Observation #5

At this point I have completed 40 observation hours at the FAIR Elementary school in Downtown Minneapolis.  I've assisted students in their assignments, assisted the teacher in keeping students focused and on track with assignments and observed the students participate in recess, music class, and art class.


The school campus is right downtown It's very easy to identify from a distance and hard to miss. There are signs not only to identify the school, but also signs that explain it's purpose of bringing students from all communities together. They even list every town and suburb that they bring students from.  For the purpose of exploring the campus I decided to take an escalator that I'd kind of assumed was off limits. I didn't know where it went, and I assumed it was an area of the school I didn't have access to. It turns out it was just a completely unlabeled sky way access escalator.  Aside from that anomaly, the school was fairly easy to navigate. It can be difficult to find the main entrance, but once you are inside  I don't believe any parent should have trouble navigating their way to the administration office, as the door to that office is the first thing you see, and they can direct you wherever you need to go. There's also a parking ramp attached to the building so parents don't have to worry about finding a parking spot downtown.

There was only one instance when I saw a parent in the classroom, and it was to pick up their child who was misbehaving earlier in the day. The teacer took the time to speak with the parent about the behavioral issues that lead up to that point, so it appears that family members are welcome and kept informed.  The instructors main form of communication is e-mail or print outs that she sends home every single week . I like the idea of this form of communication, especially sending home a weekly letter to families that contain information that the parent might ask the child after school, such as "Do you have any homework?" With a consistent letter going home on the same day every week parents are able to hold their kid accountable for any assignments that might be due, or activities that need to be completed. It severely reduces the risk of a child lying about any homework they might have.
Family engagement is extremely important, and it's been shown that a household that engages and participates in the child's learning process will help develop a stronger student. I think if there's that expected weekly letter, student's can't hide or throw away the letter without the parents knowing. Also setting a specific day of the week to send home info keeps parents from guessing what's coming.

It was overall a difficult classroom to observe the teacher try to get through lessons and teach when there's frequent distractions ,but the teacher does a very good job at keeping routine. The students know where they are supposed to go and what's expected of them, even if they choose to ignore it a lot of the time.

Another strength was the dedication to determining where each student was at even when so many were struggling. Each week I noticed the teacher taking time with each student. Either in small groups or individually. She really would focus on helping them grasp the common core standards. The teacher would also have small lunch groups with students and get to know them and talk to them during that time. It was clearly very important to the teacher to give them individual attention.

My last day observing was really great. I was a bit surprised how drastically different the students were behaving. They were extremely polite to me and seemed sad that I wouldn't be back. Despite the chaotic nature of the classroom, despite the behavior issues that I witness on a nearly daily basis, the consistency and unwavering nature of the instructions had instilled some sense of important community.  It made me realize that despite things not going according to plan, despite dealing with difficult students and tough days, you need to consistently be there for your students. Whether or not you realize it, they are counting on you. If I were to go back and ask a question it would be "What do you think the parents could be doing to help the kids behavior in class? Is there anything we could do to engage those parents?" The kids at this school respond immediately to one threat: Telling the parents. They don't want their parents upset at them. I can't say for sure if it's always out of respect of their parent vs. fear, but it's clear that there is a strong opportunity for motivation there, and if they could tap into engaging the parents more in the classroom I think it would go a long way towards improving behavior.

First Semester Reflection (extra credit blog)

As I finish my first semester in pursuit of my future as an educator I'm left with a lot to reflect on. It's been challenging and has completely redefined what it means to me to be a good instructor. There are several issues, such as the difference between an achievement gap and an educational debt, that I'd never even considered. There truly are a lot of ways to see the world,  and education is no different.

The biggest thing I take away from this first part of my journey is how much more there is to education than just teaching content. The content is not nearly as important as the skills that are developed, and impact that the classroom experience has on the student.

My first set of courses have helped me focus my efforts by giving me the tools to figure out and define my own personal educational philosophy, along with lead me to opportunities to meet like minded students and professionals.

There are so many challenges that the education world faces, from bureaucracies to outdated models, to public perception and more. Being successful as a teacher isn't just about being a facilitator for students but by being an active member in the community, and tuning into the changes that need to occur. Without people innovating and pushing forward and rethinking systems that have been in place for more than 120 years, I don't think there would be a place for me in education today. I'm very grateful to be entering this field when I am, on the cusp of change and new things, things that I know I would have loved to experience as a student, and things that I truly believe will cultivate and guide students to be prepared for the future.

So now it's time to go on to part two, the second semester of my education at MCTC. As I do so I do so with a whole new set of tools and ideas, a whole new sense of focus and purpose, and a whole new list of goals and ambitions. There's no way for me to have imagined when I started this journey where I would be right now, and that makes me so excited to see where I'll be in another 4 months.  

Observation #4

So far I’ve completed a total of 27 hours observing at FAIR elementary school. My primary role has included helping students work on assignments, helping students stay focused, helping students during reading time, giving students make up spelling tests, observing students during music and art time, and a few other tasks.

FAIR Elementary is a school that has a 49% black and a 38% white student body. This is drastically different than my personal first grade experience where the vast majority of students were white.

Students are very aware of their skin color, and I think in particular in regards to their teachers and adults. At one point I had a student tell me I was white. It was almost as if she wanted to see how I would respond being confronted with that information. I’ve never heard the teacher address the racial differences. She’s a white teacher with 90% black students, and it doesn’t appear that she is connecting with their cultures outside of what she’s familiar with. There are times that it feels like she is trying to conform the students, but on a few occasions I have noticed her trying to connect in ways that they are more used to. For example, one of the sing along counting videos that the students enjoy is a kid friendly rap song that the students enjoy singing along to. It’s very clear that the students enjoy rap, because I’ve heard them singing rap songs like “Hot Cheetos and Takis” in class on several occasions. They’ve also danced in a hip hop style during times that encourage dancing. I find this interesting because the rap song the teacher plays is very basic and flashes through different images, but one is a spray painted image in the video of a white male with gold chains and baggy clothes.

