Day Four EDD800 - Summer residency

I feel two things with the week being over: relief and a bit of sorrow.  It was such a joy to finally meet everyone face to face in my cohort.  I know that we will always share a sense of kinship..because of the struggles and the joys.  When one of us is sick, the others feel for that as well.  It is amazing how "Technology" has brought us together.  Oh don't let the P-12 track hear!!!!  LOL..

We started the day with Janet Cline informing us about the grant writing procedures.  We ended the day with Jennifer Little who navigated us through the research engines that the Camden-Carroll library has to offer.  I am brining this up - to thank these two women...and let them know what a fabulous respresentative of Morehead State University they are.  One of the things that sets this University apart is the level of assistance that EVERYONE at the University gives to students. This sets them apart and above the other state colleges. Janet has already established an account so that I can begin my grant writing search.  Jennifer took our names, gave us her personal business card pledging assistance to us at any time.  Our professors answer our emails and questions within the hour, give us feedback and critique, and provide assistance whenever we need it...  Is that service?  Is that dedication?  Is that servant leadership?  This is Morehead State...

The body of the day was with Dr. Phil  Harris and Pat Miller.  Dr. Harris spoke to us on Instructional design issues and challenges.  There were lots of hands on collaborations, so we were very engaged...  He had many thought provoking examples...and I will use my "get around tuit frequently.  Although no one in Indiana will get that slang!!!!  One of the exciting things for me was to learn more about PBS and the streaming opporunities that lie ahead.  As she talked, I was thinking what a cool job it would be to screen video offerings and write curriculum for teachers on the videos.  Obviously someone has that job...just another career option.  I also put the PBS app on my Ipad2...Yahoo for technology! 

So a good week...a memorable week...  My thanks and love to Amy who put me up in her home and treated me with the respect for a mother, a friend, and colleague.  So glad to have Lisa back in the fold today...we cannot lose any sheep from the flock.  How thankful I was to really get to know Rachel better...my Ipad2 advisor... And what a joy to learn the personal side:  Della - my motorcycle heroine, Martha and her beautiful garden, and Rhonda (bless your heart) hang in there - Take the I for now - and let yourself get caught up to life....  We are all connected for life...enjoy the rest of the summer.  much love

Day Three EDD 800 - Summer Residency

Day Three was actually very emotional for me.  As I sat in the luncheon, I did think about my journey so far with the doctoral program, the people who have assisted me, and the relationships that I am forming.  It made me sad, when we did the exercise about listing the three people you cared about the most…all my life I can remember putting Paul’s name down as the most important person in my life…the one who supported me the most.   Dr. Barnett reflected on keeping your relationships in the forefront of importance as you journey through the process…life is short…and you want it all to be worthwhile and meaningful in every way.  I often visualize myself walking across the podium to accept my diploma, and wishing that Paul would be there to share one of the greatest joys of my life, but I know that the journey must be for my own self-satisfaction.   I feel an important part of a Morehead “first” and honored to be contributing back to the University with my capstone project.  That was part of the reason that I wanted to share in a project that would actually give back to the students of Morehead.    I feel like it is part of a small “pay it forward” act on my part.  And even though I did not create the idea for the program, I will get to help formulate it with my feedback and opinions.  This was a major reason that I wanted to be in the first cohort – so that I could contribute and be a part of something being created for the first time.  I could participate in a small part of history – something that would be meaningful to someone and myself.

Today Craig Robertson shared these thoughts on Generative Leadership.  The purpose is to develop spiritual leaders who model community that learns and leads together.  It is important to create environments that foster transformation…one that establishes processes that produce fruit.  That is how I feel about our cohort…we will be a team that produces fruit. 

His take on groups and teams were interesting…and the importance of Trust and Unity to promote change and growth.  His various stories and quotations illustrated the importance of rebirth, reinventing, and revitalization - the importance of radical change and the methodology of discover, develop and deploy.  He also touched upon the importance of building that operational trust through love, learning, and leading. 

The entire theme of the day centered around relationships, community, and the “We not I concept”.  It did make me reflect on the importance of being connected and relational.  Being here with the other members of my cohort reminds me that I am not alone in the process and though miles separate me from them, we will be bonded forever because of the journey.  We are like the explorers of old, blazing new trails, experiencing trial and error in the process, and claiming new territory for ourselves.  Until tomorrow Trail Blazers…

Day Two EDD800 Summer Residency - Dr. Joseph Murphy

     The day was filled with the expertise of Dr. Murphy - Closing Achievement Gaps: Research Based Lessons for Educators.  I learned through a witty, researched based presentation  that the gap has shifted from being an indicator of eduational inequality to a direct cause of socioeconomic decline.  Important points that I have taken away from today:

1.  Schools don't cause achievement gaps.  1/2 of the achievement gaps walks in the door as they enter public school in Kindergarten.  50% of the gap grows there and 25% more transitions from middle school.  There is a huge loss during the summer and summer school for K-5 WAS RECOMMENDED. 

