BartmasBlurb#40

Save the Dinosaurs?

Dinos

The lone female of her species trod slowly down stone lined corridors. Following at a short distance was a male of her species. Both hung their heavy heads and peered around at the changes that were quickly taking place. The scenery that had once filled their world had all but disappeared. Gone were books, papers, desks, worksheets, pencils, and many technologies that at the time seemed like they were here to stay. They heard other species talking freely, and functioning in the changing environment with the newly evolving young.  They witnessed adults and young of different species sitting beside each other learning with one another in ways that once was unheard of.  These younger adults create and curate learning in ways that are totally foreign to them. The aging dinosaurs know they are in danger of becoming extinct. Will they just migrate into the tar pits of the past, and be forgotten until a social anthropologist uncovers them? Will they adapt and change slowly to become more highly evolved within their own species?

We have all heard the stories of the disappearance of the dinosaurs. Theories abound of whether it was a cataclysmic meteor strike, or some other phenomenon that is incomprehensible in the modern age of astronomical stability. The dinosaurs that I am speaking of are not only objects like those pictured above, but also the beings that used them comfortably for years. Does the same fate await those that have slowly watched their world change, and have not adapted to the changes?

Adaptation?

You do not need to be very forward thinking or prophetic to see the changes around us as educators. Students of all ages are bringing with them their native digital understanding and adaptability. The young no longer carry heavy book bags with bulky textbooks, stacks of paper, multiple notebooks, packs of markers, glue sticks, and other objects that used to help them survive in the stone halls of our schools. How much longer will we be tied to the buildings themselves? Teachers communicate with other educators and students all around the globe. They create, curate, and share lessons with teachers they have never met. Lessons are developed electronically and supported with technology or hands-on projects where students have choices.  Educators Mystery Skype, Tweet, Pin, Vox, G+, Link, Blog, IG, Facebook, Flip, and more as they find applications for the ever-changing digital edworld. Today’s teachers self-evaluate using new scales such as SAMR and TPACK.  We check our lessons using ISTE standards and student learning goals and scales.

Three F’s

As with any event of change or challenge we have three choices. We can Fight, Freeze, or Fly! I would like to add a fourth- Function. There are many educators that are fighting against the new technologies. They tell themselves that the old ways are the best ways.  We have many that have frozen in their tracks telling themselves they cannot change, and then we have some that have packed up their file boxes and fled from the classroom. All teachers must be learning leaders! We as educational leaders need to learn to function in an ever changing world. Those of us that do not adapt will find ourselves unable to connect with the digital natives that we now lead.

Connecting the Data Points

Getting it
Educators have been connecting the dots for thousands of years. In the early years of education many said they just had a, "gut feeling," that a student or disciple needed something. Apprentices were under the watchful eye of the master. If their production was not up to the standard of the craftsman they would have to find another approach to teach the skill, or the student would have to match the requirements of the skilled tradesman or lose the apprenticeship. In the private education that started our educational movement, teachers spoke directly to the needs of the student. There was a personal vested interest in the student, "getting it!"

Standards and Data
We have had standards for thousands of years, we have had data and facts for those years, we have parents, we have had students, and we have had schools in one form or another for all of history. So why now is there such a push for hard data? As technology has improved our access to personalized data has improved along with the technology. We can use not only informal assessments, but we can drill down through students' formal assessments to ferret out data points that we might not even have realized existed ten years ago. We see a correlation with data in adult's lives also. everything we search and use on our computers is tracked and used to specialize advertising to our lives. Data mining has become commonplace in the world.

Begin With the End in Mind
How can we use this technology without becoming test dependent? How do we find a balance? If we test to little, we do not know what our students need. If we test too much, our students will take the tests with little alacrity. We have found in our school environment that if we use the eight-step process our student's success rate increases. The problem we have had is that the testing process has become overwhelming for the teachers and the students. What is the solution? How can we make shorter more valuable assessments that give the information that will best define student needs?
We start by breaking our nine week grading periods into three week blocks in our calendar. Each of these three week segments has specific standards that will be covered. This might be part of the issue! Standards are the base of learning goals, not the ultimate goal. Our instruction must go beyond the standards to meet the needs of all the the students in our classrooms. Using a method such as Understanding By Design in creating lessons will help in this endeavor. Having explicit questions that are to be answered that include the standards, but also tie those questions to other standards or goals will enrich student's understanding. The formative pretests that are given before our three week instruction can be teacher, team, or grade level generated to collect the data on which students do not need specific instruction and could benefit from enrichment. They will also allow instruction in areas that need remediation as well as grade level teaching. at the end of the three weeks this would be re-tested to see what level of mastery students have achieved. As students finish a nine week block- three, three week calendars, an overall summative and formative test will be given to get a reading on the overall success for the nine week period. The process is repeated using the state testing as an end point. Time after this will be used to extend knowledge and enrich learning through hands-on learning.

Don't Overthink the Process
Testing has become an overwhelming part of our educational process. Using a more streamlined process in which we use informal assessment more judicially along with metered formal assessment will allow teachers to trust their, "gut," and support those feelings with data points. A rebellion is starting to brew in the educational world, and the only way to avoid it is to come up with a solution. More testing is not the answer! Simplifying the process for students, teachers and parents will help avoid the testing glut that is plaguing education today.