Rethinking Learning with A Child-Centered Lesson Plan

Editor’s note:  After reading How Andgragogy Might Look in the Classroom on the Mystified Mom blog, I asked if she could pull out the parts regarding lesson plans so that people could get a better idea of what a learner-centered lesson plan would look like. 


Guest Post by Mystified Mom

People often claim that learner-centered methods are not practical for mass delivery systems due to the fact that standards have to be met. As a veteran educator, I have not found this to be true. To follow are the eight parts of a lesson plan and my comments about what could be added to gear them toward how students learn best. 


Header
The header typically include the teachers name, grade level, topic, and time allotment. This is all standard information. The one piece of information that can be rethought is the time allotment. Unless things have changed, the typical time allotment for a lesson is 30 minutes to an hour. Every now and then, I will see lessons that take longer or will span the course of a few days. Students and teachers should allot more time to do lessons. 



A lot of high schools have gone to block scheduling to give students more time in a class. That means that they do not have every subject every day. Why can't that be done in elementary schools? Why can't teachers spend half the day doing nothing but math or English or Social Studies? I bet that would give teachers a lot more options for making lessons come alive. It would also give more opportunity for teachers to coach and work one on one with individual students. In the period of an hour, it is very difficult to get around to each student and give each student help.

People learn best when they are given the opportunity to completely immerse themselves in a topic. Schools do not allow for that level of immersion. As soon as a kid gets involved in an activity, it is time to put it up. Rethinking the class day so that each day is devoted to a particular subject would make more sense. It would allow for more continuity. If a teacher wants to spend a week doing an art project, put it all in one day so that a child has more time to follow his/her muse. I remember being in high school art class and getting frustrated because I would have an inspiration and would try to get it done but it was inevitable that the bell would ring before I could finish it. That required me to put it up and try to pick up the muse later. That is difficult to do. 


Materials Needed
The second part is materials needed. That is pretty simple. It is good to have the necessary resources available before teaching a lesson. However, if you wanted to focus more on the students, you could have an open ended component where students select their own materials. Instead of using the fancy math manipulatives, make an allowance for them to use manipulatives that are ordinary items such as pencils or crayons. Give them the opportunity to find ordinary materials that can be used to further the lesson objectives.


Lesson Objectives
The next section is the objective section. I have added an element in italics to demonstrate how the current elements could be added to in order to take the learner into account.

• Which standards the lesson meets
• How this lesson will help the child outside of the academic environment
• Long-term objectives (How this fits into the larger lesson.)
• Short-term (lesson) objectives: Specific outcomes that are usually phrased as "the student will be able to"

I propose an extra element to these objectives. If the intent of schools is to prepare kids for life or adulthood, then I think kids should be told how these skills are going to help them outside of the classroom and in the real world. It would be rather simple to add an element that requires the teacher to identify how a specific objective will help a child in life right now or even later in life. Kids should be treated as though they are citizens right now.


Procedures
The next section is procedures, which spells out how the teacher plans to go about delivering the lesson. In the procedure section, most places recommend that teachers start out with an attention getter to introduce the lesson. What better attention getter than to tell students how this knowledge is going to help them be a part of the world. No, people don't want kids to think outside of the classroom. Another tidbit is that the attention getter should activate prior knowledge. What if the kid does not have prior knowledge because he has forgotten it?


The procedures section typically involves spelling out how the goals of the lesson will be reached, what the students will do to meet the objectives set out by the teachers, and what the students are expected to do. That is all fine but I think that perhaps the procedures should be more open ended. Or, at the very least, students should be given more time. I am thinking about how things work in a college classroom. I have worked with college professors that teach face to face courses. They have notes and they make sure that they have all of the supplies necessary for any particular class but they are not required to write up what they are going to do every single day. They create a syllabus at the beginning of the semester that contains the learning outcomes, assignments, and expectations for the semester. I realize that it might not be realistic to expect a 6 year old to follow a syllabus but I do think it would be a good idea if things weren't broken down into such small chunks.

Really, I think a monthly syllabus or even a weekly syllabus would be a good idea. It would give parents the chance to work ahead with their children. I think it would also give the teachers more flexibility. Right now, teachers typically break the day up into subjects. I haven't been in an elementary classroom in a while but I am thinking that the chunks of time for a lesson are usually about an hour. If the subject is boring, then an hour seems like forever. If the lessons or activities are fun, then an hour isn't near long enough.