2.  Schools cannot close achievement gaps alone.  Society must take responsibility.  We must re-allocate our resources.  Lower income and minority students are more school-dependent than their mnore advantaged peers and here is where the potential for schools to help solve the problem lies. 

Structure will not not change the gap.  There needs to be a focus on both out of school and in school factors.  Students do not need "different" types of interventions...they need INTENSE support.  There must be trust in the school climate. We must provide an OverAdvantage for our Lowadvantaged.  All components must be in place.
1. Preschool
2. Cooperative instructional strategies
3.  Smaller class size
4.  Quality instruction
5.  Co-curricular/extra curricular activities
6.  More rigorous courses
7.  Placement in high SES schools

I loved his anaology of the "train passing us by"  leaving the station without us.  It made me think of our In-school suspension policy.  Most of the kids that are in that are low-performing students, troubled, bored; feeling like the train has left without them.  And what are we doing - we are keeping them out of instruction for another day..and letting the train pass by them again.  I believe that my school needs to re-think what we are doing here. 

Of course like anything else..the concern for cost was brought up, but Dr. Murphy shared that bold, fearless leadership would be able to find a way, regardless of the hard decisions that would have to be made.  Cost as well as benefits of gap reduction strategies need to be weighed.    Student Under achievement is the problem to be solved.  Each child needs to be looked at - one individual at a time...their level of achievement, equity, and value added.  He ended with the point that we need to help parents to do at home what we want our student to be able to do at school.  We all have an investment to enable students to open 75 doors at the end of their high school careers and look forward to the future...

We ended the day with a seminar on Publishing.  There were several points to consider as we venture into publishing either in journals or in book format.

1.  Research
2.  Contact editor of journal
3.  Review formattingrequirements
4.  Have a colleague edit
5.  Don't freak out if you don't get published the first time
6.  Meet deadlines
7.  Don't have to agree with editor feedback - it is Your Work!
8.  Be patient - could take up to 4-5 months
9.  Take time off before writing your next piece

We heard from several people who had self-published and went through a publishing house.  I could see the passion in Kelly Middleton's presentation and the humble pride in Dr. Wallaces'.  I felt encouraged and know that if and when the time for me to publish rolls around I will have a lot of support in the process. 

Long day...my head is swimming with ideas and information...headed to Amy's for her yummy crock pot dinner and an instructional design to complete.  Ah..the life of a doctoral student...see you tomorrow!

