The Tempered Radical

Is High School Academic Purgatory? [SLIDE]

Blogger's Note: My thinking here is unpolished.  I'm wrestling with the time-honored notion that one of the primary purposes of high school is to prepare kids for college.  As a teacher, that's always rubbed me a little wrong.  Not sure I have the answers, but I wanted to have the conversation.  Looking forward to hearing what you think. 

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A comment from my buddy Patrick Larkin got me thinking tonight.  In response to my thoughts about the usefulness of grades as a form of feedback in schools, he wrote:

"My son is just completing his freshman year of high school and has been on high honors throughout the year. Unfortunately, he is focused solely on what he needs to do to get the A and not much more. For some classes that means putting in a lot of effort and for others…not so much.

I am more worried about what he is learning than just his grade. I would not even mind a C if I could see that he was being forced to challenge himself and think deeply. I see little passion for what he is learning about, so while the good grades are certainly a bonus, the grades certainly don’t mean a heck of a lot."

Sound's familiar, doesn't it?  In the eyes of kids like Patrick's son, high school isn't a place for learning.  Instead, high school is nothing more than academic purgatory -- a place to aimlessly toil until they've paid the price necessary for admission into "higher education."

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Download Slide_PrepareforCollege

Are we okay with that?  Are we okay with the suggestion that preparing kids for college -- places that many students find to be nothing more than ANOTHER pointless academic grind -- should be one of the primary goals of our public schools.  More importantly, is preparing kids for college SO important that we're willing to let kids like Patrick's son lose any sense of the passion and purpose that drives learners?

Can we REALLY say that being "college ready" and "career ready" are one in the same?

I guess what I'm asking is just HOW important IS college?

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Related Radical Reads:

Are Grades Utterly Useless?

What DO We Want Kids to Know and Be Able to Do?

Stuffing Kids with Content [SLIDE]

 

 

How Engaged ARE Your Students?

Let's start with a simple truth, y'all:  Student engagement matters. 

When kids care about the lessons that they are learning, they are WAY more likely to master the kinds of essential skills, content and behaviors that will help them to become productive, contributing members of our society.

But the uncomfortable reality -- drawn from this January 2013 Gallup survey of 500,ooo students in grades 5-12 -- is that the chances are REALLY good that the majority the kids in YOUR classes AREN'T engaged:

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How can we legitimately defend the work that we are doing in schools -- and our status as professionals -- when over half of the kids that we serve report not being engaged in our classrooms?

Something's got to change -- and from the looks of this survey, it's our teaching.

#enoughsaid

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Related Radical Reads:

Technology Gives Kids Power

Digital Immigrants Unite

Introducing Our Newest Cause: #SUGARKILLS

Technology Gives Kids Power [SLIDE]

I've spent the past several weeks grinding my way through several revisions for presentations that I'm giving in the not too distant future and it's left me more than a little emotionally spent. 

In an effort to get back in touch with the creativity that drives me, I grabbed a great Marc Prensky quote and whipped up a new slide tonight:

(Click to dowload slide from Flickr)

Hope you dig it.  More importantly, hope you can use it in your work. 

Rock right on,

Bill

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Related Radical Reads:

Introducing Our Newest Cause: #SUGARKILLS

Change Depends on Something MORE than Shiny iGadgets

Digital Immigrants Unite!

 

Change Depends on More than Shiny iGadgets [SLIDE]

One of the funniest interactions that happened at Educon last weekend took place in the planning document for Patrick Larkin's session on school vision just after Patrick asked: "What does your school look like?" 

Within seconds, an anonymous participant typed, "The same way it looked like 200 years ago, with shiny iProducts added ;-)"

That left me inspired to create a slide with the same theme:

(click to enlarge)

Download Slide_FancyiGadgets

 

That's a simple truth worth remembering, y'all. 

Sure, purchases matter.  I'd be MORE than happy to have a couple of hundred thousand dollars to spend upgrading our school's wireless network and outfitting classrooms with complete sets of iPads and/or laptops.