Every friday there is a 3rd grade black student that comes to help students by doing a math lesson. The lessons are pretty basic, such as figuring out how many days there are until Christmas. The teacher told me that sometimes she feels like the students respect this third grade student more than they respect her. I noticed this too. He’ll wait for them to be quiet, and they’ll quiet down much quicker when he’s leading the discussion. I think skin color and being closer to their age makes him feel more relatable to the students, and as a result they look up to him and follow his instructions more consistently.

I remember one instance of a first grade romance I experienced where I noticed two students sitting next to each other often and even holding hands. They were teased often for ‘liking each other’ but it was all very innocent. As far as sexuality and gender goes, the students are all very young so this was the only thing I ever noticed relating to the issue. As with race and culture, the teacher either didn’t seem to notice or simply didn’t acknowledge it whatsoever.

I think there are subtle messages that the students are taking home from some of this unfortunately. They seem to act as though they can get away with more when there are white females in charge. I haven’t seen any white male teachers by comparison, so it’s difficult for me to comment on whether it’s race or gender specifically, but the students did obey the black woman much more than their white music instructor, as I talked about in my previous blog.

Observation #3

At this point I've completed 19 observation hours at the FAIR Elementary school in downtown Minneapolis. My role has included helping students complete assignments and giving behavioral direction in the classroom along with assignments and observing lessons and activities.

The first time I went to the music class the room was a scene of chaos. Students were playing with equipment that was off limits, running around, and the tape on the ground which marked their spots was being totally ignored. The students even climbed over stacked up chairs and equipment to find the drumsticks so they could bang the drums which the music teacher had pushed back against the wall to keep away from the children. There were also students scooting the chairs that were stacked at the front of the room all around. I noticed students have a break area where they’re allowed to sit or stand against the side of the wall away from everyone else if they don’t feel like participating. There was one student that had a very difficult time doing any class activities and I later found out that she opted to use this break area every single day. She'll even encourage other students to join her. 

My second experience in that room went very differently. At the front of the room stood a large black woman who was there for the sole purpose of enforcing order. Somehow, these students that showed no interest in following direction respected and obeyed her every word. She had a very loud strong voice and spoke in a way that I imagine is very similar to the way that the student's parents might speak to them. They clearly respected her more than they respected the music teacher. Upon seeing this I realized just how important cultural influences and the way a teacher presents themselves is to student engagement. I began to think about what will happen when it comes time to lead my own classroom, and what I can do to better my chances at receiving that respect.

I specifically was able to see some testing for common core standards, particularly in reading and math lessons. The testing at this school appears to be pretty frequent. Spelling tests occur every single Friday - along with a pre-test for the next week just to gauge how familiar the students are with the upcoming spelling words. Math tests also occur every week to determine the effectiveness of that weeks learning. I'm not certain how frequently this happens, but I did witness the teacher testing students individually on their reading levels as well. I think testing at this age is essential but I also think application of the skills they’re learning is important. I think the teacher does a good job of incorporating both. I think for this class of students in particular classroom management is a huge part of what the teacher spends a lot of her time doing but I also have noticed that she can’t constantly be managing every student. I’ve observed students copying each others work a lot and struggling with some of the basic concepts they’re learning. I think the key to them succeeding at mastering the common core skills is practicing but it seems hard to do so when students don’t listen and cause distractions for those that are trying to practice.

Observation #2

For my observation hours, I’ve began helping out in a first grade classroom at FAIR elementary school in downtown Minneapolis. So far I’ve observed a total of 14 and half hours; my role as an observer has included gaining a feel for the structure and schedule of the school day as well as helping students work on assignments. I was also able to follow the students to music class and observe the teacher in that setting.

The teacher seems to be taking on the philosophy of Essentialism. When you first walk into the classroom you’ll immediately notice that the walls are covered. Some of these things contain classroom creations, but among them are lists, goals, and rules. “Treat others the way you want to be treated” is an obvious classic example. Among these guidelines for structure you’ll also find tools like a classroom calendar, a tool hung up that teaches students how to count money, and one giant sheet of paper that, every single day, has a note from the teacher and a goal for the students to accomplish.

The classroom is very open. The ceilings are very tall and there’s no doors in the classroom, instead there’s a large opening on one side of the classroom that opens up into the student’s cubby area, and on the other side of the room the opening leads into another first grade classroom. It’s orderly at the start of the day, but you’d hardly recognize it an hour later by the time the student’s are finished working on an assignment. There are round tables throughout the middle of the room and each student has an assigned seat, three to four to a table facing the whiteboard. At the front of the room, immediately in front of that whiteboard is an alphabet rug we’d probably all recognize from our younger years, which serves as the strict border that constitutes the “Story time zone.” as well as the main gathering space for the students to receive assignments and go over lessons as a group. In addition to the open feel of the classroom, there’s a ton of organized structure. Every single thing in the classroom has a place and a purpose, and not only does the instructor know it, the students know it. It’s all part of a well thought out attempt at order.

The relationship between the instructor and her students feels very formal. At times it can even come off as parental, particularly when a student needs to be disciplined. The subjects that are covered are organized by blocks throughout the day, that typically take place at the same time day after day. Routine and order seem like key tools at keeping the children focused on their learning.

When it’s time for students to read, for example, students are sometimes allowed to choose what method they use such as reading to themselves, reading out loud to a partner, and listening to a read-a-long book on their iPad. The large majority of the time, however, the teacher assigns the method based on what she feels the students need. Reading time lasts 30 minutes, at which point the students are expected to put their book boxes exactly where they belong, return to their desks and prepare for lunch.

