Opening up with a documentary

I am returning to school in two days. The break was wonderful, full of celebrations and new toys, and developing relationships among young children. 

Wednesday marks the first day of the second semester in a year that has been full of hope, transition, and square pegs. I'm opting for a more open approach as we return. My sophomores have been exposed to the glut of English 10 curriculum: The Kite Runner, analytical writing, graphic novels, etc. 

But I am looking toward new ideas in 2023. 

Part of semester 1's midterm was a reflection on which my students documented what they would like to explore toward the end of the course. I'm using that data, with a splash of my own experience, judgment, and desire, to craft some unit prototypes. Sure, we'll look at The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and we'll revisit a book club or two, but I am ready to try some more new ideas. 

First off, I was struck by how many students were interested in studying documentaries. I am also well aware of how interested students are in mental health issues, and how uneducated many of them are about them. And what teacher doesn't love coming back from a long break to a movie?

Ken Burns made a documentary a few years ago about mental health. So far the viewing is informative if longwinded. I'm thinking about cutting into the first 40 minutes of part 1, and a couple sections (1st 45 and last 45?) of part 2. The idea is to expose kids to the format, while also getting them to think, write, and discuss about mental health issues. I'm coming up with some guiding questions to jot in their notebooks. Then, next week, we'll do a few activities with other written texts, and start a socratic discussion. 

From there, we can lead into a few other activities. One idea is story corps, another is podcasting. I'm also interested in looking at other mental healthish docs, like Stutz.

For this week, though, I will probably spend 5-10 minutes setting up viewing expectations, and then just let them go into the movie.

Four Comedies and aTragedy: TV Writing Curriculum

  Danielle Nicki asked in a tweet what 5 “perfect” shows I would assign my students to study if I were teaching a TV writing course. I responded today with the following:

1. Community

2. Barry

3. Futurama

4. Arrested Development 

5. Breaking Bad

        I’ve always wanted to be asked some form of this question, and I think about it often. In this case, I’m supposing I’m curating the list for a college-level course, since an elective like this is unlikely at the secondary level.

        With this in mind, I propose the NBC/Yahoo streaming sitcom Community as a preliminary text. It works as an entry point because the subject matter is relevant to college students, who would be immediately able to distinguish which of the elements of the show are truthful, satirical, lampoon, and so on. Each episode has a stand-alone theme, but character and story arcs run through the entirety of the show, with numerous callbacks and in-your-face intertextuality. Not to mention Abed, who, once established as the quirky cinephile well into the first season, is the personification of tv writing.

The first three seasons are almost a textbook on writing characters (The Greendale Seven), themes (a new one each episode), callbacks (#sixseasonsandamovie), and the functions of setting (e. g. The study room vs. Chang’s classroom). But then it takes off into other realms of fan engagement, actor and character dynamics, and the effects of streaming media. While it not have as broad an appeal as many hoped, Community was a writer’s delight, and serves as a perfect entry point for the course.

Next, I would assign Barry, Bill Hader’s black comedy, which at the time of this writing has only concluded its third season, but there is enough there to analyze: The portrayal of hidden trauma through action, flashback, and subtext. Character development on the spectrum of good and evil. The fine line between comedy and tragedy. It’s all there, and there are myriad examples to dwell on for each. The most recent example (THIRD SEASON SPOILER) is that of Sally’s brutal, deadly, and strangely comedic takedown of her ex-boyfriend in the season finale. 

By the time this class is published in the course listing, Barry will be a few more seasons in, if not completely wrapped, and no doubt will offer plenty more to analyze.

Now that the class is rolling, I’ll sneak in a couple of my personal faves. Futurama was (and in honestly, still is) the pinnacle of cartoon writing. People will make arguments for its incubator show, The Simpsons, or South Park, or even The Flintstones. But there it’s hard to argue that anyone had better writers than a show that created its own math theorem. You might also argue that the decline of The Simpsons was due in large part to the choicest of its writing staff bailing to write for Futurama. 

The best lesson of this show is the building up of a universe through characters, settings, and backstories, much of which uses sci-fi elements to embellish or straight-up subvert previous storylines. Think about “Bender’s Big Score”  doing emotional damage control on the “Jurassic Bark” ending.

It also provides for a discussion on the nuances of animated storywriting that diverge from the limitations of a live-action show. Much of the beauty of Futurama would be impossible with the restraints of a traditional sitcom.