Independent Work
This section typically spells out the types of independent work that a student is expected to do. Ideally, the independent work should reinforce the lesson, build upon it, and create background knowledge for the next lesson. If all of this were done in larger chunks of time (day, half day, several hours), there would be more time for kids to explore and the lessons could be intertwined so there would not need to be as much instruction time. When I was in the classroom, I found that the hour long lesson was a problem because it made it difficult for me to plan lessons. There were lots of things that would have been cool to do but it would have been very difficult to spread them out over the week. The other problem was that kids would sometimes forget what they learned from one day to the next because they were never really allowed to fully immerse themselves in the topic.


With larger chunks of time, there could be more options for independent work. There could be a written component such as work sheets or book work, there could be an exploratory component where kids are allowed to explore the topic in a hands on fashion by doing a project of some sorts, and there could be a play component. If all of these components are set up at the beginning, then students could work through the different components at their own pace and allow the teacher more time to assist students that need more help. With larger chunks of time, the classroom could have a lot more self-directed learning going on.


My argument for more time for lessons is that I think the little 45 minute and 1 hour lessons do not prepare kids for the real world. (There, I said it. I am tired of people saying that to me with regard to homeschooling.) In the real world at real jobs, people are expected to work on the same activity or subject for hours at a time. I know that when I am working on my online course, I will sometimes work on it for 3 or 4 hours at a time. School didn't prepare me for that. Heck, I think schools gave me a short attention span because of spending years in classes that would only allow short periods of time for classes. The fun classes went by too fast and the slow classes took forever. I suspect that having longer class times wouldn't change that.


Assessment
And then, of course, is the dreaded assessment. Why does every single lesson have to have an assessment component? When you break learning down into such tiny bits, it can sometimes be difficult to determine whether or not somebody actually learned something. In a lot of cases, I think assessment is merely assessing a child's ability to follow directions.

I think larger chunks of time would also for more authentic types of assessment such as observations or personal success plans or portfolios. One of the biggest hurdles in the classroom is not enough time. When the day is broken up into 5 or 6 subjects, it makes it almost impossible for teachers to do anything but test. If people want to move the focus away from tests, then teachers are going to have to be given more freedom and more time.


Reflections
Depending on where you look, some will list reflection as part of the lesson plan. The way it is worded is that it is the teacher's opportunity to decide whether or not the lesson was effective. All it would take for the focus to move from pedagogy to andragogy would be to ask for student feedback, which leads me to my last and final point.


Rating a teacher based on the students test scores is the most outrageous thing that I can imagine. First, how a student scores on a test does not indicate how much they have learned nor does it indicate whether or not the teacher is a good teacher. In all honesty, I don't think that I will be happy until student evaluations are introduced into K-12 classrooms. All the test scores in the world and all the observations by administrators are not going to make an ounce of difference. In my opinion, what matters is how students react to the teacher.


Kids can be given a voice in the classroom without eliminating standards and without removing mass instruction. Mass instruction can be tweaked to address how students actually learn rather than how people wish they would learn. Pretty much all of the articles that I have read about child development have said that kids learn best when playing and having fun. I think it would be really easy to build that into mass instruction. It could all be done with a mind to the standards. Maybe I am crazy but it seems like there is too much of an either/or dichotomy here.

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Mystified Mom
I am passionate about learning. I have four beautiful daughters (10, 7, 4, & 2) and I am married to my best friend. We live a lifestyle of learning, which means that learning is a part of everything that we do. As somebody that is always learning and always seeking new ideas and perspectives, I am not tied to any one method of learning. My goal is to examine my life and the world around me so that I may grow as a mother, wife, and human being. I am very interested in child advocacy, especially as it relates to the rights of children.

You have read this article learning innovatively / student centered learning with the title student centered learning. You can bookmark this page URL https://benncam.blogspot.com/2011/09/rethinking-learning-with-child-centered.html. Thanks!

School is Not School. A Place Where The Community, Not The School, Provides Learning.

I recently shared three radical ideas to transform education without school.  In it, I shared Linda Dobson’s timeless article, When the School Doors Close:  A Midsummer Night’s Dream where she outlines the transformation that would occur if schools ceased to exist and instead we engaged in community-centered learning.  Rather than compulsory, age-based facilities, with community learning people choose to attend and learn about topics of deep personal passion and interest.  There would be many options available to individuals of any age.  The community takes ownership and responsibility of the learning and well-being of others.  As my wise friend Jeff Pulver recently said, “The only difference between a dream and reality is making it happen.”  

