Where have we been?Where are we now?

Transformational Change

Where We Are Going…

1. Growing as a connected learner2. Creating a collaborative culture3. Becoming an action researcher4. Developing our PLN5. Transparently sharing what we

learn as a way of leading and teaching

6. Culminating Event

What are you doing to contextualize and mobilize what you are learning?

How will you leverage, how will you enable your students to leverage- collective intelligence?

Driving Questions

How will education in your school, El Paso ISD, Texas, and beyond be different tomorrow because of our meeting today?

You are not a victim. Your are a connected agentof change.

What is Action Research?Action research is a process in which participants examinetheir own educational practice systematically and carefully,using the techniques of research. It is based on thefollowing assumptions:

• Teachers and principals work best on problemsthey have identified for themselves• Teachers and principals become more Effective when encouraged to examine andassess their own work and then consider ways of working differently• Teachers and principals help each other by working collaboratively• Working with colleagues helps teachers andprincipals in their professional development

We are using digital media as part of our action research!

What is Not Action Research?

Action research is not what usually comes to mind whenwe hear the word “research.”

Action research is not a library project where we learn more about a topic that interests us.

It is not problem-solving in the sense of trying to find out what is wrong, but rather a quest for knowledge about how to improve.

Action research is not about doing research on or about people, or finding all available information on a topic looking for the correct answers. It involves people working to improve their skills, techniques, and strategies.

Action research is not about learning why we do certain things, but rather how we can do things better. It is about how we can change our instruction to impact students.

1) Individual2) School or district wide

3) Collaborative action research may include as few as twoteachers or a group of several teachers and others interestedin addressing a classroom or department issue. This issuemay involve one classroom or a common problem sharedby many classrooms. These teachers may be supported byindividuals outside of the school, such as your partnership with PLP.

There are 3 Types of Action Research

The old ways of learning are unable to keep up with our rapidly changing world.

Because of the fast pace of change- to do nothing means you are sliding backward.

New media forms are making peer to peer learning easier and more natural

It is not an either/or scenario. Kids need you to do both. Teach content and create learning environments where they can learn through experience.

Principles: the new culture of learning

Brian Crosby, an upper elementary teacher for 29 years, guides the learning in a model technology classroom in Sparks, Nevada.

It is estimated that 1.5 exabytes of unique new information

will be generated worldwide this year.

That’s estimated to be more than in the previous 5,000 years.

Knowledge Creation

For students starting a four-year education degree, this means that …

half of what they learn in their first year of study will be outdated by their third year of study.

Shifting From Shifting ToLearning at school Learning anytime/anywhere

Teaching as a private event Teaching as a public collaborative practice

Learning as passiveparticipant

Learning in a participatory culture

Learning as individuals

Linear knowledge

Learning in a networked community

Distributed knowledge

"The world is moving at a tremendous rate. Going no one knows where. We must prepare our children, not for the world of the past. Not for our world. But for their world. The world of the future." 

John Dewey

Dewey's thoughts have laid the foundation for inquiry driven approaches.

Dewey's description of the four primary interests of the child are still appropriate starting points:

1. the child's instinctive desire to find things out2. in conversation, the propensity children have to communicate3. in construction, their delight in making things4. in their gifts of artistic expression.

Students are Individuals

1. Children are persons and should be treated as individuals as they are introduced to the variety and richness of the world in which they live.

2. Children are not something to be molded and pruned. Their value is in who they are – not who they will become. They simply need to grow in knowledge.

3. Think of the self-directed learning a child does from birth to three– most of it without language. As they mature they are even more capable of being self-directed learners.

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Why we have to do both…

1. Knowledge was valued because it was seen as stable and scarce. Most knowledge was explicit (content driven). It stood the test of time. (speed of light) It isn’t the kind of information that is better learned by being absorbed through experience. Teaching = Transfer of knowledge

2. In the 21st C we learn through tacit knowledge. Experience. Some things just can’t be taught- you have to experience it yourself. As we learn this way we make connections. In a fast changing world explicit knowledge only will not help students succeed.

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Have we replaced “doing” with “mastering skills”?

Have we subordinated our student’s initiative to a schedule we designed according to pragmatic factors other than their creative needs?

We require them to try and become interested in hours of listening to talking and there is little time for those students to express themselves.

