Blogging is Learning

I am only now five posts into this blog, but I think I am on to something here.  Since I started blogging, I have jumped around from others' blogs to read what they have to discuss regarding education, politics, Disney World food, television shows, to a Batman vs. Superman showdown and why it isn't as simple as you think it would be.  I am trying to fulfill what seems to be an insatiable desire to learn more.  I am constantly reading on my tablet or smart phone about "stuff", and nothing in particular many times.

Much of the time my wife, excuse me, my BEAUTIFUL wife, asks what I am doing and many times I simply tell her, "reading". However, I found myself in the past year often times responding with, "learning".   And that is true, not some sort of clever connection to the title of this post.  There have been many nights before I go to bed when I pick up my tablet and go on Wikipedia because something I heard that day motivated me to learn more about something.  Before I know it I have gone from searching information about the planet Jupiter because my son asked me a question I could not answer, to clicking on a link about Gas Giants.  If I keep going, I end up on completely unrelated posts and end my night with checking the career statistics of former basketball player "Never Nervous" Pervis Ellison.  It's a good time.  

To my point.  I gave my students in my AP U.S. History class the opportunity to blog.  I use the word opportunity because it is not a mandatory assignment, but rather an opportunity to publish something they want to write about (the whole premise is part of the gamification of my class which is introduced here). Students are starting posts in their blogs and they are responding to the world around them.  They are formulating their own ideas and looking up facts to support a thesis.  Some may not even be aware that they are doing it, but I had one student blog about the partial government shutdown and it is apparent through the post that he looked for information to support his opinion.  It is evidence he can formulate a thesis and analyze data, which, in turn, is exactly what I want when teaching my students to write an answer to a Document Based Question.  It is proof of learning.

I know there is some way I can connect that blog post to a particular Critical Learning Standard or Learning Target, but I am excited that my students are finding an outlet for things they are concerned about and are learning more about the world going on around us.  The opportunity to blog may or may not reinforce something taught in my class, but it is reinforcing what many of us find only in our spare time anymore. The opportunity to focus on something about which you are passionate or curious reinforces the very same motivation that  makes my 4 year old son my favorite student and being his father the best teaching job in the world.  Blogging reinforces the importance of reflection, analysis, and a simple desire to learn.

Glitches

I knew something was going to happen.  I had a feeling that something detrimental to the confidence I had developed in my first year of my 1 to 1 classroom was going to occur. I had a premonition that it was going to be a big deal.  And it happened.  Either the network had a hiccup or the LMS I was using momentarily went dark, and which it was is still a mystery, but either way it left an impression on me and my students that perhaps this new academic path we are on won't work.

Students in my Advanced Placement United States History class were taking an assessment on their iPads via Schoology.  This is a risky endeavor - I was well aware of that. Maybe a student would take a screenshot of the assessment and share it with someone absent or save it for a sibling who may possibly take my course in the future.  Luckily, I created a variety of test options that could randomize each student's test experience, but on this day my 7th period course all left with a common, shared, confused experience.  The hiccup, or glitch, from whichever end it came, prevented any student taking the exam to submit their responses.  It was a stealthy attack - only one student told me they noticed their device lost a WiFi connection (leading me to believe it was a network issue at the school), but maybe it was an isolated incident for this student.  Perhaps Schoology dropped the ball, or reset the server - I am not a network specialist, but that is a real thing, right?

Regardless of the why, I have to deal with "now what"?  The issue did not occur in my other two sections, yet many questions are going through my head: Do I dare re-test the students?  Is that fair? Do I give an abridged version? Do I completely excuse the exam and submit to the helplessness of the situation?  I don't get that time back, and each unit of study consists of three separate assessments, so maybe I haven't really lost anything by skipping this one.

But, alas, I did lose something. I lost a bit of conviction in my support of all things edtech.  This was a big deal to me.  I knew there were going to be snags and glitches along the way, but these were supposed to happen in the first days or first few weeks of the year - so I thought.  Surely, any issue I was going encounter was going to be while students were trying to figure out an app or how to electronically submit an assignment. I thought by week three the class would be firing on all cylinders. Well, problems will apparently occur at any time and the hard part in this is that they can be completely out of my control. With only 48 minutes to dedicate to a class it gets frustrating knowing that by the time an issue is addressed a lot can be lost. I still have the conviction that what I am doing with a 1 to 1 classroom will be a positive experience, but I just have to be OK with the unknown that I can't control.