There is a community that is doing just that.  I learned about this community from Arif Hidayat.  Although we aren’t the same age, live on opposite ends of the earth, and don’t speak the same language we are connected by our passion to  provide children with learning opportunities that best fit their needs. Through the wonders of Google Translate we have been able to engage in an ongoing dialogue where he has shared stories about two Learning Communities in Indonesia. 

The Qaryah Thayibah Learning Community (QTLC) in Salatiga and the Sekar Gandrung Learning Community (SGLC) in Jepara have been designed to meet the needs of the wider community, with a quality, affordable learning environment. The Learning Community does not require large funds because there are no teachers on the payroll and no large facility costs. It is not tied to a building or place, but rather it is tied to the community, its resources, and the people who are a part of it.  Instead of a learning facility, community resources are used such as the mosques, fields, homes, squares, etc. which already belong to the community and its citizens.  The LC has at it’s foundation a belief of solidarity (mutual assistance), democratization, and sharing.

At the QTLC and SGLC there are study groups that are held in the homes and on the property of their citizens. Those who have knowledge can share it with interested learners. There are theater groups, painting groups, and music. All run in collaboration, synergy, and are democratic. The community is made up of those who have the means to lend, those who have a place to lend, those who have knowledge to share, and those who have money donate, etc.

The events held by these Learning Communities are supported by the community who provide the tools necessary to give or lend to their members. For instance at a recent event the LC put on a show.  Various committees worked together to set the stage, build the roof of the stage, provide chairs for seating, catering for food, etc.. Some community members lent diesel for lighting, lights, sound systems, cameras, etc.. Everything is on loan from residents. 

The Learning Communities are managed by mostly young villagers as well as the students all of whom volunteer to do this work. The Learning Communities also honor their members passions.  If a learner may want to be a mechanic or carpenter then they simply find an internship to learn about that field.  In fact in Jepara there are established businesses, such as the carved furniture businesses that have found success and employed workers without formal schooling necessary.  There is a realization that traditional schooling is not necessary for success in all careers.  The Learning Communities also instill in learners the importance of giving back for the betterment of the community.

Here is what some learning community participants have to say about their experience:

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Rohmatun (teacher of SGLC)

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Places of learning, for me, absolutely no problem, because children can learn anywhere. But that has always been my thinking is what activities make them more qualified. Whether religious subjects, arts, life skills like planting crops, livestock, etc, according to their interests.

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Defri (member of SGLC) :

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I have a year more in SGLC. I used to feel inferior to mingle with many people, especially for the performances on stage. But now I dare to appear to sing and play music on stage.

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Wide (member of SGLC) :

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I learned a lot about the sense of togetherness, volunteerism, learning how to organize and run an event, sharing facilities, sharing time, etc..

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Didin Ardiansyah (teacher and founder of SGLC) :

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No man is stupid and useless in this world. Everyone has potential. And the potential it will be known in the process of socializing. With a spirit of independence, togetherness, we are trying to empower themselves. We are confident that we will become a great power by continuing to learn and synergize the various potentials.

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Tia (member of QTLC) :

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Here I discovered the world of photography which allows me to learn the character of the people I meet. I also write for a newspaper which lets me earn money to help my parents. This school enables me to see other world, because here, I have more leisure time than at formal schools to explore my interests. 

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Aini Zulfa (Student of QTLC) :

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I've been here for 4,5 years. When I started the system was formal: At 6 am we have to learn English, other regular lessons, performing Dzuhur prayer in the afternoon, and having lessons again until 2 pm. In the second year.. it was starting to be free, and in the third year we've been released to be as we wish.

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Ahmad Bahruddin (teacher and founder of QTLC):

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The best is the useful one, not the smart one. Smart could be bad.  Of course.. the most important is how to be a nation.. a community that is intelligent, civilized, and useful. So that.. togetherness is important because it provides mutual benefits.

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Maia Rosyida (student of QTLC):

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Since the 2nd grade I found something was wrong with school. I started to get bored because at a young age I already liked writing, started dreaming about wanting to be this and that... but the teachers did not always support my dreams. For example.. when I wanted to know the history of Chairil Anwar. The teacher said: "That's later.. when you are in 6th and 7th grade.  This disturbed me. Since that time, I dreamed of when there would be a place where teachers really understood children as though they were our own parents.  Now I found a place where others have the same thinking.. so I join with friends in a place where we are incredibly supported.   The children are managers. The curriculum is also from children. Everything returns back to the children. Because we are who learn, and we are who need to learn, not other people... so we are who run it and are responsible. It is fully trusted that every child has potential, has different desires, and has ability.  Today  while others in school are still writing "once upon a time", I've already written articles that I have been inspired to write because I idolized and studied writers like Chairil Anwar.

