MRVED Update - January 23, 2019

MRVED Business

January 23, 2019  Superintendents' Council

January 25, 2019  Principals' Council - CANCELLED

February 1, 2019    Title III Teachers

February 13, 2019  MRVED Board (6 p.m.)

February 21, 2019  TAC

February 22, 2019  Principals' Council

February 27, 2019  Superintendents' Council

MELT Recap
Once again we couldn't fully escape the cold and snow, but overall it was a great day of learning.  Around 650 educators participated in the day and great collaboration occurred all day.  The MRVED would like to once again thank Lac qui Parle Valley for being such a great host.  The custodial staff does a fabulous job in preparing the building for 650 people and the kitchen staff prepares a wonderful meal for everyone.  Dave works hard to make sure all the technology is up and running not only throughout the day, but spends a couple hours the weekend prior getting everything ready.  Thank you to the administration and staff for allowing all the educators in your building.  It's not easy coming back into your classroom at the end of the day to see it torn apart.  The MELT committee thanks everyone and even those not mentioned.

MELT Evaluation
The MRVED hopes that all your MELT experience was a great one.  There were some awesome sessions presented throughout the whole day.  Please take a moment to fill out the MELT 2019 Evaluation.  Any and all feedback is appreciated.  The MRVED Teacher Advisory Committee (TAC) looks over the evaluations and makes adjustments to the day based upon the feedback.  The MRVED Principals and Superintendents also look over the evaluations.

MELT Evaluation

Rethinking Time in Schools

This past week I read a Tweet that asked the question, "What if our schools rethought the idea of time and scheduling?  What would it look like in your school?"  This really made me think and I started researching alternative scheduling in schools.  I came across this article on Reimagining the School Day by Meg Benner and Lisette Partelow from the Center for American Progress.  The article provides examples from elementary, to middle school, to high school.  I also stumbled upon this interesting resource as well. unlockingtime.org.  I think school schedules would be a neat PLC topic to investigate.  How do schedules impact student learning?

Testing 1,2,3 From MDE

Testing 1,2,3 is created by the Minnesota Department of Education as a resource to help district better utilize the data they are given.  The quote from the website is this:

"Test data is an effective tool for informing instruction. This website is designed to help teachers harness that data by providing helpful ways to understand, interpret and ultimately use test data in the classroom."

A quick browse through the website will give you a better idea of what it is all about.  This site has been in the works for the past couple years and brings many different aspects of MDE's website into one spot.  Bookmark it today!

Tech Tip of the Week - Tilt Brush by Google

In the "this is unbelievable" category, the Tilt Brush by Google is AWESOME!  The Tilt Brush allows you to paint in 3D.  The Tilt Brush itself is not too expensive, but the 3D goggles can get to be a bit expensive.  Check to see if your school has a pair of 3D goggles and then you will want to check out and purchase a Tilt Brush.  Imagine putting this in the hands of our kids and the things they can create!

Ditch That Textbook - Part 2 (Chapter 8-13) Ditch That Mindset

Last time we looked at the first part on "Why Go Digital" in the book Ditch That Textbook by Matt Miller.  If you still have not gotten the book, I highly, highly, suggest it!  There are SO many great ideas in this book, it really can help you transform your teaching.

We will now look at chapters 8-13 in the section titled "Ditch That Mindset".  Miller talks about a variety of things in these chapters so I'll do my best to summarize my learning.

Miller talks about making learning personal for kids.  Find a way to connect the content to something relevant in their world.  There are many parallels we can make in almost every content area.  Think about events in their worlds such as, birthday parties, prom, homecoming, jump rope for heart, etc...  Anytime you can personalize learning and connect real-life to content, kids tend to retain that information better.  It also makes learning interesting for kids.

Chapter 9 talks about making learning fun. Miller mentions the works of Dave Burgess, which the MRVED had the awesome opportunity to see this past fall.  Basically, do what you can to involve your kids in the learning and make it fun for them.  Think how boring life would be if school wasn't fun!

Miller continues to talk about building relationships with kids.  He mentions that some days you do need to be a kids friend because you are all he/she has.  Building positive relationships with kids really does make everything else in the book so much easier.  If kids respect and trust you, they will take risks with you.  They will help you when you fail.  They will encourage you, much like you encourage them.

The last part to these chapters talks about integrating the technology.  Chapters 12 & 13 go hand-in-hand with what I have been talking about the past five years.  Choose task over tool and utilize the SAMR model.  I compare the task over tool portion to the "Golden Why" by Simon Sinek with the learning objective in the middle as the "why" the tasks in the second ring as the "how" and the tools on the outside as the "what".  Lesson plan from the inside out...What is my learning goal?  Then, what task do I need to do to accomplish that goal?  Lastly, what tool will I use to accomplish both.