Three Rules of Passion-based Teaching

• Move them from extrinsic motivation to intrinsic motivation

• Help them learn self-government and other-mindedness

• Shift your curriculum to include service learning outcomes that address social justice issues

What does it mean to work in a participatory 2.0 world?

Building Relationships

Looking Closely at Learning Community Design

4L Model (Linking, Lurking, Learning, and Leading) inspired by John Seeley Brown http://learningcircuits.blogspot.com/2006/06/roles-in-cops.html

This model is developed around the roles and interactions members of a community have as participants in that community.

Degrees of Transparency and Trust

Join our list Join our forum Join our community

Increasing collaboration and transparency of process

Project/Problem-Based Learning

Rigor without sacrificing excitement

Let’s do a KWLhttp://bit.ly/ip0yqT

What is Project-Based Learning?

• PBL is curriculum fueled and standards based.

• PBL asks a question or poses a problem that ALL students can answer. Concrete, hands-on experiences come together during project-based learning.

• PBL allows students to investigate issues and topics in real-world problems.

• PBL fosters abstract, intellectual tasks to explore complex issues.

How Does Project-Based Learning Work?

Select and research topic:• Make sure the topic is of personal interest to you and the students and that it is

based on their needs and developmental levels. Consult the state and local curriculum guides, teacher’s editions of textbooks, trade books on the topic, and other expert learners. Involve the children in planning.

Identify concepts/brainstorm topic:• Identify key concepts or subtopics related to the theme of the project. A semantic

map is an excellent way to visualize and brainstorm content related to a theme. Use K-W-L with the children for their input about what they want to know. Get ownership through their questions.

Locate materials and resources:• Locate diverse materials and resources related to the topic, i.e., children’s literature,

films, manipulatives, music, arts/crafts, resources, and people from your Web community. Utilize diverse global perspectives.

Plan learning experiences:• Develop a variety of learning experiences related to the topic. Include hands-on

activities using concrete objects. Plan for small and large group activities, learning centers/stations, independent research, exploration, problem-solving, using both divergent/convergent learning activities.

Use Internet resources and models when gathering materials and planning learning experiences.

– Online Correspondence and Exchanges: Involves setting up keypal (e-mail penpal) connections between your students, their online peers, and subject matter experts (SMEs) like scientists and engineers working in the field. Also includes the formation of learning communities.

– Information Gathering: These projects challenge students to use the Internet to collect, analyze, compare, and reflect upon different sources of information.

– Problem-Solving and Competitions: Online competitions are projects through which students must use the Internet and other sources to solve problems while competing with other classrooms. Student created learning products are an outcome.

– WebQuests and Artifact Creation: Online learning activities in which students explore and collect a body of online information and make sense of it – from an inquiry-driven approach.

– Online Conferencing: Students use asynchronous and synchronous learning environments or audio or video conferencing software to collaborate and complete various project objectives

Guidelines to PBL ContinuedIntegrate content areas:• Use a webbing approach to organize concepts and activities into

content areas: the arts, sciences, social studies, mathematics, literature, and technology. The goal is seamless integration of all content area learning within the planned activities.

Organize the learning environment: • Consider space, time, materials, learning experiences, teacher/learner

roles, methods of assessment and evaluation.Initiate integrated/interdisciplinary study:• Arouse students’ curiosity and interest with stimulating introduction.

Consider visual display of theme as well as introductory activities. Culminating activity:• Bring closure to the theme by concluding with an event. Incorporate

parent involvement, collaboration with other classes both in the school and the blogosphere, and allow students to use technology to enhance learning and celebrate success!

Assessment and authentic evaluation:• Use assessment and evaluation which may include the following:

“kidwatching,” observations, anecdotal records, checklists, conferences, informal interviews, rubrics and digital portfolios.

Question

• Take a real-world topic and begin an in-depth investigation

• Start with the Essential question(s).• Have students do a concept map with you

around the topic. (You have already created one during your planning)

• KWL• Questions from group to research

Plan

• Plan which content standards will be addressed while answering the question. (I start with my concept map, then I break into a topic map, then I match standards)

• Involve students in the questioning, planning, and project-building process. (I decide which areas I will teach and then I put them in cooperative learning groups of mixed ability and let them choice their area to become experts)

• Teacher and students brainstorm activities that support the inquiry.(I use a tic tac toe activity chart. Groups will choose three to do.)