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Ridwan (parent of QTLC):

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Here I really feel valued because as parent, I can learn as well. It turned out that I still need to learn many things from the children here. That is what differs from the schooling system... where there is a boundary between parents and the school. Here parents can also become learners.

If you want to see what this looks like, you can watch their recently created videos below.

Part 1

Part 2

Is this type of learning environment of interest to you?  If it is, how will you can make it a reality in your community?

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To learn more, download the SGLC presentation here.

You have read this article community learning / DIY Learning / student centered learning / unschooled / unschooling with the title student centered learning. You can bookmark this page URL https://benncam.blogspot.com/2011/09/school-is-not-school-place-where.html. Thanks!

The Contraband of Some Schools is The Disruptive Innovation of Others with BYOT (Bring Your Own Tech)

Guest post by Tim Clark @timclark45 on Twitter

In New York City students who BYOT have it confiscated by police
and placed with other contraband like guns and knives

While cities like the one where The Innovative Educator works view student owned devices as contraband, I have found one of the most exciting disruptions to traditional teaching practices to be extending to students the invitation to “Bring Your Own Technology” (BYOT).  Last year, Forsyth County Schools in Georgia  modified their technology guidelines to do just that! They permitted students to bring their personal technology devices to school to assist in their learning.  

Forsyth County Schools has always pursued the use of technology to improve educational opportunities. The district’s vision for classroom technology after-all is “to engage students in asking questions and choosing tools to facilitate real world problem solving.”  Classrooms are each equipped with an interactive whiteboard, teacher laptop and four student desktop computers.  There are also student laptops available at each school and there are peripheral devices such as student response systems, digital cameras, scanners, and document cameras.  Yet, despite all this district-provided technology, the most impactful and influential gadgets are not any of these. Instead after 20 years in education I have found that empowering students to use their own personal technologies is the game changer when it comes to learning.

Our Beginnings

Forsyth County Schools began its venture by implementing a BYOT wifi network in every school.  This “BYOT” network provides filtered Internet access, but the students can connect to that network with their personal devices without using a password.  A few trailblazers from a handful of schools volunteered to pilot the BYOT initiative at a variety of grade levels.  They spent an afternoon of training in hands-on activities designed to explore the potential opportunities of using various student-owned technologies.  Some highlights were collaboration provided by Web 2.0 applications and a focus on student-created projects.

Fundamental Changes

BYOT Facilitates Collaboration!
Click here to watch videos of BYOT in action.

As the teachers began to introduce BYOT into their classrooms, some fundamental changes began to occur.  They no longer had to teach their students about technology in order to integrate technology effectively in their classrooms because the students were already the experts with their own devices.  The students were also eager to share what they knew about their technology devices and how they could be utilized in the classroom. In the elementary grades, students initially brought in their gaming devices, such as the Nintendo DSi or their iPod Touches, and they began to assume ownership of the types of apps they thought they should use in order to learn more in school.  They began to communicate more effectively about real work as they used the PictoChat feature of their Nintendo DS’s and DSi’s to collaboratively complete assignments and generate new ideas.  Eventually, many of these students have progressed to bringing in iPads, netbooks, and laptops as they have begun to create original projects based on what they have researched independently.  Of course, many of these students personally own their gadgets, but many of them have convinced their parents to loan them their devices so that they can attend to the real work of elementary school.

Reduction in Disciplinary Issues

In the middle school and high school, students generally brought in their smartphones and laptops to facilitate their own learning.  In the high school piloting the BYOT initiative, the disciplinary issues related to technology decreased drastically as the students began bringing in their own devices.  Instead of hiding their technology tools throughout the day, which invited theft with the fear of repercussions, the students were able to put their technology on their desks and use them for new purposes.  The school now had open lines of communication regarding the appropriate use of technology between the students, the parents, and the teachers.  In this way, the teachers were now able to educate the students in how to avoid the pitfalls of posting inappropriate content online and how to treat each other with respect.

