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Don't Give Your Students Whiplash. Bend Your Curriculum.

Yesterday I saw the movie "Whiplash", and it is probably the best film I've seen this year. We'll get to why it was probably right up my alley a little later. The film tells the story of a student's attempt to achieve perfection at a prestigious musical conservatory, and the teacher who sees the potential for greatness within the 19 year old drummer boy. But, this is not the heartwarming tale of the only teacher who would nurture the brilliance out of the student that no one would take a chance on. "Whiplash" is the tale of how a teacher who believes he can push his pupils to greatness through intimidation and fear. The following clip says it all: I am a teacher but while watching the movie, the lead character of Andrew (played with brutal honesty by Miles Teller) connected with me on a deep level. Many of our students are seeking affirmation from their teachers and will put themselves through the wringer until they get it. That was me ...

Failure is an Option.

Our classrooms are not just about helping students gain content knowledge. We are also responsible for imparting a set of skills that are important in our chosen discipline. In addition, we should be teaching other skills that can be carried into any field of study such as literacy and the 4 C’s (communication, creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration). Every time we ask students to learn a new skill, we are asking them to take a risk. They are making themselves vulnerable and open to failure. This failure is necessary to learn from, but failing is not easy. But what type of push can we provide to get them to take that risk. It can’t be motivated by fear like in the case of Butch and Sundance. My current crop of students in AP have spent most of their schooling not being asked to take risks in the classroom. They have learned how to play the “game” of school and have been very successful at it. Outside of the classroom, thou...

I am Not Just a Guide, and I'm Never on the Side.

The teacher's role in a personalized learning environment is a dynamic one. The mantra that the teacher should be the guide on the side is a fallacy and simplification that we must fight against! Here's a snapshot of a teacher in a truly personalized learning environment. In our current unit, my students could be working on many different assignments. They could be working on one of three different content acquisition labs, one of four different practice problem sets, or the overarching group project. So, the different students in my class could be working on one of eight different instructional pieces. This creates a unique situation for the teacher because in each interaction the teacher has to be ready to differentiate the instructional pieces in a way that meets the needs of the student. For years, I've heard the adage that a teacher needs to move from the sage on the stage the the guide on the side. I understand the sentiment and it's a cute tur...

I've got 30 Thelma Schoonmakers in my class

With one seemingly minor update, Google has made iMovie a truly collaborative app which will change the way students create and collaborate on video projects. The following clip is the best example of bravura editing I can think of. It is from my favorite director, Martin Scorsese. Thelma Schoonmaker, his longtime editor, won her first of 3 Oscars for editing Ranging Bull. In the beginning of the 2013-14 school year when I received my class set of iPads. I dreamed of all the different collaborative projects my students would be involved in. One product that I was very excited about was the ability to use iMovie on our iPads to create videos as a group. Well, that didn't turn out to be nearly the collaborative experienced I dreamed. After shooting all the necessary video on one iPad, only one student would be in control of the more labor intensive process of editing those clips together into a final product. Sure there would stil b...

Don't Feed Your Students Chocolate Cake Projects!

All projects are not designed equally. The goal of a project in project based learning is learning not simply engagement. Yes, engagement is important, but it is not the sole focus of design. I think every teacher has had a day where s/he just wants to make it to the final bell. So, we design an activity that we know will engage the students even if we know it is not addressing our course objectives. But, in designing long-term projects, we can't just choose one that the students like or one that always goes smoothly. The message to teachers who are thinking about going the way of PBL or are currently practicing PBL is simple, "We cannot be feeding our students chocolate cake for projects!" In the end, our projects should be engaging to all students, but that is not where we start. We want student choice and voice, but we want them to have choice among options that are educationally sound and relevant. We want creativity and collaboratio...

The Best Offense Is a Great Defense

If you've read any of my previous posts, you know how I feel about the current state of student assessment. In my last post, I ended with the question "What makes a good assessment?" I have come to realize very quickly, and this is not an original idea, that the best assessment is one that the teacher doesn't write. At the end of last term, I gave my AP physics students the option of taking a traditional paper and pencil test as we had been doing all term or completing something I've termed an Objective Mastery Defense. Turns out the students like it and some said that it was the best innovation I have brought to the classroom. What is it and why did they love it? I'll save myself some typing and let my students explain it all. I took all the video today and cut it on my phone during 4th block. So, please forgive the uneven audio levels. It's my hope to have a more complete video of the process with student examples by the end of the semes...

R-e-l-a-x, This Is Only a Test

Testing is one of the most debated topic in education today. So, doing a post on it may seem a little bit overwhelming. But, to make it more manageable, I just want to bite off a small piece of the issue and express my opinion. I'll be sure to take many more bites in the future of this blog. When I began to thinking about the way I view testing and the learning process, this clip from "The Right Stuff" is the first that came to mind. In any classroom environment, every student starts at a different level of understanding when introduced to a new learning objective. Every student makes progress towards learning objectives at a different pace. I don't think there is much debate about this point. Yet, in many classrooms, all students are given a summative assessment on these objectives on the same date. As teachers, we have the ability to determine when tests will be administered. The only real firm date we have at my high school are the...