And speaking of subverting traditional sitcoms, Arrested Development is the first head on my tv Mount Rushmore. I placed it here, because its genius is based primarily on the detour it took from traditional sitcom writing. It came around at the turn of the century, when narration was en vogue for television, but slightly before streaming offered the audience a chance to repeatedly pause or replay a scene or episode. As a result, many of the brilliant jokes were lost on audiences who did not have the DVD set, and the series was nearly cancelled, actually cancelled, revived, and then sadly fizzled out amid PR disasters. 

Many of the teaching points that were introduced in Unit 1: Community show up again with AD, but the callbacks and intertextuality are a level up, and are honestly the prototype for what Dan Harmon’s show ultimately ended up doing. 

Here , we’ll have discussions about the effects of tv shows on one another, and at least a few references to The Andy Griffith Show.

Finally, the absolutely perfect in every way Breaking Bad, which would probably be paired with Better Call Saul if time allows. Hell, maybe Malcolm in the Middle too. Everything that was not covered in the comedies at the beginning of class, would be addressed here. Vince Gilligan is the master of establishing shots, symbolism and motif, using color theory, and long character arcs. 

Not to mention, the greatest last episode in tv history would make for a perfect wrap-up to the class.

Online textbooks

Pedagogy is a pendulum and I'm currently looking for balance. My students have become worn out automatons thanks in large part to the new online textbook we are using this year. This is actually no fault of the textbook; in fact if I'm going to point the finger at anyone (or anything) it has to be myself.

It's easy to get caught up overusing a textbook, especially as I'm finding myself caught in a paradox. Although no one has explicitly dictated to our staff the expectation of textbook use, I have obligated myself to use this expensive tool almost exhaustively. It feels almost disrespectful not to, like putting that sweater from Grandma in the Goodwill drop.

On the other hand, the fluid majority of my PLN bangs the "no textbook" drum incessantly. I agree pedagogically, but there's pressure from the top (or from within, or whatever) to stick with it. The point is: it's a close call. There are benefits and challenges to each method, and as is often the case, an equilibrium is in order.

Let me say: there is a lot to like about this particular textbook. For one, it's completely online, which is useful in a new 1:1 environment. Every standard is addressed and yadda yadda yadda if you want to hear more, talk to our textbook liaison. I'm sure she is talking it up right now.

Anyway, I can say empirically that the kids are exhausted from their textbook, and it's still October. I ventured into it with the supposition that I would supplement it with enough material to keep it interesting, but I have a tendency to over explore, often at the expense of student interest. This leads to the search for balance. Instead of supplementing textbooks with fun stuff, I'm finding it more helpful to see the textbook as a supplement (albeit an expensive one) to everything else. Will students students miss out on a lot of the textbook's lessons? Of course.

But there are just too many good lessons losing out to textbook material.

I'm leaning toward scrapping the current unit, and moving on to one with more exciting texts and themes, but relying on the textbook for only close reads and supplemental lessons when necessary. Let me know your thoughts and experiences with textbooks in the comments.

In response to Stratosphere

Technology is a double-edged sword. It has the power to assist, create, and transform; but it also wields the power of empty distraction. The role of teachers with regard to technology is to make sure that it is harnessed for all of its positive transformative qualities without distraction seeping in. As Fullan (2013) puts it, “don’t focus on technology- focus on its use” (2013, p.11). With the many distractions that new technologies offer, using it only for good is quite a feat, but it is realistic. The first step in using any technology, whether iPads, headphones, or blogs, is to educate for digital citizenship. Students need to know what they’re getting into, and have clearly defined standards for acceptable technology use.  As I move forward into the realm of classroom blogging, I will first educate my class in the importance of maintaining a positive and professional image in the blogosphere.

The four criteria for great technology projects (Fullan, 2013), include engagement, ease of use, accessibility, and real-world application. Technological tools are increasingly meeting the first three criteria on their own without any educator assistance. Application, then, becomes the most important element within the classroom, and the teacher-as-change-agent is responsible for carrying this task out.