Going Viral

The growth of BYOT in Forsyth County Schools has been viral this year.  Our Department of Instructional Technology recently organized a tour for district administrators of three of the pilot schools in our district, and we expected about 20 people might choose to attend.  To our delight, we had over 60 administrators and instructional technology specialists sign up for the tour, and we had to close enrollment.  We used two school buses from the district to travel to the schools and followed up the tour with a presentation which caused the administrators to use their devices to participate in the discussion using Poll Everywhere.  You can see the highlights of the tour in this video FCS BYOT Tour.  From this tour, interest in BYOT has grown tremendously, and almost all of our schools are implementing the BYOT initiative in some fashion ranging from a few pilot classrooms to entire schools.

Collaborating with Students

The ultimate goal of the FCS BYOT initiative is to have the students participating in higher level thinking activities involving the use of technology, but this change in practice can evolve as the teachers allow themselves to become collaborators with their students in the learning process.  When the students first bring in their technology devices, they are immediately engaged and want to explore all of the possible capabilities of the technology.  This initial phase of exploration passes quickly as the students become more literate in their devices and learn how to connect them to the BYOT wireless network.  The teacher and the students then begin to adapt what their technologies to their current classroom practices.  For example, they may use a calculator app to help them complete a worksheet, or they may begin to use the calendar on their devices to keep track of homework assignments instead of writing them in an agenda.  Eventually, the students demand more from their devices, their teachers, and themselves, they want to transform their learning by communicating, collaborating, and creating with their devices, and teachers have to get out of the way of these potential applications.

Eventually, teachers can progress to the practice of sharing the standards or objectives for students learning, and the students can determine the strategies for researching those concepts and communicating them to others.  In fact, BYOT is not really about the devices.  It is about the empowerment students feel when they are using those devices which they own and know so well.  This empowerment gives them control over the learning processes and sets the stage for empowering them to evaluate their own strengths and weaknesses.  With the collaborative support of their peers and teachers, along with the relative anonymity of the web, the students are willing to learn from their mistakes and share their successes.  In one classroom with several ESOL students, those students would hesitate from volunteering to answer questions due to their lack of confidence in the language.  However, with the advent of BYOT, every student can be expected to answer questions simultaneously or contribute to the body of knowledge housed online, and every student is included in the discussion.

Equity Issues

When I discuss the concept of BYOT, I am often questioned about the issue of equity and what happens to the students who do not have their own devices.  As I travel around the district, I find very few students above third or fourth grade who do not have their own devices, even in our schools who receive Title I assistance.  Generally, many of the students who do not have their own devices are students in the primary grades who have yet to start asking their parents for more technology.

Moving Into the Future

I now see more use of the student desktop computers and laptops in the school which are available for all students, especially those who don’t have their own devices.  I have seen 1 to 1 initiatives in other places, but after experiencing BYOT I prefer the differentiated, flexibility, and empowerment that is comes from using different devices.  

Forsyth County Schools are  just logging on to the future by embracing BYOT.  It is a developing and encouraging process for us.  We are aware of the possible pitfalls and difficulties, but we choose to focus on the possible potentialities and capabilities for effective change.  It is futile and detrimental to try to ban the wave of personal technology devices from entering our schools; instead, we realize it is more beneficial to utilize these communication tools for designing innovative strategies that engage and empower students to learn effectively with the tools they own and love.  

As a fourth grade student recently told me, “As you work with other students with your own devices, you are able to build upon what you know with their ideas, and they learn more from yours.  Together, you make something new that no one even thought about before.”

For more information about the BYOT initiative of Forsyth County Schools, visit www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/byot.

About Tim Clark

Tim Clark is the District Instructional Technology Specialist (ITS) for Forsyth County Schools.. He has been a teacher for over twenty years.  He is currently pursuing his Doctor of Education at Kennesaw State University.  As an ITS, one of his goals is to work effectively with teachers and students through various forms of technology in order to increase achievement and motivation, to encourage collaboration, to facilitate problem-solving, and to construct innovative ways of presenting information.

You have read this article byod / BYOT / Cell phones in Education / differentiating instruction / differentiating learning / free range learnng / student centered learning with the title student centered learning. You can bookmark this page URL https://benncam.blogspot.com/2011/04/the-contraband-of-some-schools-is.html. Thanks!

Student Driven Learning = Passion-Based Classrooms

I often speak and write about differentiating instruction. Unfortunately, when I go into schools I see very little differentiation occurring.  This is the case even schools who have bought "magic bullet" programs like Renzulli Learning who tout themselves as a "Differentiation Engine."  I have visited about a dozen schools using such programs but without a solid foundation in what differentiation means.  Instead, they have all their students working within the learning management system on the same thing!