Day One EDD800 - Summer Residency

     The day started with an inspirational charge from Dr. Kathryn Polmanteer.  We are part of the "Great Experiment" - an innovative approach to the doctoral program.  Dr. Karla Hughes followed up with a great directive to "rekindle curiosity and creativity".  I think this sums up my journey so far with the program.  I am humbled by how little I know, and inspired by all that I am learning.  I find myself engaged in conversations with other professionals at a higher level of thinking and feeling my confidence rise daily as my ideas are valued and shared. 
     Our keynote speaker was Stepnen Downes of the National Research Center of Canada.  We listened to his thoughts on open educational resources and personal learning environments.  His out of the box thinking drew many points to my mind that I would like to discuss here.  Although a lot of what he said was in a "NEW LANGUAGE", I do agree with him on his philosophy of knowledge output. "The more sense you make of something - the more you will remember it"  What we do NEED TO REMEMBER - is the case in point here.  The Induction Model allows the flow of information to influence another thought to another and another; in otherwords -  One thought leads to another.  It is data in and then processed with activities that makes sense of it all, to the putput of knowledge or Knowledge Remembered.  The Act of Experience is the growth of learning. 
Stephen Downes is a proponent of Connectivism.  There is no real curriculum.  The product is the Learner.  Knowledge is so complex  - so it needs to be navigated.  That is where the teacher comes in...to be connected is to be engaged.  The process is aggregate, remix, repurpose, and feed forward.  The learning is immersive and complete for the individual and how that is done is on an individual basis.  That is why he believeds in open eduational resources and repositories.  This environment provides phases of openess:
                                                 Learners can access courses
                                                 Open support - academic volunteers
                                                 Open assessment
                                                 Credit for degree
                                                  Receive a degree
     He talked about Learning Management Systems and how they support physical instruction in a classroom.  Our school system uses Moodle and I have become familiar with Blackboard through MSU.  He shared about Grasshopper as a course tool that utilizes RSS feeds or input from the user:  All types of input and organizes it the way that the USER wants. 
     I see open resourcing being totally used in higher education, but I feel that I would use it cautiously on the middle school level.  There would be instances where such open ended resourcing and thought would provoke good conversation, critical thinking and problem-solving on the part of my students.  I don't know how "mature" some of this thought processing would go, but it would be worth the venture.  Just experimenting with the "Language" that middle schoolers have would be a window to a much wider community.  Administrators would have to make things possible, remove constraints and open up access to these resources.  Right now our school corporation is very filtered and the learning environment is not open, but very closed in my opinion...but that is due to fear.  The fear of too much information.  Growth needs FLOW - that constant activation and interaction. 
     He ended with Defining the four measures to weigh openess against.  Is it diverse? (lots of information from lots of different people - proves diversity.  Is there openess?  Is there Autonomy?  Does each individual manage their own growth in their own way?  Is there Interactivity?  I love the autonomy factor and feel that this is really what the doctoral level is all about.
     Lunch provided a time of free-flowing conversation and comment about the presentation and a chance to catch up quickly on each others lives. The afternoon was filled with numerous and interesting capstone projects.  Amy and I were in a group with P-12 administrators and it gave us an interesting perspective on the many issues surrounding each of their school systems.  I continue to learn more and more about Kentucky education and the communities in the eastern Kentucky area.  I feel that I made some new networking contacts and hope to share some ideas with these gentlemen in the future. 
     But for now - my future involves discussion board comments and an Instructional Design that needs my finishing touches..so until tomorrow...

Instructional Design Article Critique #4

Cheating Themselves Out of an Education: Assignments that Promote Higher-Order Thinking and Honesty in the Middle Grades

Instructional Design Article Critique #4

By

Chris Boyd

Morehead State University

The title alone grabs my interest as a middle school educator. Zito and McQuillan report their findings on attitudes of learning and cheating from a study at Goodwin School, a private, nondenominational, coeducational day school, in northeastern Massachusetts.

As students transition from elementary to middle to high school, teachers increasingly assign great weight to performance and grades as opposed to understanding and the process of learning (Anderman & Midgley, 2004).  Students correlate grades as the highest consideration towards admission to colleges and professional opportunities.  Students associate their future prosperity to test scores, grades, and class rankings. 

The study revealed that the environmental factors of secondary education lead to a change in student behavior.  Structure, and student perceptions of their learning,  grows increasingly performance-based.  Students are motivated largely by isolated performances and the grades they receive for their work, regardless of how they attain those grades.  (p.7) 

Goal orientation theory attributes student motivation for learning to the structure of the classroom environment as being either performance or mastery-oriented (Stephens & Gehlbach, 2007).  The differences between these two concepts of academic success influence how student think about their assignments and the purpose of learning.    A classroom that focuses on performance can promote a culture where achieving a particular grade becomes more important to students than the learning.   In mastery classroom, students appreciate the inherent value in the work they undertake and strive to realize course objectives because they find them personally meaningful (Wiggins & McTighe, 2008).

At their worst, performance-oriented classrooms prioritize grades over genuine understanding, present achievement as a comparative phenomenon, downplay the link between effort and achievement, and ultimately create a context in which cheating becomes a particularly viable and morally defensible strategy. (p. 15)

Students cheat less on assignments that they consider valuable to their learning.  If the primary purpose of receiving a good grade is to please parents, or protect their eligibility for a sport – students have more potential and pressure to cheat.  Teachers must create assignments that promote outcomes rather than just performance.   When teachers implement this strategy there will be more value to the work and students can be expected to complete assignments in an honest and ethical way.

Teachers must be careful in weighing assignments – how much something will count.  Students must view learning as preparing them for the future, and that the work that they are doing has value.  Teachers must recognize that when students understand how learning can be used in the real world – they are not as likely to cheat.  As educators it is our job to help students understand why each class is going to be of value to them down the road.  We need to help students make meaning from the content they engage in their courses (Wiggins & McTighe, 2008).

The nature of authentic, relevant, real-world assignments will discourage cheating, because the assignment’s connection to the real world makes it difficult to misrepresent their work (Wiggins & McTighe, 2008).