I’m excited by Fullan’s (2013) arguments because classroom blogging falls in line with these criteria. If used correctly, blogs can be incredibly engaging given the freedom of expression and authentic audience, and they are accessible on nearly any device. With a brief tutorial I have no doubt any student can use them with ease, though the application is the most exciting of all. Individual blogs, personalized to the authour, can serve as windows into the things that genuinely interest students, while also prompting them to connect those things to the content at hand. Once those connections are made, and engagement is achieved, real, applicable problem-solving can begin.

Reference:

Fullan, M. (2013). Stratosphere: Integrating technology, pedagogy, and change knowledge.

Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Standards for research

I recenlty searched for the topic of how student blogs affect metacognition with a combination of keywords including “metacognition,” “blogs,” “blogging,” “secondary school,” and “high school,” and got all kinds of resources and materials. A Google search of the full question yielded about 377,000 results in just over a second, while Google Scholar found an additional 51 results- mostly scholarly research papers. The simple Google results were a bit more diverse, including pages from edutopia and other such blogs, as well as a few scholarly journals. Similar searches through Twitter and Pinterest gave mostly blogs and lesson plans, though very few were specifically about metacognition in blogging. The best research came from library databases. LearnTechLib immediately found 49 extremely relevant articles, and Concordia’s library search found over 1,200 appropriate books and articles, although the text for many of them is not available online. Although such articles have already proven helpful in my own practice, many of my colleagues rely heavily on their own PLCs within the building, as well as online resources. Several teachers use Twitter as a large PLN.

There are two distinct types of resources I notice in the gathering of my materials. The first is the traditional scholarly research, which uses specific variable (i. e. blogging) and measures the outcome (i. e. metacognition). The other approach, usually in the form of blogposts or lesson planning ideas and materials, generally argues: this is what works for me; try it out for yourself. Of course, there is nothing wrong with this approach, but if educational technology is ever going to have the canon of research Roblyer (2005) argues that it needs, much of the latter resources need to be restructured as specific research founded on the five pillars. While it’s near impossible for every blogging teacher to carry out such rigorous studies, they can still “level up” the scholarly practices, so that future researchers can build on their ideas. After all, ISTE’s fifth Teacher standard and nearly all Standards for Coaches demand professional growth and the refining of pedagogy (International Society for Technology in Education, n.d.; International Society for Technology in Education, n, d.). With TPACK’s focus on using technology to enhance pedagogical content (Koehler, Nishra, Akcaoglu, & Rosenburg, n.d.), teachers need to be constantly evaluating and reevaluating how specific technologies can influence their classrooms, and those who are in positions to conduct specific research must do it.

While some teachers regularly investigate educational technology through scholarly journals, most of us get a majority of our ideas from the blogosphere, which has a wealth of resources that are much more readily available. If we bloggers can raise our standards to those of scholarly research, the positive outcomes will be noticeable much more quickly,

References:

International Society for Technology in Education. (n.d.). ISTE standards for coaches. Retrieved

from http://www.iste.org/standards/ISTE-standards/standards-for-coaches

International Society for Technology in Education. (n.d.). ISTE standards for teachers. Retrieved

from http://www.iste.org/standards/ISTE-standards/standards-for-teachers

Koehler, M. J., Nishra, P., Akcaoglu, M., & Rosenburg, J. M. (n.d.). The technological pedagogical

content knowledge framework for teachers and teacher educators. Retrieved from

http://cemca.org.in/ckfinder/userfiles/files/ICT%20teacher%20education%20Module%20

1%20Final_May%2020.pdf

Roblyer, M. D. (2005). Educational Technology Research That Makes a Difference : Series

Introduction. Educational Researcher, 5(2), 192–201. Retrieved from

http://www.citejournal.org/vol5/iss2/seminal/article1.cfm

Schoology Vs. Edmodo

There are plenty of Learning Management Systems (LMS) out there these days, and they all do different things. There are those like PowerSchool and Infinite Campus that operate as digital grade books, and then there are those that hang their hats on being able to encompass any classroom need. Teachers can upload assignments, assess students, create discussions, and score it all with one program. Over the course of my spring break, I scanned the websites of twenty-something different LMS, and to be honest, they all started to feel a bit like this:

(Silicon Valley, 2014)

But I do want to know what sets one LMS apart from another, so I launched my own investigation. I uncovered what exactly it is that my school needs out of an LMS, and then I set up teacher and student accounts on the two least distinguishable LMS I could find. Edmodo and Schoology are two of the most popular LMS out there (Barrish, 2015), and the interface of each is strikingly similar. My own school district already uses Infinite Campus as a digital gradebook, and so any classroom-oriented LMS would need to exist as the place where the work is done before the grades are exported to IC. The additional LMS also needs to be able to handle any typical classroom tasks, such as assessing, discussing, and differentiating.