Schedule• Teacher and students design a timeline for project

components.• Set benchmarks--Keep it simple and age-

appropriate.• Learning contracts help with individual passions.• Learning stations help support exploration and

discovery• Schedule individual and group meetings with you.• Schedule initiating and culminating events well in

advanced.

Monitor

• Facilitate the process.

• Mentor the process.

• Utilize rubrics and peer assessment/relfections

Assess

• Make the assessment authentic.

• Know authentic assessment will require more time and effort from the teacher.

• Vary the type of assessment used.• Electronic portfolios work well

(video, podcasts, and digital pics of work)

Evaluate

• Take time to reflect, individually and as a group.

• Share feelings and experiences.• Discuss what worked well.• Discuss what needs change.

• Share ideas that will lead to new inquiries, thus new projects.

Shifts focus of literacy from individual expression to community involvement.

Students become producers, notjust consumersof knowledge.

Shifts focus of literacy from individual expression to community involvement.

Connected Learning

The computer connects the student to the rest of the worldLearning occurs through connections with other learnersLearning is based on conversation and interaction

Stephen Downes

Connected Learner ScaleThis work is at which level(s) of the connected learner scale?Explain.

Share (Publish & Participate) –

Connect (Comment and Cooperate) –

Remixing (building on the ideas of others) –

Collaborate (Co-construction of knowledge and meaning) –

Collective Action (Social Justice, Activism, Service Learning) –

Digital literacies• Social networking• Transliteracy• Privacy maintenance• Identity management• Creating content• Organizing content• Reusing/repurposing content• Filtering and selecting• Self presenting

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21st Centurizing your Lesson Plans

Step 1- Best Practice

Researchers at Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) have identified nine instructional strategies that are most likely to improve student achievement across all content areas and across all grade levels. These strategies are explained in the book Classroom Instruction That Works by Robert Marzano, Debra Pickering, and Jane Pollock.

1. Identifying similarities and differences2. Summarizing and note taking3. Reinforcing effort and providing recognition4. Homework and practice5. Nonlinguistic representations6. Cooperative learning7. Setting objectives and providing feedback8. Generating and testing hypotheses9. Cues, questions, and advance organizers

Step 2- What Tool Fits?Web 2.0 Tools and Marzano

Developed by Stephanie Sandifer (author of Change Agency)

Web2.0 that Workshttp://web2thatworks.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

NECC Presentationhttp://web2thatworks.com/index.php?title=NECC

Bloom's Taxonomy Blooms DigitallyBy Andrew Churcheshttp://edorigami.wikispaces.com/file/view/bloom%27s+Digital+taxonomy+v2.12.pdf

http://www.techlearning.com/shared/printableArticle.php?articleID=196605124

Andrew has embedded 21st centurized verbs into the new levels of Bloom’s taxonomy.

What are specific strategies you use in your classroom for a particular discipline?

How do you do it?-- TPCK and Understanding by DesignThere is a new curriculum design model that helps us think about how to make assessment part of learning. Assessment before , during, and after instruction.

Teacher and Students as Co-Curriculum Designers1. What do you want to

know and be able to do at the end of this activity, project, or lesson?

2. What evidence will you collect to prove mastery? (What will you create or do)

3. What is the best way to learn what you want to learn?

4. How are you making your learning transparent? (connected learning)

It is never just about content. Learners are trying to get better at something.

It is never just routine. It requires thinking with what you know and pushing further.

It is never just problem solving. It also involves problem finding.

It’s not just about right answers. It involves explanation and justification.

It is not emotionally flat. It involves curiosity, discovery, creativity, and community.

It’s not in a vacuum. It involves methods, purposes, and forms of one of more disciplines, situated in a social context.David Perkins- Making Learning Whole

21st Century Learning – Check List

ASSESSMENT NEEDS

TO CHANGE. WE

KNOW THIS.

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NEW DIRECTIONS IN ASSESSMENT

KWL• What do you

know about assessment in the 21st Century?

• How do you use formative assessment?

• What do you wonder?

