The Tempered Radical

How to Use Podcasting to Personalize Your Blog

Not sure if you know it or not, but I'm a pretty big fan of Dean Shareski, a Canadian #edtech guru who has changed my own thinking about teaching and learning over the past few years. 

Recently, Dean blogged about the power of a person's actual voice. 

He wrote:

I think about the way a person's voice builds connection and relationship is unique and important. It's amazing how, if I've heard someone's voice in person or online, I read their stuff in that voice.

Makes sense, doesn't it? 

I know that when I'm reading text-based blog entries, I almost always make up imaginary inflections for the authors -- and I LOVE meeting people in person to see if their real voices align nicely with my imagination. 

In today's day and age, y'all, incorporating audio and video into your blog is ridiculously easy.

Whether you decide to roll hardcore and use YouTube's Video Recorder or keep things simple and whip up content with your cell phone, there is NO REASON that your readers should have to wonder what you sound like in real life. 

To personalize the Radical, I've decided to use Spreaker -- a free service complete with an Android Mobile App -- to start my own semi-regular podcast called A Minute for Change focused on the #edreform and #schoolchange questions that are spinning my intellectual wheels. 

Here's the first episode -- which is built around a conversation that I had with Steve Goldberg and wrestles with the notion that schools just aren't doing enough to measure the skills that parents really care about:

 

 

Now let's be honest: The audio quality on my Spreaker recording isn't fantastic.  While I was experimenting with different podcasting apps, I found SEVERAL voice recorders that produce a far better final product -- particularly Tape-a-Talk. 

But Spreaker does a TON of other things REALLY well. 

Most importantly, I can post new episodes to my Spreaker page on the web as soon as I'm done recording them on my cell phone.  That eliminates all kinds of second and third steps that I'd be unlikely to take if I were using other services.

Spreaker also automatically generates embeddable text for each episode that I post.  That makes it really easy for me to put players like the one above in my blog. 

That made Spreaker the most "all inclusive" service that I explored.

I'm certain that some of y'all won't bother to listen to the podcast episodes that I share.  Listening takes more time than skim reading, right? 

For those of you who crave the human connection that text struggles to convey, however, here's to hoping you'll get a kick out of my podcasting adventures!

And get ready:  There are DEFINITELY video episodes on my agenda!

#mybeautymaydistractyou

Slaying Intellectual Dragons [Slide]

I was feeling a bit creative today, so I figured I'd whip together a slide to use in conjunction with my recent bit on collaborative versus competitive dialogue. 

Here's what I came up with:

Download Slide_IntellectualDragons

Hope you can use it somewhere in your work.

Rock on,

Bill

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Original Image Credit: GX-51 Getter Dragon by Joe Wu

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ozzywu1974/4147817596/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Licensed Creative Commons Attribution on December 23, 2011

What Can YOUR Students Learn from the Romney Perry Slugfest [Activity]

Not sure about you, but I've been following the Republican debates pretty closely over the past few months.  My main goal has been to get a sense for what exactly the Right is bringing to the table this year. 

While I typically lean left in my voting patterns, I'm as independent as they come -- and given the ridiculousness of ol' Bam's educational choices in the past four years, I'm more than a little disgruntled with the Democrats. 

But I've also found the Republican debates to be completely entertaining in a Jersey Shore kind of way.  Ya just never know when someone is going to haul off and say and/or do something completely foolish. 

That's why the CNN Las Vegas debate will remain forever burned in my memory.  Channeling their inner Alis, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry threw down over illegal immigration:

 

 

I knew that I had to use the Romney Perry exchange in a lesson with students because it is a PERFECT example of how NOT to act in a conversation where you are actually trying to learn something. 

Matt Copeland -- whose book on structuring Socratic Circles had a deep and lasting impact on my own instructional practices -- would call the Romney - Perry slugfest an example of competitive dialogue.  When engaged in competitive dialogue, individuals see others as intellectual dragons that need to be slain. 