It should be said that this investigation is assuming that we all must transfer to ONE LMS together. Like students each have their own educational needs, so do teachers, and by extension, classrooms. That said, I think that each teacher should be able to choose the LMS that works in his or her classroom. What we may lose in the ability to share across curricula, we more than make up for in personalized learning.

Now to be fair, I have worked with Schoology before, but this is my first run with Edmodo, which is regarded as the most popular LMS on the market (Barrish, 2015). I chose the two for their similar level of popularity and seemingly similar features. In order to investigate features, I first set up my own teacher account, created a course, and posted several assignments, discussion posts, etc. Then I created my own student account for each system, joined my course, and took the assessments while rolling through all of the features. I investigated the student version through both a PC, and my mobile device, which has apps for both Schoology and Edmodo. I figured the mobile device support to be an important factor in choosing the right LMS on account of half of students using their phones for education. For you visual people, here is how it all shook out:

Basically, the two LMS are strikingly similar. They're easy to set up and use, for both teacher and student. The interface for each seems to be based on that of Facebook, and both Edmodo and Schoology have the same basic features: assignment creation, discussion posts, online gradebooks, personalized content, etc. A few key features tip the scales, and honestly, which one you go with depends on what your school needs. Maybe that's why they're both so popular. Here's the long and the short of it:

Edmodo gets points for slightly broader Professional Learning Communities in their groups, and the ability to group students within classes (differentiation is important to our admins). It's free, too. But it's coolest feature is Snapshot, an integrated app that quizzes students with precreated questions aligned to the CCSS. It's basically a data analysis program within an online LMS. 

Schoology makes up for its lack of grouping with the nifty feature of being able to embed media in discussion posts and assignments. It also offers teachers the ability to grade by rubric.

Edmodo may be easy to differentiate through, but Schoology still allows for differentiation, and diverse media. And although the cost of a premium membership ($10 per student, or a similar one time fee from the school) looks outrageous, it allows for integration with Infinite Campus to allow for seamless exporting of grades and other data. Even still the free version of Schoology does almost everything that Edmodo does.

The tie-breaker for me comes down to mobile compatibility. Schoology's app on iPhone and iPad (which we have a lot of at school) is quite fluid with virtually no loading time. Quizzes cannot be taken through the app, but it links directly to the website with login intact, so the transition is seemless. When testing on Edmodo however,  the app simply displays a message that asks the user to log into www.edmodo.com. Not super convenient, and I can see students getting easily frustrated with it, as I did. Edmodo's parent app leaves a lot to be desired as well. While it is possible to follow what your student is doing in school on a computer, the Apple/Android apps are absolutely useless. They are essentially apps that exist only to show this screen:

And any attempts to input a parent code or child credentials results in the same screen. Yikes. From what I have heard from Edmodo users, this is likely indicative of a broader tech support shortcoming. Hopefully it will be corrected in the future, but in the meantime my LMS of choice for our district is:

Schoology! (pronounced as skool-uh-gee, get it right)

If we decide to drop the ca$h on the premium option in integrates seamlessly into our gradebook, and the mobile tech is much better, which I know will satisfy students and parents alike (not to mention us teachers!). Discussions are less messy, and perhaps most importantly, several teachers are already using it (none use Edmodo). Students and staff are both familiar, which will make the transition much easier, and sharing across disciplines will be way easier to navigate.

References:

Barrish, J., & Capterra. (2015, June 3). Best LMS (Learning Management System) software: 2015 reviews of the most popular systems. Retrieved from http://www.capterra.com/learning-management-system-software/#infographic

Nagel, D. (2013, May 8). Reprt: Students use smartphones for school, want more. Retrieved from https://thejournal.com/articles/2013/05/08/report-students-use-smart-phones-and-tablets-for-school-want-more.aspx

Silicon Valley (2014). Silicon valley: Changing the world [video clip]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXuFrtmOYKg

Getting More Productive

A good chunk of this week has been spent researching tools to make my classroom more productive, whether that is enhancing classroom procedures or getting myself more organized. I started by analyzing my own workflow and what I can do to improve on it. A work flow can exist in many different forms, and as such, can be improved in various ways (Davis, 2015). When searching for productivity tools to improve on my workflow, I used Vicki Davis's (2013) criteria:

1. Must save time or steps from a task I need to do frequently.
2. It must be multi-platform or sync with a tool that is multi platform.
3. I have to use this app daily or multiple times per week.
4. It should improve my life in some way.