The entire day follows the same sort of routine, which stays mostly the same day after day, depending on the needs of the class.There is a very clear goal or expectation that she wants her students to reach when it comes to essential skills, and while she takes a more personalized approach to reaching these goals, the philosophy is very clearly based on the classic essential skills. I think teaching in the philosophy style of essentialism is incredibly important for first grade students. I think students at the early ages need to be taught the basics before they can tie it to a bigger picture. I think it can be hard for students at an early stage to grasp the importance of learning the essential basic skills that we all need to thrive in our society and although I do think freedom of choice is incredibly important for all students to have, I can understand why this teacher is choosing a more structured route. The first day I observed in the classroom there was plenty of back talk, messes being made, and more than a few tears shed. I immediately get the feeling just from my few days observing in the classroom that classroom management is a big obstacle.

Observation #1

In preparation for my observation hours at FAIR elementary school in downtown Minneapolis, I met with the assistant principal and explored the neighborhood for a few hours. Upon first arriving for my meeting, I noticed immediately that the doors that are facing Hennepin avenue, one of the busiest traffic avenues downtown, were not the entrance doors. They appeared to be emergency exit doors, but I’m still not sure. I had to walk down the right hand side of the school for about a third of a block before I hit the entrance, which was not just the entrance for FAIR school but just a general entrance to a building that serves a large variety of people. The entrance I went in wasn’t busy when I first entered, and it wasn’t busy when I passed through a couple times later in my exploration of the building. Instead of a ton of traffic when you walk in the large entrance what you’ll actually be hit with is a set of stairs and escalator positioned straight in front of the entrance. On the left hand side of the stairs is main entrance to FAIR and on the right hand side is the counseling offices for St. Thomas university.

My meeting with the assistant principal was short. We went on a mini tour of the school and after telling her I was interested in teaching first grade one day, she introduced me to some of the first grade teachers. The assistant principal told one of the teachers that I would be starting Monday and that I was there to observe as an MCTC student but that I could also help out as needed as long as there was another teacher present. The teacher seemed eager for the help, and I noticed what I think was an associate educator looking overwhelmed and asked to talk to the assistant principal about student behavior after school. These interactions were short as we were only in that first grade classroom for a minute but I could understand where the vibe that I was experiencing was coming from. The room looked torn apart and students were standing and moving about the room freely while talking and shouting to one another.

Another key point of my meeting was the immediate open feel of the school. I quickly noticed that this was a theme throughout the entire school, as it was present on the entire tour, even in the sign-in lobby area, the large stairwell that overlooks downtown Minneapolis, and the 1st grade classrooms that have high ceilings and open doorways.

After the meeting I begun my exploration outside the school’s main doors. I followed the escalator upstairs that led me through a doorway, past some vending machines, and down a hallway. In less than a minute I was in the hallways of the skyway and quickly was able to make it past many offices, restaurants, and stores. I immediately wondered how this could benefit the high school students at FAIR school, and  also wondering if this was a big challenge for teachers when it came to students skipping class.

I think the school being located in the heart of downtown Minneapolis is one of the main contributions to the urban theme that the school embraces. On the outside of the building are messages encouraging, success, diversity, and the fine arts. There’s also sign on the front side of the school facing the busy city traffic, that lists all the different suburbs and towns surrounding Minneapolis that students at FAIR elementary school come from. As for the urban surroundings of the school, not only were the skyways and corporate business world within easy access but also many bus routes pick up right outside of the school. There’s also clubs, fancy dining restaurants, theaters, offices, and convenient stores all within a block of walking distance. On the left hand side of the school there’s an alleyway that I noticed was reserved for delivery drop offs in the day and school bus drop off and pick up. It’s a large alley way so the buses are able to line up nicely and it keeps students out of the way of the main downtown traffic.

The very first thing you see on their website is their mission statement and photos of the children and their work. There is a link at the top that brings you to the main page for the Minneapolis Public School system . Clocking around some of the sections are vaguely labelled (such as “Be in the Know) and there are several broken image links that don’t display properly. Overall I would say the site is really basic. There are several general information pages which can be helpful, but not much that goes very in depth. It feels a bit like an inexpensive sales page that was created for the school .

I wasn’t able to find any data on the Minnesota school report card but I did search the school on Youtube and the very first result is a news report about the school’s turmoil, which resulted from several instances of misconduct from the administration.

Art and Skin Tones

After reading an article about different activities and experiments that were done to test and familiarize students with different skin tones I was really struck by the use of art to reach these goals.

I read about a series of experiments that were observed in art class, most notably one that involved children selecting photographs of people from different cultures with vastly different skin tones and creating two hand prints. They would create one that was left in a color close to their skin tone and another in a skin tone that was very different from their own.

The result that really struck me was that this lead to students not only noticing and talking about skin color in a very engaged and curious way, it lead to them more frequently using different brown tones that they previously found unattractive. They'd create rainbows with peach, caramel and cocoa colors, and refer to these shades as beautiful, while also discussing how everyone has a slightly different skin tone  - a trait they apparently hadn't otherwise noticed.

I think this is a very very important step when engaging children in conversations about race, because it gets to the very primal, immediate core of a lot of prejudice. The very first indication that someone is from a different ethnic background than yours is the color of their skin, and racial prejudices can run so deep that it happens almost instantly.  For kids to see these different skin tones and think and talk about them in a way that truly engages their interest, they begin to learn about that specific trait without any of the politics or outside beliefs being factored into it. There is no discussion of slavery, or racism, or the 'colorblind' approach where we talk about everyone as if there are no differences. It's a simple exploration of the colors themselves.

The one question I would want to discuss with the author is: "What is the youngest possible age to begin this exploration?" I think since children learn so much of their behavior at developing stages, it would be beneficial if there were a way to introduce this to children at the earliest possible stage.

I would also want to hear from current instructors who breach the subject with their classrooms, and learn not only how they do it, but when. I'm really curious if instructors of a certain age range are finding that students have a relatively low awareness when coming to the classroom, or if they have an opinion about what age these concepts should be introduced.  Race is obviously a factor in the classroom and will effect the way students interact with each other on some level, so I think it would be great to get a real understanding of how those issues are coming to the surface (or not) in different age groups, and different geographical areas and demographics.