When I dig a little deeper about why this is happening teachers confide that they can't possibly create 32 different lessons for each of their students.  When I hear this, I realize they're not getting something very important.  The students own the learning.  When we give up control and empower the students to learn the way they want with the tools they want, the results are terrific and the students are partners with their teacher in designing learning methods, tools, and environments that are best for them.  


Josh Stumpenhorst recently celebrated the results of this method of teaching in his blog in a post called, "Student-Driven Learning." In the post he shares the ways empowered students learned the literacy standards they were mandated to meet.  Here's what he did.

"I was going to give complete control of the learning in my Language Arts to the students. Starting three days ago, that is exactly what I did. First, we went over our district mandated standards that we had to “hit” between now and the end of the year. Then, I shared with my students various projects and activities I had used in years past that were related to the specific standards. Then it was all on them."

You can read about his initial motivation for a student driven classroom, how to “give it up”, an initial class update, and updates titled “It’s About the Learning”, “Learning Should be Viral”, “One on One is the Best”, “Sub Plans” and "I Am Done!" about his experiences from the classroom as related to his decision to hand over the learning decisions to his students.


To read about how other teachers are doing this work, read these posts.

• One Great Way to Differentiate Instruction – See how Deven Black designed a lesson that enabled students to tap into their strengths, interests, and learning styles.
• Who Owns the Learning and Assessment?  - Read how digital ethnographer Michael Wesch uses learning goals and a wiki for his students to design their learning. 
• When students own the learning –See what happened when Keith Ferrell relinquished control and gave students a choice in how they would meet learning goals.
• Real Life Learning - Shelley Wright is a high school educator in Moose Jaw, SK. On her blog she shares, “I love learning more than anything else.” This post features the video of what happens when school becomes real life.
• Skype in the classroom – Educators everywhere are bringing education to life with Skype.
  See how Melanie Holtsman is using Skype in the Classroom or take a look at this video to see how Carl Anderson is using Skype to connect with virtual guest speakers.
• Principal Hands Over Control During a Trip to The Zoo - See how handing over control to a nine-year old made Principal Patrick Larkns trip to the zoo a much more enjoyable day.  

You have read this article differentiated instruction / passion based learning / passion driven learning / real life learning / student centered learning with the title student centered learning. You can bookmark this page URL https://benncam.blogspot.com/2011/04/student-driven-learning-passion-based.html. Thanks!

See what happens when students are allowed to embrace free range learning

If we allowed digital devices in school,
it would be chaos!

New Cannan High School is unique in that it provides a free range learning environment, meaning, what is contraband in places like New York City is embraced at this school. Students are free to bring their own personal learning devices (i.e. cell phones, iPads, laptops, etc.) and they are not blocked from gaining access to any website. In fact sites like Facebook and YouTube are embraced as powerful learning tools. 

Unfortunately, it seems teachers where the devices have been treated as the enemy, have bought into this idea, but where students are given the freedom to learn and create using the tools they want about subjects in which they're passionate, the school environment can move from celebrating success over scores on a bubble sheet, to celebrating success on the creation of a YouTube video viewed and commented on from folks around the world.

That was the case this week, when Michelle Luhtala's students created this video as part of American Library Association teen video contest, Why I NEED My Library! Contest winners can receive thousands of dollars for their library.  Not only do these students create a great video, but they also make a great case for school libraries everywhere.  The video was the result of what happens when teachers support (rather than control) their students passion-driven learning and allow them to use the tools they embrace in the real world inside schools.

Here's the video. Please watch and if you enjoy it, please "like" the video.



To read more about this project visit their librarians blog post, "What kids can do when they love what they do."

You have read this article #passionbased / #passiondriven / free range learning / passion based learning / student centered learning with the title student centered learning. You can bookmark this page URL https://benncam.blogspot.com/2011/04/see-what-happens-when-students-are.html. Thanks!

What if kids designed their learning? Here are some resources to get started.

If you are, or want to be. a fan of project-based learning (PBL), this site (http://pbl-online.org/default.htm) funded by the Buck Institute has some terrific resources. Project-based learning is great, but what if we took the idea of PBL and married it with learner-centered instruction or democracy education or unschooling. Well, that equals something rather significant. Instead of teachers owning the learning, teach kids how to design their own projects and let them gather by area of interest or passion. Like Shelley Wright, who engages her students in Real Life Learning, teachers may feel weird about doing this because it kind of seems like we're making kids do the job of a teacher and HEY! Teachers are the experts in designing learning opportunities. Kids can't design their own. Hmmm...or can they?