The first step I took in hacking my productivity was setting up an Evernote account. It's quick, easy, and can swiftly take the place of several apps that I already have. The greatest benefit of Evernote is that all of the applications that it replaces now work in concert with each other. Here is a great video on what makes it the best:


(Bradley, 2012).

Evernote has been beneficial to me already. My mom, wife, and son all have birthdays this week, and I'm not saying that I would have forgotten anything important without Evernote; but the fact is that now that I have it, I did not forget a thing. While the applications between the bells in the classroom are a little limited, it does a great job of organizing things behind the scenes. I have notebooks, for school (college), work (junior high), and home, and those three (sadly?) encompass everything that I do on a day to day basis. I'd like to get to a point (by the beginning of the next school year, perhaps) where my use of Evernote is automatic. Right now, I find myself having to remind myself to use it, since it's so new to me. But I imagine the benefits will continue to multiply. It keeps the aspects of my life separated, but also integrates them when necessary, so that context isn't lost in a simple list.

ICYMI, I recommend.

The other far-reaching application I endorse is Google Classroom. My students already have school-sponsored Google accounts, so I have been taking advantage of a lot of Google apps. Since all of my kids had embedded assessments to finish last week, doc sharing has been crucial. Ironcially, every English teacher in my school requires kids to write out a rough draft for them to comment on, and then complete the final copy in Google docs, which subverts one of its greatest advantages. Assuming I'm working in the English department next year, I will transform this practice, as I did the last few weeks. I had students type their drafts and share them with me, and I commented on their theses, evidence, and commentary in about three minutes apiece, without having to lift a pen.

Classroom is an equally time efficient application. Here's the simple tutorial:

(Google For Education, 2014).

I set it up on Thursday, and had most of my students on Friday. We used classroom to run the warm up, and I asked a few interactive questions about their experience with Classroom, and it worked great, although mostly as substitution-level technology. Where I really think it has the power to transform is with material gathering. If you saw the workflow model I linked to earlier, I spend a good portion of my day running around gathering missing assignments from other teachers. If I can get the majority of teachers on board, Classroom can work as a centralized space for all missing materials. The boon to productivity is enormous since (let's be honest) telling kids to retrieve assignments they have already been given from teachers who may not be available to help them is a huge waste of time. The biggest hurdle is getting everyone on board, since some of the veteran teachers are tech-averse, to put it lightly. I may just have to take the time to scan their assignments and upload them myself.

I already have a few digital assignments posted to the message board, but my (lofty) goal is to have every assignment graded by a core teacher this quarter accessible through Google Classroom. I have one of my more tech-savvy students working on a database for such a list, and we will go from there. Next year, I want to integrate Classroom in an ELA classroom, with the goal to go completely paperless in the next three years, which shouldn't be too hard, since such a feat can be achieved without the aid of any other programs.

There are a host of other programs I can't wait to try out, including Spiral, a formative assessment app I assume is on par with Socrative, but has collaboration capabilities. That review is likely coming soon.

An update on last week's post: I brought Google Cardboard in for the kids to play with on Free Friday. Some were underwhelmed, but for the most part the reviews were positive. Two notes:

Make sure your kids load apps ahead of time if they BYOD.

Not much more than 5 minutes per turn. Demand doesn't allow for it, and transformative technology can quickly turn into a trip to the nurse.

References

Bradley, S. (2012, April 12). Evernote tips: The 11 amazing features that make using evernote so freaking awesome [Video]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce2_gWZHBIs

Davis, V. (2013, December 23). 18 epic productivity apps. Retrieved from http://www.coolcatteacher.com/best-productivity-apps/

Davis, V. (2015, July 28). Essential habits of an excellent educator. Retrieved from 

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/essential-habits-excellent-educator

Google For Education (2014, June 12). Classroom 101 [Video]. Retrieved from