Strategies to connect are collaborative group projects, student choice and autonomy in their work, teaching experiences for students, use of technology as a tool, open-ended questions, and real-world application.

Wiggins and McTighe are two of my favorite designers.  They are credited with the creation of UbD.  Their philosophy runs true though-out the entire article.  We do not want our students to make believe that they know what they do not know.  We need to create projects and opportunities that engage students in rich learning and give their experiences real world relevance, personal meaning and demand a proof of understanding. (p. 13)

As middle school educators we have the perfect opportunity to help students balance the pressure of performing for grades.  This is so difficult in an educational system that is driven by assessment, standardized scoring, and oriented towards direct results.  Only a collective effort towards authentic learning will help promote the understanding of genuine learning.  UbD is one of those designs, but it would demand a buy-in attitude by an entire staff, administration and parents. We need professional learning communities to offer development for exploring how student work can be designed to integrate authentic and real-world tasks.  Experiences with personal meaning will provide students with the desire to understand, and recognize that cheating will not provide the real answers needed to be successful in the real world and, in fact, may rob the student of an opportunity to learn how to be successful in the real world.

Zito, N. & McQuillan, P. (2010). Cheating Themselves Out of an Education: Assignments that Promote Higher-Order Thinking and Honesty in the Middle Grades. Middle School Journal. Vol. 42. Number 2. November 2010. pages 6-13.

Great Teaching Must Inspire Great Thinking - Article Critique

I came across this article by chance as I was seeking information on Instructional design.  The title interested me, as did the date of the article, which is 1987.

The author is Dr. H Ward Hill, Vice-president and Dean of Union College, Lincoln, Nebraska.  At the time of the article he served as Chairman of the Dept. of Religion and the Division of Humanities.  With this introduction, the audience can immediately understand the religious implications of the article, but on the other hand he shares many interesting points on the issues that arise when schools attempt to teach students to think.  Dr. Hill describes “true education” as training youth to be:”thinkers, and not mere reflections of other men’s thoughts.” (p.7)

Dr. Hill states that teaching critical and independent thinking does not appear to hinge on the controversy between the merits of teacher-centered or student-centered learning.    He goes on to say that most undergraduates don’t go to college to learn to think; most teachers don’t see their role in teaching students to think.  In reflection, I tend to agree, as most of my undergraduate and Master’s classes were for my preparation to enter my career choice.  There was not really time in the class to probe and question philosophies in education.  As a matter of fact, there was really not much time to discuss, debate, or have any real type of dialog.    The difference with the doctoral level is the amount of time that we are allowed to think.  We are operating in an environment of thinking.  Students at this level do not have to worry about standardized test scores, right or wrong responses, and feel the freedom to challenge without repercussion.

Dr. Hill goes on to argue on the lecture style of teaching and the teacher-centered classroom.   He goes on to state that an expert lecture can include techniques that challenge the audience to the highest level of thinking.  Good lecturers can intellectually awakened students to explore other aspects of the subject.  Many student-oriented classrooms may amount to little more than a pooling ignorance, especially if students do not receive guidance in ranking the relevance of ideas and observation. (p.8)

Questioning can serve well in teaching students to think.  Believing that “asking questions” can be an art form, it is essential to pursue a line of questioning that progressively builds to an understanding causing the student to savor the solution. (p.9)  With a series of questions the teacher and students can explore together the solution to questions.  Dr. Hill suggests that it is useful to let some time elapse before asking for solutions, and so as to not let students be “left hanging,” he shares his own preferred solutions, not favoring one over any other.  I remember in one post Dr. Lowell responding to one of my questions, with a comment that he wanted to wait and see what others wrote before sharing his thoughts. 

I find this to be a successful strategy.  We often view our professors on another level of intellect and authority.  As students we have a hard time viewing this authority as just being another peer sharing opinions in discussion.  We were raised to respect authority and part of that respect was to not challenge aloud.  I have had very few of my middle school students challenge my authority in any way.  This article makes me reflect on my own classroom environment.  I usually have questions to stimulate discussion, but most students respond looking for a right answer, and the discussion is often directed at me instead of the rest of the class.  

Dr. Hill encourages teachers to seek to stimulate a higher level of thinking by using a series of questions paralleling the sequence of Bloom’s taxonomy, with questions moving from lower to higher levels of thinking. (p.32)  Teachers should encourage students towards deeper reflections on their own ideas.  Lastly, he points out that some teachers like to move students into unexplored terrain and directly challenge their ideas.

