Over the last couple of years, I have begun to see my role, as an educator, change from being The Expert (using the term loosely) in the classroom to becoming more of a Guide. I am still in the learning process, but I feel there are a few essential things necessary for me to be an effective a Guide. To be a Guide I must: give my students room to explore, provide a framework to help guide student thinking and exploration (ex. CBL, Big6), be in the question myself, ask questions that promote students to reflect on their process, remember that the real learning is in the process and to encourage my students along the way.
In a nutshell, these principles really bring me back to Oneco's Gifted Program's motto (which I stole from a tweet) and what I hope the program represents “WE ARE A LABORATORY, NOT A FACTORY”.
This trip to Fablevision truly was a highlight of Day 1 of The Discovery Education's Summer Institute 2010. Thank you to Lance, the DEN crew, Peter Reynolds, family and staff. We had a great time and thanks for inspiring us!!!
Since school has let out I have spent a little time looking through pictures and video footage I have collected through out the year. It has really has been fun to look back on where we have been. Honestly, it was an amazing year and time really does go so quickly with kids. One highlight of our year would have to be the global collaboration project we participated in this spring entitled Rock Our World . At one point, I thought I would spend some time reflecting on our participation in ROW, but in reality that job had been done already. With that said, I thought I would included the link to a write up in the Bradenton Herald, our wiki, Rock Our World Website and a few short student video reflections then allow everyone to explore.
What a wonderful year we have had and I can not believe it is almost over. We have all learned a lot this year and yes I did mean WE. Some say that an educator’s biggest job is to promote life long learning in our students and the only way I know how to do that is to model it. Honestly, your children have inspired me on a daily basis to explore, to question, to discover and push my boundaries just a little bit further, which I truly thank them for. This spring I began using this quote to sum up the general philosophy for Oneco’s Gifted Program We are a laboratory, NOT a factory. Let me explain, laboratories are places of exploration, questioning, discovery and the focus is on the learning process. In factories the focus is usually about the outcome or products. Those in factories are taught to do something one way and never expected to ask why or to try to find a better way of completing the task. With those principles in mind, we do what we can to construct projects in such a way that a multitude of cross curriculum skills are covered. These skills include: Grade Level Sunshine State Standards, The State of Florida’s Framework for the K-12 Gifted Learners and National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for Students. I have done what I can to include the standards covered with most of our projects we have placed on the website, but in the future if you have any questions please just let me know. Again, it has been a wonderful year, and your children continue to amaze me. They have been a true joy, and I would like to thank you for sharing them with me. It is my hope that each family has a wonderful and safe summer.
This is our fourth quarter newsletter and I thought it might share it here.
A couple of weeks ago, someone put this quote out on Twitter , “Our classroom should be laboratories, NOT factories.” This is a statement that I personally think is brilliant and I instantly fell in love with. Actually, I have to admit I stole it, reworded it and have been using is as sort of a slogan, Oneco’s Gifted Program-We are a laboratory, NOT a factory! I have used it for our handouts on Digital Literacy and Technology Night , a presentation the third grade girls did for District of Manatee County School Board and our final newsletters for the year. It is my hope that it truly does represent what goes on in our classroom. However, we are living in a world of No Child Left Behind, Core Curriculums and high stakes state testing. Due to these things many educators out there feel that their hands are tied, and that may or may not be the case. However, as educators, we are called not only to be responsible for selecting quality projects, but also we must be prepared to justify those choices. For my personal situation, there is a need to show a direct alignment and correlation with Florida’s Framework for the K-12 Gifted Learners. With that said, through out the year, it has become obvious to me that there is a strong connection between the seven goals in Florida’s Framework for the K-12 Gifted Learners and Challenge Based Learning.
For those familiar with both CBL and Florida Framework for K-12 Gifted Learners you are most likely nodding your head in agreement with the correlation. However, for those of you unfamiliar with CBL and/or Florida Framework for K-12 Gifted Learners I will do my best to explain. I felt the easiest way to do this was to walk through CBL Key Components to show these correlations.
Starting with what the authors of CBL call the Big Idea, which is a broad concept that can serve as a CBL Projects starting point. This Big Idea needs to be explored and looked at in multiple ways. In my opinion, by guiding students through exploration of a CBL- Big Idea, students have the opportunity to practice all the objectives covered by Florida’s Framework for Gifted Learners-Goal 1.
Goal 1: By graduation, the student identified as gifted will be able to critically examine the complexity of knowledge: the location, definition, and organization of a variety of fields of knowledge.
-Locate, define, and organize a field of study as it relates to the broad spectrum of knowledge.
-Identify and illustrate basic principles and the foundational concepts that are central to understanding the essence of a field of study.
-Identify and apply investigative methodologies that are followed in a selected field of knowledge.
Continuing to move through the CBL Key Components to The Essential Question. Essential Questions should be related to the students and their community. In this component students are asked, encouraged and expected to ask a variety of questions that will lead their group in defining a real world problem. I have found that this portion of the project has been both the most difficult and rewarding for my students. They seemed happy to wait for me to ask the questions (or give a problem to solve) and became frustrated when I left that task to them. I am not sure why, but I have my theories. It might be we are concerned with our outcomes therefore, we don’t slow down enough to listen to our students. Students become so use to filling in our boxes (or bubbles) that they never stop to ask any questions of their own. Still once on the right track with CBL Projects my students were able to have the opportunity to work and thrive on the objectives of Goal 2 of Florida’s Framework for K-12 Gifted Learners.