In fact, I won't turn down ANY digital iCandy that you want to throw my way.  There's room in my room for student responders, 3D printers, digital cameras, and high-end video equipment, too. 

But let's not mistake purchases for progress when reflecting on our efforts to change teaching and learning spaces.

All too often, purchases do nothing to actually move us towards a new vision for what schools should be and -- more importantly -- towards a new vision for what students should be doing while they are with us.

Change depends on leaders with visions that are bigger than their checkbooks. 

#truth

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Related Radical Reads:

The Gadget Happy Classroom Fail [SLIDE]

Teachers, Chainsaws and Interactive Whiteboards [SLIDE]

Digital Immigrants Unite

 

 

Original Image Credit: Search iPad by Elsie esq. -- Licensed Creative Commons Attribution on January 31, 2013

Notion of “adding shiny iProducts” from an anonymous contribution to a Google Doc during Patrick Larkin’s Educon 2.5 presentation

Nate Silver on Using Test Scores to Evaluate Teachers [SLIDE]

One of the hottest statistical minds in the world right now is Nate Silver, the mind behind the FiveThirtyEight blog which is dedicated to helping readers to "cut through the clutter of this data-rich world." 

Silver rose to prominence initially by using algorithms to correctly predict the winner of 49 out of 50 states in the 2008 presidential election.  He's gone on to become one of the most respected voices on the use of data to drive decisions.

Yesterday, Silver participated in an online IAmA Blogger Q+A session over at Reddit -- and the first question that he was asked was whether or not he believed that using standardized test scores to determine a teacher's value was a responsible decision.

Silver's response was worth sharing with every parent and educational policymaker you know:

 

Download Slide_SilveronTesting

 

Now to be fair, Silver DOES say that he'd need to give the topic a much longer look before he'd be able to make any real decisions on using test scores to evaluate teachers. 

But his initial hunch that using test scores as the most important measure of a teacher's effectiveness is an example of using data badly aligns nicely with the thinking of other really bright minds working BEYOND education -- including Bill Gates (see here and here), Dan Pink (see here) and Chip and Dan Heath (see here).

And as Liz Dwyer points out on the Good Education blog, Silver's hunch on testing as a tool for holding teachers accountable also aligns nicely with REAMS of studies already completed by everyone from The National Research Council and the president of Math for America to respected senior scholars like Richard Rothstein.

Finally, Silver's initial hunch ALSO aligns nicely with the opinions of the very companies that make the standardized tests that are strangling education in our country, who have noted time-and-again that their products were never designed to be used to draw conclusions about individual teachers. 

So if there is a broad consensus starting to form that using test scores to evaluate teachers is a bad idea, then why do policymakers -- including President Obama and his Education Secretary, Arne Duncan -- keep pushing for these failed policies?

That's a question that every person you vote for should be forced to answer.

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Original Image Credit: American statistician Nate Silver at SXSW in Austin, Texas USA on March 15, 2009 by Randy Stewart -- Licensed Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike on January 10, 2012

Quote from: Data King Nate Silver Isn't Sold on Evaluating Teachers With Test Scores

 

 

 

What are YOU Doing to Make Sure Your Students are 'Well-Googled'? [SLIDE]

I've spent the past few nights working my way through Will Richardson's newest book, Why School -- a GREAT read that is well worth the $3 you'll pay for it on Amazon. 

One of the quotes that caught my attention was this one:

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Download Slide_WellGoogled

 

So whaddya' think?  Is YOUR school doing its best to make sure that the kids sitting in your classrooms will be "well-Googled" by first AND last name on the day that they graduate?

Do you think that most teachers would see "Google-ability" as a trait that schools are responsible for helping students to develop before they leave our classrooms?

What about parents, politicians and policymakers.  Would they support classrooms where creating a lasting and positive digital footprint is a priority? 

Should they?

Talk amongst yourselves.  I'm Verklempt. 

My Saturday Morning Newspaper [SLIDE]

After wiping a cheeseload of tryptophanic crust out of my eyes this morning, I was feeling a bit creative  -- so I decided to whip up a slide for all y'all:

(click to enlarge)

Download Slide_SaturdayMorningPaper

Hope y'all dig it.