3D Printing (Bonus tech toolkit)

3D printing is a technology that immediately made me think, "Wow. We're in the future."  I did recently learn that this technology was created in the 80's and simply was held back because of patents...but that only impressed me more! hopefully, now that those patents are expiring completely, we'll see a real 3D printing boom.

As you may have guessed, 3D printers are devices that can print actual 3D objects.  If you're not familiar with the technology this is a great short documentary on some of it's potential:


Obviously this technology is relatively expensive, but I think a several hundred dollar investment would be well worth the endless possibilities that come with being able to create real life objects with a printer. Not to mention, one popular company offers their printers with a "Buy 2 get 1 Free" deal for educational institutions.

When it comes to the potential classroom uses, as I mentioned before, the possibilities are endless. It might be tough to get our hands on a real fragile fossil, but we can 3D print a replica that school children can handle with no fear of damaging an expensive artifact.  We can print figurines for use in games or activities, or tools for very specific purposes.  I think part of the fun of a 3D printer would be bringing some of the children's ideas to life.

It's going to require a lot of new disciplines for me, but I really like the idea of creating open possibilities in the classroom. I like the idea of embracing tools that can make things possible that may have not been possible before. I imagine being able to take a childs idea, maybe about a strange structure or a small tool that they think could benefit them, and bringing them through the process of making it real.

As I observe more and more real life classroom hours, I've begun to realize that my assumptions of how teaching 'works' and how things happen need to be challenged and developed more, and I'm currently having trouble picturing specific paths because of this, but regardless I believe it's a tool thats adaptable enough to fit a lot of different goals and plans.

American Priveledge

I left for home one day after an in class discussion on race privilege and prejudice that was sparked by the shooting of the allegedly handcuffed Jamar Clark. Waiting for the bus in the irritating cold I was approached by a stranger who began a not entirely welcome conversation, as often happens on public transit.

The man was black, in his twenties with short hair and Beats headphones dangling from his neck. "I was just over there where that police car is." He said.  I recognized my instant prejudice of the situation - being approached on public transit by a minority, and so I assumed they were probably going to ask for something. Alternatively I thought he might be trying to steal from me - the latter situation being one I have never experienced yet seemed to expect of these specific interactions. I recognized, probably in thanks to the earlier in class discussion, the conclusions I was jumping to and opened myself up to the conversation, and started listening. And he began to tell me what happened.

He approached an active police scene out of curiosity, he was wondering what was happening when the female officer on the scene yelled to him "Back up! I don't want to get shot today." He knew immediately it was because he was black, and so he left. He then approached me for conversation where I immediately jumped to my own bias about him as well. It was a short bus ride, but we sat together and we talked more about the things he deals with on an every day basis. He worked really hard to save enough money to buy a new car. The first few days after he bought it he was pulled over nine times. Whenever he sees police officer while driving this vehicle he has to assume he will be pulled over. I was able to see easily see this was a really nice young man, and I recognized it the moment I chose not to ignore him based on my own prejudice.

Just a few days later my boyfriend and I packed up Blue Blast (Our Dodge Caliber that is outfitted with a 4'' memory foam pad in the back, offering a comfortable warm place to sleep on long trips) for a pretty spontaneous trip to Colorado to catch an encore of a show we saw in Minneapolis.

600 miles into this trip, the morning of the concert and 400 miles left to our destination, Blue Blast gave up on the side of the highway After a little research we discovered that 7 miles away was our only hope - a little town of Gothenburg, NE. A small town built around community and that describes itself as progressive in many ways, with a population of 97.3% white people, and 1.8% mixed. My boyfriend and I had to split up immediately to find the nearest mile marker (The tow truck would't come without it.)  and immediately were offered help by different nice people.

In fact, everyone we interacted with or heard interacting with each other was extremely nice. We felt a little bit out of place, with my boyfriend in his fashionable hoodie and laptop messenger bag, but no one gave us a hard time. As we sat in Deb's Diner, where we could choose from a few different cheeseburgers or a crock pot buffet consisting of Chili, Spaghetti or chicken wings,  I began to think about the man I met on the bus.

Within minutes of breaking down 3 different strangers invited us into their vehicles to help us out.  A very nice homicide detective even came to help after he saw us part ways (which he assumed meant that we'd had an argument) and within a half hour we had a tow to the local auto shop.

I don't mean to suggest that Gothemburg was the type of place that may refuse service based on skin color, or maybe not give the attention we received from the local businesses, but I definitely think our skin color played a huge role in the amount of stranger support we were offered.  We were back on the road within a few hours and made it to our destination of Boulder CO with hours to spare.

When Allen Stone performed 'American Privilege' that night, it definitely took on a deeper meaning for me after everything that had happened.  And 'everything that had happened' was really nothing that hadn't been happening before. It was just everything I became more aware and sensitive to.

 My boyfriend would often joke about 'white privilege' - most often the specific trait he called 'assumed innocence.'  We'd walk up and down the back alley of this venue in Colorado hoping to catch an interesting 'behind the scenes glimpse' of the show.  He'd point out that no one would be alarmed by our presence because we don't fit the stereotype of trouble makers, and therefore would be assumed innocent rather than guilty.  This same concept comes up any time a Target door alarm goes off in his presence and no one suspects him of stealing, or how if he were to shoplift he could likely get away with the excuse of being forgetful, since that 'assumed innocence' is on his side.

The longer I reflect the more instances I can think of where this privilege has come into play, and it's definitely not something I want to bring with me to the classroom. I don't want to make assumptions about students, or families. I recognize and know that there is a current societal issue of prejudice and privilege, and I can't deny the fact that some of these things can have truth to them - even if it's just a nasty self fulfilling prophecy where our assumptions perpetuate the issue. I can't deny that it's a real issue, but I can choose to do my best not to perpetuate it and take it even further. Some students are going to have their privileges and their obstacles because of their race or background, but I can do my best to keep them out of my classroom.

Strength

In a recent lesson I discovered an opinion held by Lisa Delpit that teachers should recognize and build on a student's strengths. This is something I believe in 100%, and an idea that I discovered for myself fairly recently.

