The Best Professional Development: A School Visit

This week I am lucky enough to be spending three days at Allen Brook School in Williston, Vermont with Sharon Davison and her kind and generous colleagues.  Back in November I found Sharon's class blog when I was doing some research for our kindergarten's Jan Brett author study.  One look at Sharon's jam-packed blog and I knew she was a dynamic, creative, and passionate teacher.  Now that I have had the privileged of spending one day in her clasroom, I understand that she is a remarkable teacher driven to deliver only the most sound, effective, and meaningful instruction to her students. 

Sharon immediately welcomed me into her class, introduced me to her students and co-workers, and then got busy teaching so that I could see all that I came to see (and more).  She knew I was particularly interested in language arts and technology, so I saw her class use the Smart board, iPads, and computers.  I saw the students sort letters, write words, and draft blog posts.  I watched them enjoy the newest addition to their class blog, a slide show Sharon put together using Smilebox.  I heard them ask when they would get to compose their daily tweet, helped two students return the iPads to the technology room, and listened with them as Sharon explained the concept of pinboards on Pinterest.  Students in Sharon's class are at ease with technology because they have learned how to use it and understand how it enhances their learning--it is not a gimmick or a mere substitute for pencil and paper.

Taking pictures during Explore Time

Sorting letters during Explore Time

Morning Message

Fundations with Smart Board and iPads

Nonfiction text displayed via ELMO

Kidblog

Sharon spends a lot of time with her students--I was amazed by her schedule (below).  The students only had one special today:  art...at the end of the day!  Although her days are exhausting, Sharon is grateful for the amount of time she has with her students each day as she layers her teaching, always knitting content, process, character, and metacognition into her work with the children.  It is all fluid.  Not a moment is wasted, not an opportunity overlooked to teach her students how to think, act, and reflect. 

In addition to spending hours in Sharon's class, I also had the chance to talk with Allen Brook's technology integration specialist, Bonnie Birdsall, over lunch.  I loved sharing our experiences and look forward to talking more with her on my final day in Williston.  My conversation with Bonnie further solidified how lucky I feel to work at Flint Hill School, where our 1:1 iPad/MacBook program makes embracing technology so easy.  Our challenge continues to be using technology to transform our instruction; I hope my visit to Allen Brook will help me bring back new ideas on how to do that.

Reading Comprehension via Silent Film App

When we discovered the Silent Film Director app we knew we had to find a way to use it.  And, luckily enough, one of our fourth grade teachers was game.  She was reading The Green Book by Jill Paton Walsh to  her students and wanted to find a way to help them dig more deeply into the text.  Rachel chose to read this book to her class in part because of their study of Jamestown and all of the ways people needed to adapt when settling a new colony (another layer is that in science her students are studying animal adaptation.) 

Here's the description of the book from Amazon:  "We are at Shine, on the first day, " says Pattie, when, as the youngest member of the group, she is given the honor of naming the new settlement. Refugees from the dying planet Earth, they, along with other ships, have been sent into space in the hope that some of them will survive to continue the human race. But the success of Shine remains doubtful as crops fail and provisions brought from Earth dwindle. Even the excitement surrounding the hatching of the giant moth people from the "boulders" in Boulder Valley doesn't make the group forget the hopelessness of the situation. It isn't until Pattie and her sister Sarah make an important discovery that survival becomes a certainty.

Rachel had her students focus on the obstacles the characters had to face and how they overcame those obstacles.  They selected the major obstacles in the book, divided into groups, and began to plan for how to recreate their scenes as silent films.  This began with teaching the kids how to write effective summaries.  Then we taught them about mood, tone, and symbolism.  Finally, we taught them some cinematic terms, particularly those that would allow them to select their camera angles (wide shot, close up, pan, shoulder shot, double shot, etc.).  We also showed them many examples of silent films and analyzed how these films made meaning without dialogue.  The students planned their costumes, selected their setting, and mapped their shots using a storyboard.  They were deeply immersed in an analytical study of the novel.

Friday was shooting day.  The students demonstrated so much enthusiasm about their scenes and so much understanding of the book.  And they had fun with the filming of their silent films. 

The app offers a lot of choice in terms of effects and sounds.  Check it out!

Reflections--A Look Back on 2011

On this last day of school of 2011, I feel compelled to reflect on the first half of this academic year, especially in light of my new position.  It began with a professional development workshop on assessment, which refined my vision for the year--kids have to know where they are headed, where they are now, and how they will close the gap.  They have to be able to name the things they are learning so they can evaluate their progress.  Teachers have to provide meaningful feedback in reasonable chunks and kids need time to reflect on their learning.  In my role as instructional coach I have been trying to hold these key ideas in my mind in all of my work with teachers.  I see the positive effects of teachers naming the learning targets for the kids, having them reflect on their progress, and setting weekly goals.  I am grateful to have attended the workshop led by the Assessment Training Institute and feel like this is the right path to take to help kids become more metacognitive and engaged learners.