There's a real unwillingness to listen when you're engaged in competitive dialogue because listening inherently suggests that your own ideas might be wrong -- and being wrong in a competitive conversation is really, really bad. 

Ask John McCain.  Or Al Gore.

Or any other politician that has spent months and millions trying to be elected only to come up a few votes short of the finish line. 

While there's always a place for competitive dialogue in our persuasive world, Copeland argues, students need to be introduced to the characteristics of collaborative dialogue too -- which is built on the notion that participants in a conversation should see one another as intellectual teammates who are building new understandings together. 

We may not agree in a collaborative conversation, but we respect each other and are convinced that we can learn from one another as long as we are willing to listen with an open mind. 

Makes sense, doesn't it? 

Here's the hitch:  Kids RARELY see examples of collaborative dialogue in action.  Instead, they are surrounded by competitive conversations -- whether it's two political candidates delivering right hooks to each other or two companies trying to insult one another's products. 

The result is that a whole generation of kids are growing up with little real ability to engage in the kinds of collaborative conversations that lead to better solutions and more learning. 

#frightening

If this resonates with you at all, consider downloading this activity that I just whipped up:

Download Handout_EvaluatingConversationBehaviors

It asks students to evaluate the differences between the Romney - Perry clip and an interaction that took place between a group of my students after one of our Socratic Seminars. 

Hope you find it useful.

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Related Radical Reads:

Teaching Students About Digital Conversations

Digital Conversations Matter

Part 2: Digital Conversations Matter

 

 

 

Top Five Radical Reads of 2011

It's hard to believe that another year of writing here on the Radical is coming to a close, y'all.  Every time that I sit down behind the keyboard and start clicking away, I keep my fingers crossed that I'll churn out bits that SOMEONE will find useful.

Having spent the better part of the past 7 years learning from others who are freely giving their thoughts and ideas away online, being useful is important to me. 

I want to do my part -- in my own simple way -- to give back.

That's why I wanted to take a minute to spotlight the five Radical reads that were viewed the most times in the past year.  Doing so will put the content that others found the most provocative in one place.  It's like crowdsourced filtering, right?

So here they are:

Writing Student Friendly Learning Goals (10,811 page views)

Easily one of my favorite bits on the Radical, this piece introduces readers to a specific process for converting balky state objectives written in #eduspeak into language that kids might actually understand.  I love that it topped the list of popular pages for 2011 simply because it was written in 2008!

#stayingpower

Is REAL Formative Assessment Even Possible? (4,426 views)

This bit is deeply personal.  It details my current struggles to implement meaningful formative assessment into my own classroom practices -- and I'll be honest with you: I STILL don't think formative assessment is doable, no matter how unpopular that thinking might be.  Not with 130 students, a massive curriculum, and a dearth of digital tools to automate the collection of data. 

#sadtruth

Using Twitter in High School Classrooms (4,105 views)

Having spent the better part of the past three years learning in Twitter, I am completely jazzed that this bit -- which outlines specific ways that Twitter is being used to enhance teaching and learning in high school classrooms -- has been so popular. 

#twitterules

Why are We STILL Wasting Money on Whiteboards? (3,725 views)

One of the things that I'm probably best known for is my antipathy towards interactive whiteboards.  I see them as a complete waste of money and a sign of the kinds of irresponsible spending practices that are grinding schools into the ground.  This bit is my most recent rant about the flippin' things. 

#cantstandem

Rethinking Grading Policies in a PLC (3,651 views)

I love this post because it blends two themes that I really care about: Responsible grading practices and collaborative work between colleagues.  It tackles the specific steps that learning teams need to take together if they're ever going to professionally report on student progress to parents.

#mustread

Hope you find these bits valuable -- and hope that you'll keep stopping by to push my thinking.  Your feedback matters more than you really know!

#respect

 

What are YOU Using Technology For?