When I started my education beyond High School I ended up in  a private school majoring in Biology. It definitely wasn't my calling in life, but I wanted to take the route I was supposed to take, even if it meant working extra hard at concepts that I just couldn't really connect with, no matter what I tried. I eventually chose to leave that school to figure out what was truly right for me - and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. I learned that I was following a path that didn't play to my strengths, and as a result I would have spent my life working extra hard and never reaching my potential.

The logic of this actually made sense to me when I came across Tom Rath's Strengthsfinder. This is a book and online personality test meant to reveal your personal strengths. It doesn't speak at all to your weaknesses, because those shouldn't matter. It shouldn't be your focus. The idea here is that if you are strong at something you're going to see 10x the results with half the effort. This isn't to say that knowing your limitations doesn't have it's value, but if math doesn't make sense to you, and you just can't connect with the concepts, you're obviously going to have a tough time following an academic path based in it.  That's not to say that you couldn't find success easily, but you'll be in a classroom with people who just seem to effortlessly get it. You could put in the hours, the focus and the effort to catch up and be as good or even better - but what if you instead focused that energy on something you were already good with?

I've talked before how I believe that exposure to all subjects is good, but overexposure becomes a problem. There is a fine balance when dealing with children - because they often don't know what's best for them or what their strengths are, but that's where we come in. It's our job as educators to help students find their ways, to recognize their hidden or budding talents, and to give them the tools and direction to be successful with what comes out of them. We are mentors and developers, and if we want to see success grow from the students we teach, we must help them figure out what that success may be to them.

Digital signage in the classroom - with Enplug!

Enplug is a super simple digital signage software that's used in all sorts of places. I first saw it in the Goodwill store in Dinkytown where they use it to engage their customers with social media. The wedding venue I work in, also uses it so that guests can upload live photos and messages during a wedding. I've done more research into what it can do, and it turns out the answer is: a lot.

Enplug can be used for menus, social media feeds, graphics, news feeds and more.  I would mostly use the social media feed and graphics with the idea of having a constantly updating digital screen in the classroom that provides a fresh feed of content every day. It doesn't need to be a super fancy screen either, for the most part any t.v. screen would work.

The social media aspect would be used as a way to engage the kids with conversations taking place outside of the classroom. The nice thing with a system like Enplug is that it's filtered, and I can choose what content comes through from the vast unpredictable world of social media. I always imagine working with young kids, so this would be especially important for keeping offensive content out. As for the content that is let through, I can imagine a couple of fun educational uses.

The first would be in a sort of vocabulary capacity. The idea is for the students to choose specific words or subjects and to simply catch any content that is using those words or phrases. Depending on the subject matter, this could bring in some new ideas and interesting discussions.

Another option would be to have parents and students participate with a specific hashtag, and contribute content to a specific idea or project. This could be showing their families, their work, their home, something from home they are proud of, etc. It could be an ongoing show and tell project even. These screens wouldn't be part of an active lesson, but would instead create passive content for children to engage with before class, during recess/lunch, or even after school. If I can get kids to engage in the learning process outside of 'structured learning time,' then I think it would be an experiment that I'd consider a success.

Funding Education

Over the last couple weeks I wrote about a couple of ideas that I had for introducing Raspberry Pi into the classroom, including a vision to update the great Gingerbread Man escape game. One of the obvious and important questions that arose from this was: "How much will it cost?" My answer; Relatively? Not much...But admittedly more than a lot of schools might have to spare.

Funding for education is left mostly as a responsibility for each individual state, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Maybe I am projecting, but it seems to me that this would imply that education funding, at least in the opinion of our federal government, isn't a federal issue. This seems to be echoed by the fact that education funding wasn't even mentioned in the first two Republican Presidential debates, and was barely mentioned in the Democratic debate. On the brighter side, the president's 2016 education proposal is focused on increasing equity and opportunity for all students; expanding high-quality early learning programs; supporting teachers and school leaders; and improving access, affordability and student outcomes in post-secondary education.

This proposal includes a $1 billion increase to provide support for school districts that have been serving a greater number of students from low income families.  This is exactly the type of focus that I think is critical in reforming our current education focus.  What baffles me as I look further into this issue is that it's been a campaigning tool one way or the other for at least the last 15 years, and it's still a major problem.

Education makes up 6% of federal budget and 30% of state budget. Looking at the general overview of the Minnesota State Budget, it's hard to argue where we could adjust spending, and I think it simply becomes obvious that burdening the state with the vast majority of funding responsibility for education is irresponsible. When you look at our national budget you see that 55% of our spending goes to the military. It's sickening when you start to research where this money goes, and find stories about manufacturers, banks, and other companies overcharging on military contracts. In one extreme case, a company is accused of charging $600 for a hammer on a contract for building military trucks.

This is a rabbit hole that goes deep, and there doesn't seem to be a single politician that believes the government is spending it's money appropriately. The most common campaign promises by far are ones related to how the government spends it's money. My question is, why hasn't someone done something about it already?

I definitely understand that there are people that benefit from huge piles of money falling at their doors. If I was selling hammers for $600 a piece I'd probably be on the other side of this issue, but I'm here, staring at a future career that manages to land itself on nearly every "top underpaid jobs" list on the internet, while also studying in the only civilized country that doesn't offer some form of free higher education.

It makes me angry, and I want things to change. I don't just want more education funding, I want more funding education. I want people to have access to a deeper understanding of where money comes from, where it goes, and who it's benefiting. When we spend 55% of our budget on military defense, does that 2 trillion dollars help the military 2 trillion dollars worth? or does it only benefit them 20 billion dollars worth because of companies inflating prices 1,000% to milk military contracts?

When a state spends 30 percent of it's budget on education, what does that mean?  How is that money being allocated, and is it going to the schools that need it, or is it staying in the area codes that pay higher property taxes?