Goal 2: By graduation, the student identified as gifted will be able to create, adapt, and assess multifaceted questions in a variety of fields/disciplines.
-Identify significant questions within and across disciplines.
Generate significant questions within and across disciplines.
Evaluate and refine significant questions within and across disciplines
After students have come up with their Essential Questions, they then generate a Challenge which is based on a real world problem. Defining a Challenge in the CBL process could have been taken directly from the text of Florida’s Framework for K-12 Gifted Learners: Goal 4. Yet, the objectives under Goal 4 seem to be better related to what the authors of CBL call Guided Questions and Guided Activities. Guided Questions are used to help define each students' role in the task as well as guiding their research. Guided Activities are completed so that the Guided Questions are answered and students are able to form a Solution. Guided Activities may include research, interviews, surveys and any other activity that will lead to a Solution.
Goal 4: By graduation, the student identified as gifted will be able to think creatively and critically to identify and solve real world problems.
- Identify and investigate a problem and generate supportive arguments from multiple perspectives of a complex issue.
- Analyze the relevance, reliability, and usefulness of data to draw conclusions and forecast effective problem solutions.
- Use and evaluate various problem-solving methods to determine effectiveness in solving real-world problems.
Guided Questions and Guided Activities also give students the opportunity to practice
Goal 3: By graduation, the student identified as gifted will be able to conduct thoughtful research/exploration in multiple fields.
- Use a variety of research tools and methodologies.
- Use and manipulate information sources.
Detect bias and reliability in the process of research.
-Apply ethical standards to research and analyses
Goal 5 By graduation, the student identified as gifted will be able to assume leadership and participatory roles in both gifted and heterogeneous group learning situations.
-Accept divergent views to positively effect change.
- Identify leadership traits and qualities as they appear in different individuals and situations.
-Manifest significant leadership skills and organize group(s) to achieve project goals
Goal 6: By graduation, the student identified as gifted will be able to set and achieve personal, academic,and career goals.
- Identify personal strengths and weaknesses and accept challenges in both areas to maximize learning.
- Assume primary responsibility for learning, including identifying needs and setting reasonable goals.
- Design plans of action to address benefits and obstacles in achieving goals of personal interest.
After completing this process students should have enough information to begin working on their Solution. The Solution must be concrete, actionable and a publishable product. Solutions can take on many forms and should be student generated. Again, in this process Goals 5 and Goal 6 are addressed. However, I believe the real Framework focus in this stage of process is Goal 7.
Goal 7: By graduation, the student identified as gifted will be able to develop and deliver a variety of authentic products/performances that demonstrate understanding in multiple fields/disciplines.
-Develop products that communicate expertise in multiple fields and disciplines to a variety of authentic audiences.
-Create products that synthesize information from diverse sources illustrating divergent solutions or perspectives.
As I stated earlier, I do believe educators have a responsibility to pick quality projects and be able to justify those choices. Thanks to Challenge Based Learning that part of my job has been made easier. Truth is, CBL also covers a multitude of Grade Level Sunshine State Standards and The National Educational Technology Standards as well, but that is information for possibly another post. Until then, if you would like to check out some of the other standards covered in Oneco’s Gifted Programs CBL Projects feel free to check out the following Standards Pages on these wikis: Stop Girl Bullying, Navigate Your World and Walk Our World-Oneco 2010.
In attempt to introduce my students to what winter is like in other parts of the country we read books and reached out to ask for help. That help came from a student in O’Neill, Nebraska, Emily Morrow. She, with her family’s help, took the time to create a podcast that showed us what a winter in Nebraska was really like. For her podcast she used a green screen effect and it inspired us to attempt to do the exact same thing. I had played a little bit with the green screen feature in PhotoBooth, but had never spent any real time creating anything with it. My thoughts entering this project were a bit naive and I realized about five minutes into it that I should have done a little bit of research before starting. After attempting the effect in different places in the room and different random lighting set ups I realized I needed serious help. Which meant it was time to throw the questions out on Twitter. There I received (as I have several times before) some much needed guidance from Michelle Bourgeois in Colorado and she sent me to Wonder How Website. She and that website really got me headed in the right direction. After that, I head to a local hardware store for some inexpensive lighting equipment. I hit the jackpot at the hardware store too, Greg, who waited on me was a photographer and Mac user. Which was wonderful, because he not only understood what we were trying to do he knew how to do it. So based on all the advice I had received, I bought three clamp lamps and three true color-light bulbs. From there, all that was left for us to do was set things up and we were good to go.
Overall, the activity was a big success with my students and got great reviews from parents. In fact, several of the parents sent our link to relatives around the country, which of course made the kids feel like they were celebrities. I have heard it said,"that it takes a village to raise a child," and that statement is most likely true. However, through this experience, I was once again reminded, that it takes a village to educate the students that enter my classroom.
So thanks again Emily Morrow (and family), Michelle Bourgeois, Wonder How Website, Greg- from the hardware store and of course Apple.
Students' Project
Winter In Florida 2010