Below are the resources you'll find on the site. Depending on the level of your students, you may want to simplify material to accommodate their reading level or...if you have mixed reading levels in each group, the students can probably work that out too.

Welcome to PBL-Online, a one stop solution for Project Based Learning! You'll find all the resources you need to design and manage high quality projects for middle and high school students. You can:
	Learn how to Design your Project. Plan rigorous and relevant standards-focused projects that engage students in authentic learning activities, teach 21st century skills, and demand demonstration of mastery.
	Search for projects developed by others or contribute your own projects to the PBL-Online Collaboratory and Project Library.
	Learn important strategies for teaching online and learning online.
	Learn what defines Project Based Learning and the PBL-Online approach to successful project design.
	Review research and find web resources about effective Project Based Learning.
	Purchase the BIE Project Based Learning Handbook which is the foundation for the PBL-Online

You have read this article DIY Learning / pbl / project based learning / student centered learning / unschooling with the title student centered learning. You can bookmark this page URL https://benncam.blogspot.com/2011/01/what-if-kids-designed-their-learning.html. Thanks!

Ensuring Data is Driving the Right Kind of Instruction

Should Data Be Driving Instruction or Should Students Drive Learning?

Editor’s Note: This post was written in response to a job interview question. I thought it was a relevant, thought-provoking question and a great interview exercise. This was some of my thinking on each of the topics.

When educators and administrators think of data driven instruction, they often think of stand-alone assessments taken by students, many of whom believe has little relevance to anything connected to their lives outside of school. In fact in an increasingly connected world where 21st Century literacies are a requirement for success, it is interesting to note that as stated in the recent report, “Beyond the Bubble: Technology and The Future of Assessment,”

There’s one day a year when laptops power down and students’ mobile computing devices fall silent, a day when most schools across the country revert to an era when whiteboards were blackboards, and iPhones were just a twinkle in some techie’s eye—testing day.

Unfortunately in places like New York City and beyond, as I visit classrooms, even in schools with 1:1 environments “testing day” isn’t just a day. In fact, during a visit to a 1:1 school last October I did not find a single student or teacher using technology. Why? As the principal explained, “We don’t use laptops until after the tests in March since kids aren’t allowed to use them on the test.” Yikes!!!! If you’re thinking this is a unique situation, unfortunately, I can assure you, it is not. Furthermore talks of delivering the test in June frighten me, as many educators share the dirty little secret that the real, creative, innovative learning doesn’t take place until after the tests in March.

In an era of data driven decision making, these are NOT the decisions we need to be driving our leaders and students to make. It is imperative that we are collecting and using the “right” data and that, the data is connected to competencies of today, rather than yesterday. During a recent conversation with an innovative principal about the Acuity assessment used in his school he confess that most of the activities recommended are dry and do not appeal to his student’s interests. When the data we are collecting is completely absent of the tools available in today’s world, and the instruction that it’s driving is not engaging, can the data really be effectively use to drive instruction? I would argue no. Especially in light of the “Beyond the Bubble” findings that state,

Efforts were abandoned to produce assessments that more faithfully reflect how
learning would be used in non-test situations, assessments that were guided by
an underlying theory of teaching and learning drawn from the cognitive sciences.
The reason being, that these assessments were costly and technically inadequate
for use in school accountability systems. So, states began to move away from
performance-based assessment systems, back to less-expensive multiple-choice
assessments.

In contrast, many innovative educators, have stopped saying, “hand it in,” and started saying, “publish it.” Once students reach their real goal of becoming producers and creators of content, authentic assessment that is meaningful to them can begin to take place and will certainly drive personal learning. Innovative educators know that many students are already involved in the business of using data to drive instruction. Unfortunately these worlds are largely devoid of educators, parents, or other adults. However, even in their absence, students are publishing content and using data to drive their work. It is the responsibility of educators to tap into these worlds and into student’s interests to begin aligning instruction to the type of data that drives students! If we put aside the profitizing, monetizing testing companies, and look at how students are already assessing themselves, absent us, we may save a lot of money and gain a lot of engagement. Let’s take a step back and think about some of the things we really want students to know and be able to do. The National Education Technology Standards indicate that the following standards should be met for students to learn effectively and live productively in an increasingly digital world …”

• Creativity and Innovation
• Communication and Collaboration
• Research and Information Fluency
• Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
• Digital Citizenship
• Technology Operations and Concepts