More importantly, hope y'all will spend serious time learning to embrace the simple beauty of a world where RSS feed readers like Google Reader allow YOU control the Saturday morning paper.

Need some help getting started with feed readers? 

Then check out this Commoncraft tutorial:

 

#muybueno

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Related Radical Reads:

Information Management is REALLY Just Filter Failure [SLIDE]

Managing Information in the 21st Century [SLIDE]

Twitter Snobs or Efficient Learners?

 

 

Original Image Credit:

I Can’t Believe the News Today by Thomas Lethuard

Licensed Creative Commons Attribution on November 24, 2012

Are YOU a "What IF" Guy? [SLIDE]

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I've been doing a lot of thinking about the people in my learning network that I'm intellectually grateful for -- and while the list is ALWAYS long, I'm not sure that any single person influenced me more than David Jakes this year.

You see, it was David's presentation on design thinking at Educon back in January that forced me to think about whether or not I'm a "what if" or a "yeah, but" person:

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Download Slide_YeahBut

 

I'll be honest, y'all: I'm a "yeah, but" kind of guy by nature.

As embarrassed as I am to admit it, I can almost always give you the six thousand reasons that any new idea is likely to fail before I can come up with a single revision to an idea that just might work.

#intellectualhandcuffs

While I still haven't COMPLETELY stopped wearing my but on my shoulders, I have gotten better at looking for the small forward steps that I CAN take in any situation.  It's like I've got David whispering in my ear every time I throw out a "yeah, but" in the face of a challenging circumstance. 

#thanksdavid

 

 

How Gritty Are Today's Learners? [SLIDE]

Poking through my RSS feed reader last weekend, I stumbled across an article on the Mindshift blog that got me thinking about the role that grit -- the ability to persevere even in the face of adversity and failure -- plays in the success of today's learners:

(click to enlarge)

Download Slide_AchievementasaMarathon

 

The piece details the work of Angela Duckworth -- a psychology professor and former middle school math teacher -- who has spent the better part of the past several years trying to figure out whether or not gritty people are more successful than their peers.

Having spent the better part of my own life reveling in my own grit -- which, given my decidedly average intellect, is the only reason I ever succeed -- I didn't really need Duckworth's study to help me determine whether or not determination matters.

Persistent people always outperform their similarly gifted peers.

ALWAYS.

But here's the thing: Intellectual persistence -- at least in the kinds of tasks that still seem to define successful people -- doesn't seem to be a priority for today's kids.   

Spend an hour in a teacher workroom and I GUARANTEE you'll hear at least one conversation about students who "are too lazy to bother to try" or who are "driving teachers nuts because they're turning in junk." Missing work lists grow longer -- and lists of volunteers for challenging clubs like Science Olympiad or Quiz Bowl grow shorter -- by the year.

Heck, I'm not even sure that intellectual persistence is a priority for ME anymore. 

I find myself flitting from major project to major project all the time, rarely following through on anything for very long.  My mind wanders almost constantly simply because in a world where I'm literally surrounded by opportunities for constant distraction, it CAN.

I catch myself skim reading more than ever before -- or worse yet, navigating away from anything that seems intimidating at first glance.  Who am I kidding, y'all: I didn't even read the entire Mindshift bit that started this post.  Got through the first three paragraphs and moved on to something else. 

Does this sound familiar to anyone besides me?  And more importantly, is it a trend that's worth worrying about?

They Will Be Amazed [SLIDE]

Decided to be a little creative tonight, y'all. 

Whipped up a slide sharing one of my favorite quotes from Howard Rheingold's Net Smart - How to Thrive Online, a book I'm currently working my way through:

(click to enlarge)

Download Slide_TheyWillBeAmazed

 

Hope you dig it. 

More importantly, hope you can use it in your work somewhere. 

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Original Image Credit:  0216 by Cia de Foto

Licensed Creative Commons Attribution on November 2, 2012

 

Quote by Howard Rheingold

Netsmart: How to Thrive Online

Kindle Location 377