We all recognize the pitfalls that come with questions and discussions.  Some students monopolize the conversation.  It can lead to arguments and controversy and there is never enough time to fully explore ideas.  As John Milton wrote in the 17^th century, “Where there is much desire to lean there of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinions in good men is but knowledge in the making.” (p.33)  I say “good” for the students that speak up and want to be heard.  Just because you aren’t talking in a discussion does not mean that you are not thinking and learning.  Both students can be equally engaged, just in different ways. 

In our rapidly changing world it will be important for our students to think and adapt to different situations. There is still a place for the teacher-led classroom.  It is important that teachers define what they want the students to learn.  Sometimes there is a practical necessity of helping students obtain specific knowledge and this will take precedence over more idealistic concepts.

Hill, H. (1987). Great Teaching Must Inspire Great Thinking. Adventist Education. October/November 1987. Retrieved on November 26, 2010 from: http://circle.adventist.org/files/jae/en/jae198750010706.pdf

Sipping cocoa...

If I have learned nothing else – I have acquired a newly ingrained habit.  Somewhere in my day I have to go to my Goggle Reader and look over the many articles that I have marked to embrace my feed.  This addicting habit has introduced me to a wealth of topics and opinions that I never would have pondered if I didn’t take the time to sit with my cup of cocoa and nestle myself down for a good read.  It is a sort of “My time” instead of wandering around the kitchen looking for something of a high sugar content to satisfy my needs.  So now my caloric intake is satisfied by authors such as D’Arcy Norman Dot Net, English Muse, Cool Cat Teacher, Curriculum Matters, etc. etc.  By the time you look up, forty-five minutes to an hour has passed by and you are only on thirty-four of the 101 in the current folder. 

I have discovered that the only way to get good at something or to learn something – is to invest some time in it.  It is like that nightly math homework that I had in the seventh grade – it was expected and required for me to become proficient.  Now the proficiency is mine for the choosing, as I long to get connected to an academic world of thought that I never knew existed, (accompanied by the cocoa of course).  It also gives me the opportunity to talk out loud and exchange thoughts and perspectives on a myriad of subjects.

So now that I have rambled on long enough, I wanted to share some thoughts on an article by Laura Pappano for Education Week.  It correlates with the Humanistic theory that I am such a fan of – and it made me long for a principal that cared as much as Anthony G. Smith.

In 1999, his Cincinnati Taft High School was in “academic emergency”.  With the focus on the value of relationships, the school progressed to an “excellent” rating which is Ohio’s’ best.  Smith did this by going door to door in the neighborhood and asking for resident support.  He met with every teacher and “listened” as to what was working and what was not.  He built a key relationship with an outside stakeholder, Cincinnati Bell.  “This partnership offered his students an alternate vision to what they see in their neighborhoods (only 55 percent of adults in this census tract have a high school diploma, and 53 percent of households live below the poverty line) (Pappano, 2010).

Cincinnati Bell president, Jack Cassidy provides the use of a cell phone and laptop to every Taft Technology student who maintains a 3.3 grade point average; it also wires the students’ homes for high-speed Internet because, says Cassidy, “poor families can’t afford broadband, but college exists on the Internet.”

Realizing that most of his students come from homes where college is not even considered, let along having a career, Smith provides a safe environment outside of the home and neighborhood where children can be tutored, recreate, and be fed.  But it is just not about their bellies being full, but their minds as well.

What struck me is the fact that Smith leaves nothing to chance.  W always read about stories where students have an adult come into their life and mentor them down the road to success.  Taft takes it a bit further to “insure” that every student has a mentor and environment where creativity is fostered and the tools to do it with.

The opportunity for success must be rooted in relationships throughout the process of change and in a recalibration of expectations that students have for themselves (Pappano, 2010).

What a blueprint for success!  Why doesn’t every school have leadership that steps out of the box and the time constraints of 7-5?  Unfortunately, I think I do know the answer to that.  We have our own lives - but wait - this is our life. Is this not the call of servant-leadership? There are student homes we need to visit. We need to learn from each other and take the time to listen to our fellow peers. There is a corporation or business in every town to solicit help from.  If our school leadership is not willing to do this, why should we be satisfied with that?

Whew I am exhausted from that speech, and I must move on to Melanie McBride’s new piece.  My cocoa has cooled off, so I need to warm it up again…

This is a metaphor right? Or is it a paradox?

Pappano, L. (25, October 2010). In School Turnaround the Human Element is Crucial. Education Week Retrieved from http://www.cps-k12.org/whatsnew/TaftEdWeek.pdf