My conclusion is simple: Numbers alone don't help anybody, and campaigning on promises to increase percentages or put billions of dollars into this or that don't mean anything. Without a true understanding what schools are lacking, and a solid plan to provide the funds to fill those needs, we might as well be throwing money into a black hole - or in the case of American politics, electing someone else to do it for us. I can't say for sure what the solution may be, but I think the first step we need

The Great Gingerbread Man Escape!

I remember in first grade, around Christmas time, we were in school and got to make gingerbreadmen cookies. Everyone was excited to taste our creations - but the unthinkable happened. We returned to the school kitchen, and I knew something was wrong when I didn't smell any freshly baked gingerbread. My worst fears were confirmed when we opened the oven. The gingerbread were gone. The official story was a breakout. A mass escape. Some of the other kids accused instructors or even the lunch lady. "Gingerbread mans can't walk!" Nate Hazel proclaimed.  Regardless of what happened, we had to find them. We started searching different areas of the school, but went home that day empty handed. It was looking bleak, but on the chalkboard the next day we had our first clue. The principal's office. There we found a note left by gingerbread men themselves laying out their plans. They were going to hide above the chalkboard in our own classroom until they could escape! We returned to our classroom and found them lining the top edge of the chalkboard. It was way above our line of sight at the time, so they may have even been there the whole time. I'll never know. I still wonder, even though this all happened in December of 1999.

And now it's 2015, and I started thinking: How can I put a new twist an such a memorable classic? I have to come clean - this idea wasn't entirely my own, but a collaboration with my boyfriend who recently started working with the Raspberry Pi device that I discussed in my previous post.  It was also inspired by some of the concepts of gamification that I've been learning about as well. What if we can update the classic game of 'find the gingerbread man' to include technology?

The core technology behind this idea is called Near Field Communication, or NFC. The basics behind it are really simple. An NFC tag is an extremely thin small computer chip, and whenever an NFC capable device gets within an inch or so, it triggers a script on the device that can be used to launch a website, start a phone call, or simply to display a message.

The idea is still a little rough, but it goes a little something like this:
The day begins with the children making their gingerbread men and bringing them to the kitchen only to return later to find an empty cooking tray! Luckily, Ms. Gonsalez saves the day when she tells the children we can build a machine (a Ginger-tracker? a Cookie-Detector?) that can be used to track down the gingerbread men, but she can't do it on her own.

This would then lead into the very basic Raspberry Pi creation lesson, where the children work together to build this very simple device. Again, it's not important that the children actually attempt any complex processes like coding, or putting components together, what is important in this part of the lesson is the sense of accomplishment at having built a tech device to solve their problem, and the exposure to the idea of coding, computer science, etc. in the simple fact that it exists, and that they learn it's something they are capable of doing if it interests them. The idea is to end up with a device that looks like computer components put together. It looks like something we built in a classroom - something like this:

Once we have the device put together (again, this will be a really easy thing to do. I watched my boyfriend build a tiny photo booth in under 3 hours.) the tracking will begin.

The rules will be very simple. Over the next couple of days as the children move throughout the school they will keep their eyes open for any traces of the gingerbread men. I originally imagine they'll find laminated pieces of the gingerbread men (an arm that fell off, or a button, etc.) but there might be a better way to do it.(What would gingerbread footprints look like?)

When students spot these pieces they report back to the class, and we make our way out with the new device in hand. And this is where the NFC comes into play.

The tag will be hidden inside whatever clue is found, so when the device is powered on and makes contact the the clue, text will appear on the screen. Maybe it will give an exact location, or a general direction, or something else entirely, but the point is that each clue will bring the students one step closer to finding out what happened to the gingerbread men.

Of course once all the clues are found the final step is locating the gingerbread men themselves. That will be the ultimate reward for the children for a job well done, and will hopefully leave the children feeling like they actually participated and succeeded in finding the gingerbread men through their own actions.

The exercise won't only reward them with a mouthful of cookie and a fun memory, or at least that's what I am hoping. If everything goes as imagined they will be left with their exposure to the idea of how computers work, the confidence that building a machine is within their reach, and some experience and familiarity with the idea that technology can be used to interact with the real world.

I think exposing children to these wonderful ideas early is like planting a seed that has the potential to grow into something wonderful. It was simple experiences like these that I valued through the years, and looking back I think they had a great effect on me over time. It's hard to put into words but the memory of the hunt that I described above was a lot of fun, and over 15 years later I can't think about it without smiling. I hope I can give my students experiences that are that memorable, or even more so.

Standardized Testing

Not having a better solution (yet) is not a good reason to stick to a system we know is broken.

Standardized testing measures everyone against each other to determine a statistical average, and to compare students against their peers. Progressive research continues to demonstrate that this type of thinking is outdated, and that measuring every student on the exact same metric might give an accurate representation to how well those academic subjects are memorized.

These studies go well beyond college as well. A recent student shows that there is no significant difference in performance between students who do and do not submit SAT or ACT scores when applying to universities.

According to the University of North Carolina, standardized test results do predict success in postgraduate programs - so it’s not to say that they are useless.  However, only 8% of the United States population hold Graduate degrees.  It makes since to voluntarily take a standardized test when considering postgraduate school, as it may help predict how successful you would be in that environment. Up until that point in a person’s life, the benefits become much more difficult to define.

One problem with the standardized test is what the goal is when they are put into place. We seem to be a society that loves numbers, percentages and to criticize. Most standardized tests today, especially in the k-12 world, are used to measure success, and not to predict success.  This means that the one major benefit that I was able to find when it comes to standardized tests (the fact that the results are a good predictor of success)  are just a happy side effect and not the purpose of the test in the first place.

The reason the ill defined goal becomes an issue is because good ‘standardized test results’ are the goal, but what those test results represent seems blurry. Do they represent whether the school system did a good job? Does it represent if the school needs more money, or needs its funding cut?  What do we gain from standardized testing?