Shifting From Shifting ToLearning at school Learning anytime/anywhere

Teaching as a private event Teaching as a public collaborative practice

Learning as passiveparticipant

Learning in a participatory culture

Linear knowledge Distributed knowledge

Learning as individuals Learning in a networked community

Teacher driven (teacher gives knowledge) Student driven(student constructs knowledge)

Summative assessment Formative assessmentTeacher is expert Student’s knowledge is valid starting pointPassive Active

Content driven (memorization and regurgitation of facts)

Process driven (analysis, exploration, synthesis)

Shift fro

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on teaching…

NEW DIRECTIONS IN ASSESSMENT

TO AN EMPHASIS ON CO-LEARNING

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NEW DIRECTIONS IN ASSESSMENT

Photo Credit :http://www.annedavies.com/assessment_for_learning_tr_tjb.html

Shift From Shift To

Summative vs. Formative assessment

NEW DIRECTIONS IN ASSESSMENT

Summative assessment is commonly used to certify the amount that individuals have learned and to provide an accountability measure. Summative assessments hold teachers accountable for standardized performance. They measure how well the teacher taught the curriculum.

Formative assessment, in which the assessment is integrated with the instruction (and sometimes serves as the instruction) with the purpose of deepening learning, can replace summative assessment in many cases. Formative assessment measures and supports learning, not teaching.

Issues from the literature – consensus? Formative (e)-assessment is concerned with learners making

progress towards measurable attributes/knowledge/skills/understanding

It is about working with mechanisms and practices which allow the gap to close between what they are currently able to achieve and what they might be able to achieve

Increasing learners’ active responsibility for their part in the learning process is a main feature across a range of contexts and technologies

…but not much further consensus…differences tend to focus around whether ‘assessment’ is treated as an ‘event’ or a ‘process’.

Teacher and learner rolesCox et al 2008 (practice-based element of dentistry): 'a feedback process that provides information that can be used

to fine-tune or modify what has already been done‘….but by whom?

What if…• the teacher/tutor is ‘monitoring’ rather than ‘changing’?• assessment processes are purely for self-assessment?

Wiliam's 5 strategies

Conversational Framework (Laurillard)

Sheryl N

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Formative Assessment Can be used to:

• Gauge students prior knowledge and readiness• Encourage self-directed learning• Monitor progress• Check for understanding • Encourage metacognition• Create a culture of collaboration• Increase learning• Provide diagnostic feedback about how to improve teaching

Technological change is not additive, its ecological. A new technology does not

change something, it changes everything"

Source: Mark Treadwell - http://www.i-learnt.com

[Neil Postman]

NEW DIRECTIONS IN ASSESSMENT

What does it look like?

Feedback• Task -oriented- Provides

information on how well the task is being accomplished .

• Clarification- Looks at process.

How to improve the work.

• Self-regulating - Encourages learner to evaluate their own work.

• Appreciation- specific praise linked to affective growth.

What makes a difference to student learning?

Constant and meaningful feedback -- The Student --Teacher relationship --Challenging goals

John Hattie, University of Auckland 2003

FeedbackBull & McKenna 2004 (computer-assisted assessment CAA) ‘…assessments which assist learning by giving feedback which

indicates how the student is progressing in terms of knowledge, skills and understanding of a subject. In CAA this often takes the form of objective questions with feedback given to the student either during or immediately after the assessment. Formative assessment may be monitored by the tutor, used purely for self-assessment, or used to contribute marks to a module grade’. (p. xiv)

What if…• feedback is complex (Shute 2008), or a two-way or multi-

way process?

NEW DIRECTIONS IN ASSESSMENT

Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach21stcenturycollaborative.com

Change is inevitable: Growth is optional

Change produces tension- it pushes us out of our comfort zone.“Creative tension- the force that comes into play at the moment we acknowledge our vision is at odds with the current reality.” --Senge

Evaluating Best Practice …• What do you look for during the walk through?• How do you tell the difference between chaos and 21st century best practice?• What’s different? What’s shifted?

• Evidence that an administrator may be able to observe in three minutes would include:

• 1) the level of excitement in the classroom – is it “bubbly” excitement, which may indicate some novelty in using the technology? or is it a “humming” excitement, which may indicate a comfort with technology which is driving student motivation?

• 2) the comfort level of the teacher with the technology – is the teacher’s use of the technology fluid or choppy?

• 3) teacher/student collaboration – does the teacher appear to be comfortable with having the students in the “driver’s seat”?

• 4) student motivation – are the students purpose-driven, using their time purposely to achieve their goals?

• 5) authentic experiences – could the lesson be conducted just as well without the technology involved? NEW DIRECTIONS IN ASSESSMENT

Courage to Shift the way we teach and learnthe art of release…

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power. ~~Alan Cohen

NEW DIRECTIONS IN ASSESSMENT