The next stop on the professional development train took me to Kansas for Jim Knight's Instructional Coaching Institute.  My goals as a coach became easier to name as a result of the training:  be a better listener (active listening is really hard), work with people who are excited about being coached, and strive for reciprocity (by getting as much as I give).  I have tried to do these things, and I am particularly pleased to say that I have gotten far more than I have given.  I plan to continue working toward these goals in 2012.  Thank you to all of the teachers who have let me in your doors and allowed me to help you fine-tune your craft.

The rest of my professional development has happened on the job.  I am so lucky to work with such a broad range of teachers and their students, dealing with challenges as diverse how to introduce fiction writing to kindergarteners to how to engage middle schoolers in science.  I am most grateful to my coaching partner, Penni, and our technology integration specialist, Melissa.  All three of us are navigating instructional coaching together, even though we have different content expertise.  Thank you, Melissa, for inspiring me to begin this blog!

As I head off for winter break, I pack my bag full of what I'll need to begin 2012 well:  a list of blogs to read so I can stay abreast of what's working in schools near and far, a copy of Troy Hicks' The Digital Writing Workshop so I can continue to plan for how to move writing workshop into this century, and works by George Hillocks to deepen my understanding of inquiry-based learning.

Until next year...

Organic Technology?

At my school, we love the word "organic."  We love it so much, we even bought our own composting equipment and our students know how to sort their waste into "trash," "recycling," and "compost."

But I'm really more interested in our more frequent reference to organic change.  We believe that change should emerge "organically" (unless, of course, it is mandated), and that when the time is right and the people are willing, we will embrace the opportunities we are so blessed to have, like ipads for all students (and the teachers who work with them) in grades JK-4.  One can become numb to a word like "organic" because it feels too much like a fantasy, too obscured by visions of hippies and peace signs.  But I believe, much like Maria Montessori did, that if we provide people with the right materials, the best space in which to use them, and talented teachers to guide them, the organic process of coming to choose technology as a valuable resource in the classroom can and does happen.

Over the past week I have experienced this organic transformation. It began with a conversation with an amazing teacher who wanted to let her kids use their bubbling energy and creativity to create iMovies about the rock cycle.  It continued with an incredibly supportive technology integration specialist.  Then it traveled to the passionate science teacher and several other adults around the building who were willing to serve as expert geologists.  We knew we had found an amazing way to create a truly interdisciplinary performance assessment--we could naturally (organically, even) include science, language arts, and technology skills and content.

As we began to work through the plans we realized it would be easier to use Googledocs to create the unit plan since there would be four teachers (science, tech, homeroom, and coach) working on it.  We later decided that when students interviewed their primary source experts, they should record the interviews using the Voicethread app.  So, in the space of a few days, we found ourselves dripping in technology--not for technology's sake but because it would enhance teacher and student productivity.  The lessons begin next week and we can't wait to see what the students will create.  Watch for some of their projects here in the coming weeks. 

In a recent blog post, Troy Hicks lamented the negativity he felt when he and his colleagues presented their session on teaching digital literacy at this year's NCTE convention in Chicago.  He felt disheartened by teachers' concerns such as "I don’t have the time and the energy.  When do I have time to learn how to do this myself?  I am afraid the students know more than me. Where do I even begin?  I am teaching to my strengths – that doesn’t include this.  We can no longer talk with one another.  Why spend time on a tech project when we need to spend time on the paper…" 

Troy--don't give up.  We hear you.  We are getting there, little by little, one classroom discovery at a time.

Thoughts on Curriculum 21

A few weeks ago I had a conversation with a colleague about planning a new English course for our seniors--one that would prepare them for "21st century" college reading, writing, and analytical assignments.  We discussed the importance of media literacy and how our students, because of our more traditional program, rarely read and write texts that are relevant today.  Some of our teachers, upon hearing this idea, resisted.  Why should they analyze film, television, or YouTube videos?  What would teachers have to give up...Hamlet?  Perhaps.  Or perhaps not--maybe students could re-envision Hamlet through a video and audio mashup of scenes from different versions.  That's just one idea.

Upon reading Jacobs' Curriculum 21 I realized there's another layer we should add into this sort of course, and into all of our writing courses--documentaries.  I can just imagine our seventh graders writing the script to a documentary about a research topic of their choice.  I can hear their well crafted, voice-overs and imagine the time they'd take to select the music to accompany the images.  There's so much to teach in this sort of unit of study--as soon as I finish collaborating with my tech integration specialist, I'm on to my media literacy specialist to help me plan a documentary-writing unit for middle school students.

Then what?  VODcasts, leaving comments on authors' blogs, multi-school poetry slam via skype...