SAMR Series Part 6 of 6 - Lesson Planning

Lesson Planning With Technology
Part 5 of this series talked about how to climb the SAMR ladder when integrating technology into your curriculum.  The last part of the article mentioned always, always, start with your learning objective.  We are going to dive deeper into starting with your learning objective when lesson planning with technology.

To begin, we will talk about Simon Sinek's TED talk on Starting With Why (Edited version).  Sinek talks about what it is that makes businesses successful.  He points to one thing; each business knows why they do what they do and they sell that to you (see the video for further explanation).  He says, "people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it."  This is a very powerful statement and got me thinking about technology.  Kids aren't "buying" what you do, they are "buying" why you do it.  The kids aren't interested so much in the technology, but why are you using the technology.  To put this into perspective, let's look at the why diagram.

When we are lesson planning, we should always start with the "why".  This is the learning goal, target, objective, etc...  Whatever your school calls it.  Then we move to the "how".  How do we meet the goal?  What activities am I going to have my students do to meet the goal.  The last step is the "what".  What tools will I use to achieve the goal?

So often we see a flashy new website or tool that we think will work great in our classrooms.  We figure out how to use it and what activities we can use it for in our class.  We then take that tool and activities and try to crunch it into a learning goal regardless if it fits or not.  If it doesn't fit, we get frustrated.  This is where many teachers go back to, "the old way was easier".  Well, it probably was because when you planned the "old way", you probably started with the goal in mind.

We need to lesson plan from the "why" up and not the "what" down.

SAMR Series part 5 of 6

Climbing the Ladder
Over the past 2 months, we have looked at the SAMR model of integrating technology into your classroom. We started talking about Substitution and then worked our way through the ladder to Augmentation, then Modification, and finally ended with Redefinition.  It's great to learn about these steps to the SAMR ladder, but how do we effectively move up the ladder?

1. Examine you tasks
As the SAMR model is task-oriented, it only seems logical that in order to climb the ladder, we need to examine the tasks we are having our students do in the classroom.  If you can answer Dufour's first question of, "What do I want my students to know and be able to do?"  Then you are well on your way to climbing the SAMR ladder.  By answering that first question, look at the verbs in your answer.  This will guide you to any tasks you will have your students do.  Be sure to achieve the level at which the standard is asking you to go to.  For example, if I want my students to "recall" information versus "create" something, my task will look totally different.

2. Examine the Apps and Websites
This is where many teachers fall into the traps and struggle to get out of the Substitution level.  The reason they struggle is because they are using content specific apps or websites.  In essence all these sites and apps are, are digital worksheets.  It becomes very difficult to climb "above the line" into transformational practice if we are doing the same thing we were doing before, but only with technology.  There is nothing transformational about having a student sit on an iPad and do flash cards versus taking a stack of note cards and doing flash cards.  Use the Apple slogan "Think Differently"!

3. Always, Always Start with your Learning Objective
This will be discussed a little deeper next time, but not matter what you do in your classroom, always keep that learning target (objective, outcome, etc...) in the forefront.  Don't be blinded by cute activities or flashy technology.  We are in the business of school.  We are here to teach kids.  We teach kids content (and then some).  We can easily become blinded by the newest greatest piece of technology, but if it doesn't fit our learning objectives, we are wasting time.

SAMR Series Redefinition

Before we talk about the last step of the SAMR ladder, let's recap the previous three steps.

• Substitution - Technology is a direct substitute for what you are currently doing.  Example: Typing a paper versus handwriting a paper
• Augmentation - Technology acts as a substitute with functional improvement of the task.  Example: Using spell check on your word processor.
• Modification: Technology allows for significant task redesign.  Example:  Using Google Docs to collaborate with someone on a document.

The SAMR model should be used as a lens when reflecting on a lesson.  Look back and think about how you used the technology in the classroom and ask yourself, "Do I need to climb the ladder with my task?"

Redefinition

Redefinition in the SAMR model is the top wrung to the SAMR ladder.  On this step, your task is completely transformational.  If you were to take the example of writing the paper through the SAMR model, it may look like this.

S - Type a paper versus write it

A - Use the word processor and formatting features of the word processor

M - Using Google Docs to collaborate with others on the same paper

R - Create a short film about the topic from your paper

As you can see there is very little of the original task remaining.  The goal of learning about a topic is still there, but the assessment of that learning becomes different.  Also, think about how much deeper a student must understand a topic to create a short film about it.  The higher order thinking skills have increased as the task was taken up the ladder.  The opportunity for cross-curricular work has also increased.