The answer to this question depends on who you ask, and what side of the argument you are on. One side likes to point out that “93% of studies in the last 100 years show that standardized testing has a positive effect on student achievement.”  On the other side you’ll hear “A May 26, 2011, National Research Council report found no evidence test-based incentive programs are working:”

I’m always wary of statistics like this because they seem to be worded specifically to support the idea that the writer wants to support. 93% of studies in the last 100 years show a positive impact, but how did that number change over time? If we just look at tests in the last 10 years, do we see the same results?

There are some pro arguments that more abstract benefits come from standardized tests. For example, proponents argue that separating minorities or non-english speaking students into separate testing categories creates an unequal system which would result in more segregation. This line of thinking makes sense to me, but I still believe that there are options to explore that can accomplish these same things without the drawbacks of standardized tests.

Overall I think we need to agree on an educational philosophy. What is education in America? What is the goal of education?  Only then can we decide truly if standardized testing has it’s place in accomplishing that goal. Right now the goal seems to be “get a good job”, but we’ve seen that the high school education isn’t preparing anyone for getting those jobs right now. So maybe that needs to change.

Educational Philosophy Statement

I believe students should be taught skills that will continue to be useful throughout their lives. The fundamental purpose of an education is to help an individual grow, and to create members of a society and a community that are capable of being productive and successful. If you’re not teaching children to be independent critical thinkers then you are churning out factory pieces to be exploited by corporations, politicians, and anyone else who’s best interest involves pushing for an uninformed population.

There are several expectations for basic adulthood that are not part of the school curriculum, and aren’t being taught consistently by parents, and I believe that is leaving our society with a ‘knowledge deficiency.’ Some of these things include skills like managing money, how interest on loans work, moderate nutritional education, writing cover letters and resumes, etc. Adjusting current curriculum's slightly away from topics like abstract math, classic literature and the periodic table to make room for more practical and universally used topics would be very beneficial. Children need to continue learning how to interact and communicate with the world around them. Abstract processes taught for the sake of tradition aren’t helping when it’s hard for many people to even justify the time they spent in high school learning things that never applied to their adult lives.. Exposing children to ideas such as geology, astronomy, algebra and calculus are great - but mandating that students dedicate time to those skills is wasteful. Education should be teacher guided but tailored to each individual.

I believe that courses should be interactive and collaborative. Exercises should encourage communication and broadening of social horizons within the classroom. Life is not full of solo projects, and only solo tasks. Any homework assignment should be a contribution to the class as a whole, not an isolated individual responsibility. Work should be done to benefit something greater than themselves, where the final goal is a sense of team accomplishment. Leading everyone to be proud of each other, where everyone keeps each other accountable and helps each other through struggles, and not just focuses on themselves.  

I believe that exercises should be structured so educational goals are met and the students add their own context. Childhood brains develop through their interaction with the world. Curiosity is rewarded with knowledge, and we must encourage and facilitate curiosity and experimentation. Students should be able to express themselves and play with the ideas and assignments given - so long as a true effort is being made and the student has striven to accomplish something, and the student was engaged, then there is no failure no matter the outcome. If a classroom exercise is to draw a duck, then drawing a blue 50 foot duck should not necessarily be judged on the accuracy in which it depicts a real life duck. Although there are cases where this may miss the educational goal, there are many instances where an effort outside of the specific instructions still exercise the intended skillset.

I believe that play should be structured into learning. I don’t think there should be a separation from play and learning. I think there’s a way to do both. I think it’s important for students to gain experiences and for students to learn by doing. This mantra can be applied creatively to come up with lessons that teach students useful lifelong skills, through interactive and collaborative projects where students can work on specific tasks that speak to their interest and strengths. This would not only lead to more students being engaged, but also the students being engaged on a deeper level.

Everyone loves Raspberry Pi(e) - right?

Raspberry Pi

This weeks tech toolkit is going to go down a different path than my previous ones. This week I am going to talk about a relatively new product called the Raspberry Pi. Raspberry Pi is a barebones, cost effective computer system that can run on very little power, and do very basic computer operations. It’s possible to build a camera, an alarm clock, a jukebox and more.

This is a little different in that I actually would be teaching the technology itself - however the takeaways for the students would be much more than that. As I dive deeper and deeper into the world of technology I’ve learned that coding is a very interesting way of solving problems. To code you first start with the idea of what you want to do, and then you dissect it into steps. Once you  know what steps and functions your idea needs you start creating, step by step, the code needed to do it.

A really basic example would be if you wanted to write a code that lit an LED up with red. First you have to tell the LED light to turn on. Next you need to tell it to turn red.  Two simple steps - but the point is to dissect every goal into manageable bite sized steps.

I think creating a jukebox or even alarm clock would be a bit too difficult and steep for any young student to take on by themselves, so I would implement this as a classwide collaborative project.  We would, as a class, decide what it is that we want to create. Do we want to create a button that plays a specific song? An alarm bell that goes off at lunch?

The idea behind this 'ideation phase' would be to allow the children to get creative. I can't even imagine what different things they would come up with that they'll want to create!  Once we dissect the ideas and land on an appropriate project (with a little teacher guidance, so we don't end up building a giant ninja robot) we'll move on to the next step.

The second phase would be the breakdown of the functions. If we are building an alarm clock what does that mean? It will need to know what time it is. How will it get that information? It will need to know what to display. It will need to know when to change. And it will need to know when to ring.

I would then separate the children into groups to do some research (these would be instructions that I provide) on how to write the code that will give them the result that they want. It's important to note that these pieces of code would be very simple and basic. I don't actually know anything about how to code yet, but I found this script online that would accomplish the 'alarm clock' task, and for the most part it's easy to intuitively get a sense of what code does what :

import time

import os

showhh = str(time.localtime().tm_hour)

showmm = str(time.localtime().tm_hour)

name = raw_input("Enter your name:")

print "Hello, " + name + "\n" + "Current Time:" + showhh + ":" + showmm

alarm_HH = raw_input("Enter the hour you want to wake up at:")

alarm_MM = raw_input("Enter the minute you want to wake up at:")

print "You want to wake up at " + alarm_HH + ":" + alarm_MM

def alarm():

   hh = time.localtime().tm_hour

   mm = time.localtime().tm_hour

   if hh == alarm_HH and mm == alarm_MM:

      print "ALARM NOW!"