I started reading What Technology Wants -- an interesting book written by Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly that explores the relationship between humans and their gizmos -- the other day and stumbled across the origin of the word technology.

As Kelly writes:

The word technelogos is nominally Greek.  When the ancient Greeks used the word techne, it meant something like art, skill, craft or even craftiness.

Ingenuity may be the closest translation.  Techne was used to indicate the ability to outwit circumstances, and as such it was a trait greatly treasured by poets like Homer.

(Kindle location 141-146)

I really like that root, don't you? After all, technology helps teachers to "outwit circumstances" all the time. 

Trapped behind four walls with students all day long in a district with absolutely no budget for professional development?  Then turn to social spaces like Twitter and Facebook to build a vibrant network with digital learning partners. 

#circumstanceoutwitted

Have a craving to read everything that you can possibly find on your professional passion -- whether that's differentiating instruction, teaching with technology, or working with special needs populations?  Then setting up an RSS feed reader to automatically monitor your favorite sites will save you time.

#circumstanceoutwitted

Want to collect formative assessment data, but struggling with the burden of collecting, organizing and recording the daily responses of the 130 students on your caseload?  Then pair student cell phones with a free polling service to automate the collecting and recording process. 

#circumstanceoutwitted

I'm pretty sure that this list of outwitted circumstances could go on and on, y'all. 

Want to create a warehouse of instructional tutorials for students?  Use Livescribe pens. Need to organize your collaborative work with peers?  Use Google Docs and a wiki.  Trying to teach students more about collaborative dialogue?  Take VoiceThread for a whirl. 

The point to remember is that the best technology choices start with an awareness of the circumstances that you are trying to outwit.  Purchasing the latest gizmo or gadget "just because it looks kind of neat" is a giant waste of cold hard cash. 

More importantly, every time that you make a "just because" decision, you are essentially giving away the last bits of your already fragmented time and attention.

Kelly says it this way:

Our lives today are strung with a profound and constant tension between the virtues of more technology and the personal necessity of less: Should I get my kid this gadget?  Do I have the time to master this labor-saving device?

And more deeply: what is this technology taking over my life, anyway?

(Kindle Location 122)

So what does this all mean for schools and teachers?

We've GOT to make careful choices about the tools and the spaces that we're racing to embrace -- systematically weeding our digital gardens of ANY technology that isn't helping us to conquer specific tasks. 

We've GOT to be able to name the circumstances that we're trying to outwit before we spend any time and energy on a digital product, process, or practice  -- and if we stumble at all when tying a knotty circumstance to a new tool, we just shouldn't waste our time.

That's a simple criteria to abide by, isn't it? 

#justdoit

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Related Radical Reads:

Developing Technology Vision Statements

Making Good Technology Choices

Wasting Money on Whiteboards

 

Tool Review: Google Search Story Creator

A few months ago, I stumbled across an interesting new Google tool in a Kyle Pace blog post.  Called the Search Story Creator, it allows users to create 30 second videos of the screens that appear when they are searching for particular topics.

Kyle use of the Search Story Creator -- he created a sample commercial to advertise a political candidate -- got me thinking that Google's newest gizmo could be a great tool for having kids practice visual persuasion during the upcoming election season. 

But instead of using the Search Story Creator to generate a commercial about a candidate, I thought having students create a commercial trying to influence people around a particular issue might make sense. 

Specifically, I wanted to create a task that would make kids think through what candidates AREN'T saying about hot-button issues.  Doing so would serve as a tangible reminder that there are two sides to every political story even if candidates aren't always willing to consider them.  

So I whipped up a few samples of search stories built around political issues that teachers could share with students starting a similar project.

Here's one questioning Barack Obama's position on universal health care:

 

And here's one questioning Newt Gingrich's positions on immigration:

 

They're pretty interesting products, aren't they?  Forcing kids to ask unanswered questions about the positions that candidates take on issues requires higher level thinking AND a deep understanding of political issues.  