I don’t see the data we’re using to drive instruction aligned to these standards. But, this is not as hard as one may be led to believe. At a recent Teaching and Learning conference Sir Kenneth Robinson shared that we’d be much better off in schools if we looked at assessing schools more like Zagats assesses restaurants (imagine British accent and captivating tone). But, this really isn’t such an outlandish idea, and this type of assessment is already occurring in the lives of children. Take a site like Fanfiction where literally millions of students around the globe from the age of 10 on are joining other fans, as old as seniors and are writing and sharing their own stories in genres of deep personal interest for themselves and their fans. They are assessed by 1) Popularity measured as the number of fans who subscribe to them, 2) Reviews from an authentic audience. Kids are engaging in robust, meaningful conversations with real audiences for authentic purposes getting meaningful data they can put right to use to refine, revise, and create new stories. Of course this type of work is happening on more mainstream sights like YouTube as well where students are producing content and success is measured by 1) Popularity measured in number of views 2) Star ratings from viewers 3) Viewer comments. Additionally, unbeknownst to most digital immigrants these sites can be as public or private as you wish and content can be moderated by student or adult.

There are already schools engaging in this type of work. I am fortunate to have been able to support many such schools in this endeavor. Take for instance CIS 339 known for bringing professional learning communities into the 21st Century where they frequently showcase The Power of 21st Century Teaching and Learning by Bringing it to Life at Thel CIS 339’s Open House. They are using tools like Google collaborative documents and wikis to drive and inform everything from instruction to their student behavior system. At the Science Leadership Academy ELA students are collaboratively writing using Google docs and then publishing their work to YouTube where it will be reviewed by classmates, and the world. This definitely drives the students to refine, revise, and modify their work for success. Or, The Island School where they have partnerships with numerous organizations that allow for truly authentic assessment and audiences to drive their learning. For instance, they have a partnership with Rosie’s Broadway Kids. The students are guided to produce a performance. Students are driven to succeed because those who show the greatest talent win scholarships to attend Rosie’s Broadway Kids academy where they are likely to end up on a New York City stage. They also have many students who produce blogs. I spoke to one young lady who is working with a reporter to provide a student perspective on education issues in a local news agency. This happens because the school believes in doing what Sir Kenneth Robinson identifies as helping them find their “Element” and then supports students in connecting with those who can help them to use their passion and talent to drive instruction.

Another place where you can see authentic work and assessment is at IS 93 where students are publishing to an eZine and are completely engaged by the process of authentic publishing. These students are driven to keep learning, revising, and researching based on the comments and ratings they receive from people they care about…other students. Marco Torres is another well-known advocate of authentic purposes driving instruction. His students produce digital videos that are viewed around the world. Students are driven to learn because of authentic causes and passions that they can capture to effect change and bring attention to issues of deep personal importance to them.

In addition to the Zagat’s style assessment there is also real-time, on-demand assessment and instruction when it comes to game-based and digital learning and simulations. These are being widely used in industries outside of education (i.e. military and medical industry) to assess and prepare professionals. Though they are rarely seen as assessments in schools, these type of assessments are available now and lauded by educators like Marc Prensky who shares examples in his book, “Don’t Bother Me Mom, I’m Learning.” In digital and game-based environments students are continuously engaged and forced to make decisions that require learning. However, unlike school, if they make a mistake they get to try again and again until they get it right, and…they get to work on their own level and at their own pace. Additionally, these type of environments are designed to adjust to the level of the learner.

Though the types of assessments I’m advocating may seem out-of-reach to those who have been educating since the 2002 enactment of No Child Left Behind, this was not the case prior to enactment of the policy where there was a movement among educators to provide opportunities for authentic assessment. As stated in Beyond the Bubble: Technology and The Future of Assessment,

The enactment of NCLB in 2002 further complicated attempts to develop new types of testing. NCLB, which mandates that states give annual tests in reading and
math in grades 3-8 and once in high school, resulted in a sizeable increase in
the number of standardized tests given each year—now more than 45
million—creating a situation in which both test- and policymakers scrambled just
to get the tests into the hands of teachers and students. This tremendous
increase in test taking, combined with the limited capacity of state departments
of education and the nation’s testing industry, encouraged state testing
officials and testing companies to continue to use the same kinds of tests
instead of pursuing innovations in assessment.

It is time we remember why we got into the business of teaching and explore options that move away from what is easier for testing companies, accountability systems, and policy makers and start remembering the kids like Peggy Sheehy’s students who remind us that instead we should leave No Future Left Behind and help our students find their passions and talents that will drive their success today and in the future.

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