Summary

Our next post will not be about SAMR, but about lesson planning with technology.  To summarize the SAMR model, it should be used as a tool to reflect and plan the use of technology in the classroom.  How am I using the technology?  Do I want to transform my tasks?  If so, how do I do it?

SAMR Series - Modification

SAMR Series
As we continue our 5 - Week series on the SAMR model for technology integration, we will finally get "above the line" into the transformation stage.



The past two weeks we have looked at the Substitution and Augmentation levels, which mostly enhance your classroom tasks, but do not essentially transform them.  The modification stage of the SAMR model is defined as the point in which the technology allows for significant  task redesign.  In the ongoing example of using a word processor to type a paper.  We started on the first level of SAMR saying that there was no difference in the task between writing and typing the paper.  Then we went up to Augmentation and started using the different features of the word processor (spelling and grammar check, word count, formatting, etc...).  As we take this same task above the line into Modification, we can add in Google Docs and the ability to collaborate world-wide on a document.  This task would not be possible without the use of the technology and with the collaboration piece the task looks different all together for the most part.  The writing still exists, but in a collaborative manner.

SAMR Series - Augmentation

Augmentation
We will continue our 5 week series on Dr. Ruben Puentedura's  SAMR model with examining the Augmentation level of technology 

Last week we talked about the substitution level of the SAMR model being the level of tech integration where the technology acts as direct substitute of what is already being done in the classroom.  With the example being given that if we have students hand-writing papers in the classroom, using a word processor instead would act as substitution because the task of writing the paper has not changed.

As we focus on the Augmentation level, the technology still acts as a direct substitute but there is a functional change in the task.  Let's take the word processing example a little further.  The task is to write a paper, we use the word processor to type the paper.  If we start to use the feature of the word processor, such as spell-check and grammar check, we start to see functional improvement.  We could also use the word processor to change the formatting or add in different fonts that we wouldn't easily be able to do if we were writing by hand.  So as you can see, the task of writing the paper stayed the same, but there is some functional improvement to using the word processor.

For most, using the functions of a word processor are a given when typing the paper, but the examples serves as a good illustration as to how the SAMR ladder works.  Often times, we forget to tell our students why we are using the technology and how the technology will make the task easier or better.  It is vital that we point out to our students the "why".  Because if we don't, then some students may struggle to see a reasoning behind what we are doing.  These are the ones that will typically say, "can I just do this with paper and pencil, because it's easier".  These students have not been told or shown why the word processor makes the task better.

Next week we will look "above the line" and get into transformational practices of technology integration.

SAMR Series - Substitution

SAMR
As mentioned last week, we are starting a 5 week series on the SAMR model.  Last week we looked at the overview of the SAMR model.  Over the next 4 weeks we will examine each level, starting this week with Substitution



One thing to keep note of is that being at the substitution and augmentation levels is not a bad thing.  We are still using technology to enhance our practice.  Dr. Ruben Puentedura has clearly stated that this ladder is not used to judge or make people feel like what their doing is not enough.  We are all trying to get better and the SAMR model allows us to see how we are using the technology in the classroom to enhance and eventually transform our practice.

Substitution
The substitution level of the SAMR model is exactly what it says.  When using technology in the classroom it acts as a direct tool substitute with no functional change.  An example of this would be having your students type a paper versus writing a paper.  The task is still the same with no functional improvement.  You may say the word processor has spell check, yes it does, but this will be addressed in the next level of the SAMR model.

Another example is reading a book on the iPad vs reading the actual book.  The task of reading is the same with no functional change to that task by adding in the iPad.

Many teachers are at this level when bringing technology into the classroom.  They find a tool that can replace what they are currently doing in the classroom and use it.  Therefore, there is no functional change in their practice due to the technology, they are simply substituting the technology to continue doing what they have always done.  Again, it's not a bad thing to be at this level, it is merely the bottom rung on the SAMR ladder.  We can always strive to climb the ladder and find new and exciting ways to bring technology into our classroom.

5 Week Series on SAMR

SAMR

Today we start our 5 week series on Dr. Ruben Puentedura's SAMR model.  SAMR stands for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition.  We will examine a level a week, starting next week with Substitution.  

The SAMR model can be a lens we use when integrating technology in the classroom.  As more and more tech is being added to the classroom, and the pressures become greater to implement technology, we need to examine exactly how the technology is being used in the classroom.  It is a great model to use when planning and reflecting on your lessons.  The model is also a way in which to create a common language around tech integration.

To get started on the SAMR model, here are a couple videos talking about the model.  The first video is 7 minutes long, and the 2nd video is 120 seconds.

Ruben Puentedura on Applying the SAMR Model

SAMR in 120 Seconds

Next week we will look at the first level of the SAMR model, substitution.