10 Days In

It is the third week of school. It is the first week of September and I know that I am typically further in my curriculum than this.  I knew that getting all of my students iPads this year meant it was going to be at least three to five days of digital bumps and bruises, wireless connectivity blunders, and short fuses from our overworked technology department (that of which I cannot fault because the same staff got 1500+ iPads to configure and troubleshoot on top of all the other items on the to-do list to get teachers ready for the year. On that note, they did a fantastic job).

I knew that I was going to have to really work to get students on the same page, but I didn't know there would be so much occurring outside of my control that at some points I had to tell students, "I am not sure why that is happening", or "I don't know why you cannot connect to the network", or "What do you mean it is the third day of school and you still haven't gotten you iPad and put into the system?"  Teachers are so used to controlling their teaching environment that such a transition can definitely make a veteran teacher wonder why they wanted to put these devices in their students' hands.

From day to day during the first week and a half of school I was not sure what I could expect.  As a matter of fact, I could not anticipate what problems needed addressing period to period.  But now, it is about the tenth day of school and I think I can look back on those first several days and accurately reflect on the experience and maybe offer some useful device.

What you plan won't be your plan: 
Your school's network specialist will probably have nightmares on the eve of a massive 1:1 roll-out. Add to the mix that most students in a high school will bring their smart phones that will connect to the open guest wi-fi network.  The routers will be the host of battle for device survival on the school's network.  Until consistent network connections occur you may have to do a lot of showing students what they may have to do when they connect to a network later in the day or when they get home (of course, not all students have wireless internet at home). emphasize flexibility.

It's hard to trust them:
My district seems to have had a couple different policies when it comes to mobile devices in the classroom.  I have run the gamut of upholding policies over the last ten years.  In the last few years, I allowed students to use them for education purposes.  Maybe they used Evernote or I allowed them to use Twitter for class. But now that all students have a device I am finding myself redirecting students - or at least wanting to.  I have to relax.  Most of my students are eager to use the device appropriately for school.  Some of my students would be distracted some other way if they did not have the iPad, and those students may always need that oversight.  I haven't yet had to take one away from a student and doing so would be detrimental to what is trying to be accomplished.  Perhaps it's harder to trust myself.  This is a new experience for all involved and since these are personal learning devices I have to be able to let go of some of the traditional roles as a classroom teacher and allow students to take more control of their education.  Emphasize accountability.

The world in their hands:
I asked a question to a class regarding an an assignment students had done in small groups.  The assignment required the groups to collaborate via a Google spreadsheet and create a chart about British colonization of North America.  This was only the second assignment and it was done largely in class as a way to teach the benefits of using Google Drive.  All the students had their charts available for the discussion and were able to edit them throughout the course of the discussion.  At one point I asked the aforementioned questioned and students stared blankly at me.  After several minutes of empty eyes trying to look through me and not at me, I made the students aware of an observation I had just made.  Not one student thought to use the device in their hands to look up the information.  I allowed students to say "I don't know".  I didn't want to, but I am glad I did and I am glad I made the connection to my observation.  I told them that "I don't know" won't be appropriate anymore.  "I don't know" was the safe way a student that didn't want to participate (for whatever reason) could get passed over by the teacher at the expense of just a few moments of embarrassment   Students know how to use the iPad for Twitter and Facebook and playing the recent hit game, but they cannot break themselves of past classroom habits very easily.  That will be part of the transition too - not just what I create and provide for them, but how they condition themselves to take ownership of their own academic performance. Emphasize possibility.


Tomorrow is Day 10. Emphasis is learning.   

Experiment in Gamification

When I was five years old, my parents brought home Nintendo Entertainment System.  I was hooked.  I am sure there were notions and theories coming from academics or researchers that video games were detrimental to a child's attention span and overall motivation to do anything than want to leave the couch in their family room.  I poured hours of my childhood into making Mario jump over Koopa Troopers, Link find Zelda, and my unassuming underdog knock down Super Macho Man and Mike Tyson.  Too me, none of those were wasted hours.  I was invested in something fun.  I talked to my friends about the games I played.  I talked about new strategies with my fellow "vidiots", as my father would call us, and I looked forward to new games that would build on what I accomplished and offer new experiences that would keep me engaged for another cycle of game play.

Don't get me wrong - not that there is anything terrible about being "into" gaming - but I had a childhood chock-full of experiences that included instruments and athletics.  I eventually dropped the trumpet and focused on basketball - a sport that has brought me a lot of friends, a lot of positive life experiences, numerous memories of competition, and two bad knees.  In all that time, I still played games.  As I got older, games got more sophisticated.  Gaming consoles got more complex, more powerful, and with that the games got more in-depth and time consuming.  My most recent time-consumer, a game I logged more than 165 hours playing over the last 2 years, is called Skyrim.  A story that one can get lost in by playing a hero you virtually share experiences with.  There are few games that I have played that offer more entertainment value for its cost.