More importantly, it would encourage the kinds of behaviors that characterize the savviest citizens in any democracy.  For too long, politics has been driven by an unquestioned allegiance to individual parties.  It's about time that we start to remind our kids that questioning candidates matters. 

These kinds of products are also pretty easy to create. 

Here's a handout that your students can use to craft their own search stories on the political issues that matter the most to them:

Download Handout_ElectionThemedGoogleSearchStories

Overall, I think the Search Story Creator is a new tool worth exploring. 

Not only does it generate an interesting and potentially influential visual product -- something that students MUST master if they are going to be persuasive in tomorrow's world -- it forces kids to think through the kinds of questions that can result in more meaningful learning about controversial topics.

I also like how approachable the Search Story Creator is.  Once students have thought through the kinds of questions that they want to include in their final products, Google does the rest -- from including background music and choosing transitions to uploading videos to YouTube.

That matters to me.  Whenever I'm working with technology, I want my kids focused on content, not on mastering new pieces of software or wrestling with technical processes.  The less time that my kids spend tinkering with tools, the more time they can spend thinking through key ideas.

That doesn't mean, however, that Google's Search Story Creator is perfect -- final products are limited to 30 seconds, which is barely enough time to tell a meaningful story and users can't make any individual enhancements to the screen captures that appear in their search stories even if they wanted to -- but there are definitely classroom applications here.

Whaddya' think?  Is this a tool that you think you could use with your students?

___________________________

Related Radical Reads:

Google's Reading Level Search Feature

Google's Redesigned Related Searches Feature

Working Together with Wikis and Google Docs

 

 

The Fuhrer's Take on Standardized Testing

Need a quick laugh?  Then watch this video:

My Beef With Paper

I realized something this week: I have a deep-seated, unhealthy HATRED for paper.

Forms from the office, handouts from professional development sessions, and materials that need to be sent home to families sit in silent stacks on my desk, my counters, my backpack and my floor.

And that doesn’t even include the piles and piles of handwritten assignments that my 130 students turn in each week to demonstrate mastery.

Sure I’ve got folders and binders and file cabinets all neatly labeled and at the ready, but those neatly labeled storage systems are only useful if they’re close by when papers are given to me.

And sure I’ve got a wiki where I’m warehousing digital copies of documents, but that’s only useful when someone actually GIVES me digital copies of documents – or when I can find the time to dig out my scanner to MAKE digital copies of other people’s documents.

#neverhappens

Instead, papers are given to me by my peers in meetings. They’re dropped in my mailbox by secretaries. They’re handed in by students in the hallways between classes – and they almost never actually make it into any kind of file folder.

The whole system is so darn inefficient that it makes me want to scream. I find myself wasting the little bits of free planning time that I have wrestling with paper -- and that leaves me more than a little hacked off.

But my REAL beef with paper runs much deeper. My real beef with paper is the negative impact that it has on the willingness of my students to revise their work.

What Would Happen if YOU Took the End of Grade Exams?

Good question, isn't it?  And a question that I've asked myself about a million times as I've proctored my state's sixth grade reading and math tests considering how FEW of the questions on the math test -- my personal weakness -- I'm ever able to figure out.

More importantly, it's a question that I've wanted to see state policymakers -- who seem hell-bent on tying test scores to systems of teacher and student evaluation -- answer publicly. 

I mean, seriously:  If you are so flippin' confident that tests are a reliable tool for failing students and canning teachers, shouldn't you be willing to take those same tests and have YOUR results made public to the world?

Well, that's EXACTLY what Rick Roach -- a successful businessman and current school board member in Orange County, Florida -- did this year, and his results may surprise you:  He earned a 62% on the 10th grade reading exam and literally had to guess at every question on the math test, eventually getting 10 out of 60 questions right. 

What Rick learned from the experience ought to be tattooed onto the foreheads of every single elected official in the nation.  He writes:

“If I’d been required to take those two tests when I was a 10th grader, my life would almost certainly have been very different. I’d have been told I wasn’t ‘college material,’ would probably have believed it, and looked for work appropriate for the level of ability that the test said I had.