       #os.system("mpg321 /home/pi/voltage.mp3")

   else:

       pass

  

def main():

   while True:

       alarm()

if __name__ == '__main__': main()

A lot of this code I wouldn't actually make the students write, because the actual code writing is not the most important part of the project.  By the end of the project the kids will have been exposed to the world of computer coding - hopefully enough for them to get a sense of if it intrigues them or not. I also hope that they get some valuable experience in a new kind of thinking, collaborating, and problem solving.

I think this kind of project is important because although it is highly technological and although it IS teaching the students 'how to use the technology', it also teaches them and exposes them to a whole new subject matter that they might not otherwise get to learn about or check out. I think we need to embrace and dive into technology as a teaching tool without being afraid of getting 'too technical' because I think that fear becomes evident to the students, and I certainly don't want to discourage them from diving into the subject just because it's intimidating and new to me!

Tech Tool Kit # 2

Tech Tool Kit #2 9/17/15

Cloud based communication has been growing exponentially throughout the years. From Dropbox, to Google, to Amazon, to Apple, there are many different ways for information to live on the cloud, and countless ways to access that information.

I envision the adoption of cloud based technology as something that will revolutionize education. The benefits of making information instantly available to everyone who could benefit from it are obvious, but the implementation is much more tricky. Identifying the ways that cloud based communication can increase classroom efficiency are tricky, and even trickier is figuring out the ‘how’ of that implementation.  

One current example of this is an app called ClassDojo (https://www.classdojo.com/) ClassDojo is an instagram-like service that allows teachers to share students work with their parents. According to teacher reviews, this app does a great job at encouraging active participation between school and home life. It also motivates the students to be more active because students know their parents will see their work. You can also push messages out to parents, and the app will notify you when a parent has read your message, or viewed your post.

Because this app is a mostly one way communication tool, it is very important for the teacher to use it consistently. Parents can show their appreciation with ‘hearts’, which are essentially the ClassDojo equivalent of Facebook’s ‘Like’ button, however they cannot write anything that other parents will see. This is a very important thing to consider, as ‘collaborative social media’ such as Instagram or Twitter invites everybody into the conversation - which would be important to me if I am dealing with a disgruntled or unstable parent.

For this technology to be beneficial there would be a crucial step at the beginning of every year to engage parents and convince them to download the app. It’s tough to anticipate how difficult this would be at first, but I believe with a positive history, good word of mouth, and consistent use, it would become easier to convince parents over time. It would be important for me to convince parents to download the app and participate, otherwise the technology becomes useless.

One plan for rolling out this app that I think is best for everybody is to take a ‘strength in numbers’ approach. If an entire school system uses a technology like this, and a parent is able to get updates on all of their children’s classes, including reminders for field trips, a communication channel to the instructors, and a direct feed of all classroom activities, then the value of the app to the parent grows exponentially as opposed to if it was just for one class.

With this in mind my first step would be to get the school board and other instructors on board to attempt a school-wide implementation, or at least create a plan for implementation over time.

This technology can be a great tool to benefit students in several ways, but again it only works if everyone is on board and puts forth the effort. I’m very interested in continuing to find ideas and ways for students to connect their school and home life for more immersive learning and more parental engagement, but the idea that the biggest obstacle will be teaching the other adults (parents and other instructors) is a bit daunting. It can be very difficult to change someone’s mind, or to convince them to try a new approach, especially if they are already doing what they perceive to be working well. The key here would be to convince them of the critical role that technology has in the classroom, and that adopting these changes will present challenges at first, but opens the door to a much better educational experience for everyone involved, and overall I think we can all agree that this is the number one priority.

Tech Tool Kit #1

Tech Tool Kit #1  9/3/15

If you haven't heard of Google Cardboard I would recommend looking into it. It's a simple device made from cardboard, a couple lenses and a magnet. You insert your smartphone and it becomes a virtual reality device that is both fun and engaging. We're talking about interactive 3D virtual reality! The thing I love about this technology is that you can take your students anywhere; an art museum, a historical site, into nature, or even underwater. A lot of the places that you're able to visit virtually are places that they've probably never been and might not ever visit, at least until they're much older. Google Cardboard could allow for a more engaging, more entertaining, way more memorable and immersive classroom! A major pro to google cardboard is that it's cost effective. A google Cardboard device only costs 15-23 dollars new, but it can easily be found used for much cheaper. However this does not include the cost of a smart phone that is required for the device. A con that still needs to be addressed is the issue of Google Cardboard requiring a smart phone. Where would I come up with smart phones for all of my students? Some students may have access to their own cell phones, however it would be supplemented to not exclude students who do not. Perhaps parents could send their student to school with their phone if possible, although this might be a challenge again if the family doesn't have a smart phone, or if they don't wish to part with their's for the day.

I would roll this out by introducing the technology to the students with a very exciting demo first to get them interested in using it. I think it could add immersion and activity to textbook lessons about history, geography, art etc. And let the children really see the scale of some of the places that are discussed. The technology is absolutely an integration tool, as the content is the same content you'd teach from a webpage or book, but with an amplified 3D, fully interactive experience. Of course some of the places to 'travel' to via Google Cardboard might not fit into lesson plans. Google Cardboard may not have a specific place or concept that I'll be teaching. I think Google Cardboard is more than just a teaching tool. I think it adds an interactive visual experience for restless students. I hope to one day teach 1st or 2nd graders, and I know that a lot of kids at that age have a lot of energy. I think Google Cardboard may act as a way for them to release some of that energy while learning. They can feel like thy are in a museum, aquarium or even outer space. They'll get to experience wonder IN the classroom.

 The device itself is extremely easy to use, and the set up and technical side of the technology is completely separate from the application. They aren't learning about 3D visual effects, accelerators in cell phones that track movement, or any other concepts of virtual reality, it is strictly an education based on the content that virtual reality provides.