It is because of this game I decided to "gamify" my classroom experience for my students in my AP United States History classes.  Gamification is not new to society, but perhaps newer to education.  you are probably familiar with company's like McDonald's (think Monopoly) trying to boost sales and other businesses trying to motivate employers for rewards for productivity. I believe it is a trend growing in education, that if done correctly, can be beneficial for learners.  Some credit also goes to a colleague, Charlie Filipek (follow him on Twitter - @FilipekScience), who said he wanted to make his class a game, with different levels of rank.  Immediately when I heard of levels I thought of a leveling-up system similar to Skyrim that can be applied to a gamification of a course.  Thus, I created such a "game" where experiences earned in class count as experience points (XP) in the game.  I created a system that has 50 levels of growth and achievements.  The further a student goes, the better the perks, but within the game leveling-up becomes more and more difficult to achieve.  Along the way there are "Bonus Journeys" that a student can undertake for more XP.  A student can create a blog and discuss history, technology, and current events with a global audience, or make a two-minute podcast on a historical topic, or write a piece of historical fiction on a topic of their choice.  Some of those journeys may impact a student's grade positively or others may just be for XP.  The best part is, students have a degree of freedom as to how they experience the content, which in turn, I hope, creates a more personal and meaningful academic experience.  Just as in a detailed Role Playing Game (RPG), sometimes the best and rewarding experiences of a game are the side journey in which you take your character.

A couple of years ago, I tried using a Learning Management System (LMS) that allowed me to create badges for achievements for students.  The students enjoyed these as they were custom made, but I didn't always remember to give out the badges and they didn't really have anything attached with them except the novelty a student may have in looking at it and showing their friends about their achievement.  This year I decided I would use badges to identify which level students were in the game.  Students then know, when given the badge, what perks were associated with that level.  I think I will be able to stay on top of the distribution of badges, and I don't have to hand out badges every day, but updated on Fridays every other week.  This will be the most difficult part, but it is the piece of the puzzle that connects the students to the game. I am using ClassBadges to create and distribute the badges to acknowledge level-ups, Bonus Journeys, and miscellaneous achievements.

Honestly, I am not sure if this will have the impact I hope it will.  I am not sure that all students are going to be into it.  Although, it will be happening regardless and I am sure the students who aren't into gaming like me will still be into the perks associated with their efforts.  But all those things I mentioned earlier that I enjoyed about my childhood playing video games can perhaps be experienced with my students.  Maybe my students will talk to their friends or parents about what they are learning.  Maybe this new experience will keep them engaged and motivated to keep playing and keep learning.

For the sake of sharing, my game template can be viewed here.  Note: it is often changing as I get new ideas.

The Saga Begins

OK.  It seems a but dramatic - a bit over-the-top - to title my first blog post "The Saga Begins".  I title my first lesson in my Advanced Placement U.S. History class "The Saga Begins" as well.  It insinuates that something important is about to happen; a long, complex journey that cannot be easily understood if one were to just passively observe it.  Like in most classes, students will not completely appreciate the intricacies of a saga until they study it, question it, struggle with it, connect with it, and hopefully enjoy it in the end.  This can be true in the study of the history of the American people, the complexities of Shakespeare, or the wisdom of Thoreau.  Pick your subject and there is a saga to experience somewhere.

My Blog title is The Epic Adventure.  Really, it is just a synonym for a saga, but adventures, sagas, and the like must have a beginning.  Any good adventure worth reading in a novel or watching on film must, once begun have a struggle worthy of our attention and concern.  I suppose that is what I intend this blog to be.  It starts here and from here I have my struggles, triumphs, and side-stories.  The man that hired me about ten years ago, used to call the story of the American people "the ongoing saga, the epic adventure". It was catchy, albeit dramatic, and like my title a bit over-the-top.  But I stole it.  I use it in my class and I will use it here.

I am probably a quarter to a third of the way through my teaching career and I am finding myself at a fantastic transition.  I have adopted a 1:1 program which is, on one hand, an amazing thrill to be part of a movement in education with so much potential to transform learning, and on the other, the most stressful first two weeks of school I can remember. I have doubts and setbacks that make me want to ripoff my ears (I'm bald - there's no hair to rip out), and in the first few days I have seen some small victories - like the one shot on the 18th hole that convinces the golfer to believe enough in himself that he will try it  again someday rather than give up.  So, I consider this transition to be part of my adventure. The one worth reading about and the one I hope with which someone will connect.