“It makes no sense to me that a test with the potential for shaping a student’s entire future has so little apparent relevance to adult, real-world functioning.

Who decided the kind of questions and their level of difficulty? Using what criteria? To whom did they have to defend their decisions? As subject-matter specialists, how qualified were they to make general judgments about the needs of this state’s children in a future they can’t possibly predict?

Who set the pass-fail “cut score”? How?”

“I can’t escape the conclusion that decisions about the [state test] in particular and standardized tests in general are being made by individuals who lack perspective and aren’t really accountable.”

Thank you, Rick -- for going out on a limb and for speaking the truth about end of grade exams.  Not only do they carry incredibly high stakes, they test skills that no one really cares about. 

Now if only your peers in the #edpolicy world had half of your guts. 

#unlikely

#cowards

Need MORE Proof that Incentive Programs are Dangerous?

If you've read the Radical for any length of time, you'll know that I pretty much despise the carrot-and-stick approach to managing teachers and students that seems to be all the rage in education right now (see here, here and here).

What's completely wild is that many of the top organizational thinkers who are working largely in fields beyond education -- including Authorspeak Keynote presenter Daniel Pink -- agree that incentive programs almost NEVER work.

Download Slide_ThePerfectCarrot

 

Chip and Dan Heath -- authors of a TON of great reads including The Myth of the Garage, a completely free Corwin eBook -- are no less critical of our fascination with incentive programs than Pink.

In Myth of the Garage, they compare incentive programs to the popular urban legend of a Darwin Award winner who strapped a rocket engine to his Chevy Impala looking for the ultimate joy ride only to end up "as a human flapjack" on the side of a lonely Arizona mountain.

The Heaths write:

Incentives are like that jet engine.  There's no question the engine will take you somewhere, fast, but it's not always clear where.  Or who you're going to mow down on the way.

Yet incentives are still the first resort of most managers.  We all think we're smart enough to create the perfect carrot.

(Kindle locations 357-363)

So what makes incentive programs so dangerous -- particularly in fields like education?

According to Chip and Dan Heath, incentive programs inevitably cause well-intentioned people to fall victim to a focusing illusion.  Instead of taking multiple measures into account when judging performance, we overemphasize the single variable that we are attempting to measure.

In other words, when all you are worried about measuring is how fast your car can fly down a dry desert lakebed, you tend to forget about the mountain that you're sprinting towards at 300 miles per hour. 

The Heaths write:

"To be fair, there are some contexts where one variable dominates.  If you're employing a field sales rep who is selling a simple, self-contained product, then it probably makes sense to tie incentives to the sale.

If you're traveling a long, straight road, the jet engine will get you there faster.

But chances are you don't live in a one-variable world.  In your complicated, squishy, matrixed world, if you're dreaming up an incentive plan, you're almost certainly in the grips of a focusing illusion."

(Kindle locations 386-391)

Now, I don't know about you, but I can't think of a MORE "complicated, squishy, matrixed world" than education. 

The honest truth is that we -- teachers, principals, parents, policymakers, community leaders, students -- DO care about multiple variables when looking at the outcomes of education.

Sure we want students to become better readers and writers.  Sure, mathematical competency is an essential outcome for every student. 

But in an era when incentives -- and pretty darn serious consequences -- for both teachers and students have been tied to just two testable variables, I've GOT to believe that we're in the grips of one seriously wicked focusing illusion too. 

My only hope is that we'll come to our senses and switch off the rocket before we run out of road.

_______________________________________

Related Radical Reads:

Bulldozing the Forests

The Monster You've Created

Statistically Snookered

The Unintended Consequence of Incentive Programs in Schools

 

 

 

Original Image Credit: Minty Python’s Frying Circuits 5/52 by Neal

Licensed Creative Commons Attribution on December 23, 2011