So what are you doing differently this year in your classroom (and/or school)?

Source

Whether you did a formal inquiry into your teaching practice last year or simply taught some kids and did some some stuff, one truth will remain - there are a number of things you need to change about your teaching and/or learning environment this year.

As my ancient buddy Heraclitus once stated (admittedly didn't hear him first hand, but am choosing to trust my sources), "the only constant is change". Now this is most certainly true of our world, society and most work places, but unfortunately bar a change of names on your class roll this often not the case in the classroom. I acknowledge change is challenging and many of you work in environments where change feels glacial at best, however that needn't bother any of us as change starts with you! Whether you are in a dynamic environment where everyone is striving for "adaptive expertise" or feel like you are a lone nut in a school where the status quo (which may well produce excellent academic results) is protected, there is nothing stopping you leading the charge, even if it is only in the safety of your most likely four walls of a classroom.

The chances are if you are the sort that reads this blog, you are already thinking about change, if so, I would love to hear your plans, if not, here are some scenarios and ideas of areas you might like to address and change up this year:

Scenario One: My kids results results were disappointing last year.

I start with this as this is often the data your HOD and SLT look at, and if you are teacher senior secondary it is the sort of thing that might have bummed you out when NCEA exam results were published in the holidays. The obvious thing to do is when you have your new cohort is to ensure that you know their learning needs in specific areas and ensure you address these through careful differentiation and UDL strategies (that we will discus more thoroughly later), however I suggest you do something different - address the personal elephant in the room. One thing I did a few years back when I was briefly HOD at AGGS was to get all of us to actually look more closely at ourselves. As teachers we be can very quick to look at student data and identify their potential strengths and areas that need greater support, but how often do we really do that to ourselves.

Here's the process: hunt out as many years class results of your own that you can get your hands on (even if you don't have the hard evidence I am sure you can work this out with some brutally honest reflection), now look at it closely and as objectively as possibly - which areas do your students tend to do well in and which do they do 'comparatively' suck at. At this point you need to quiet your internal defence mechanism that tries to blame the kid's weaknesses, socio-economic status and exam/assessment writer's flaws and be  really honest - are there some parts of the curriculum or subject that you teach that you don't like? Are there areas that you are weaker at, so gloss over, in comparison to the areas you LOVE and indulge in like a pig in mud. I bet, if you are REALLY honest, there is one or two areas where it's actually you who is a but sucky (for me it was on always Unfamiliar texts in English....big yawn...and I sucked). Next step, declare it, either in a quiet chat to someone you see as a support person or even better (if you have the team culture that makes this safe) share it as a group. Be sure to call the bullsh#tters who say their only flaw is caring too much or working too hard. If you are doing this as a group, once you have declared your area that needs addressing, get everyone to declare an area or two of success and choiceness - you can then use this as a way to find in-school mentors, and people you can bribe with coffee until they spill their secrets and resources. If you don't have team approach you can still sniff out those that love the stuff you love less and connect with them - coffee dates work well, classroom observations even better.

Scenario Two: My kids did okay/great/awesome, but if I'm honest, they were a bored and/or stressed (or maybe you were bored and/or stressed too) 

and/or

I am in a school where I have little autonomy and don't feel like I have much freedom to plan what I want.

First up, kids doing okay or even excellently academically is not an excuse to rest on your laurels and say "I nailed it!". High five yourself for sure, but this should simply free you up to focus on what other areas you need to change, iterate and evolve in your practice. Whether you are in a school where autonomy is limited or somewhere where you can do as you wish, the following are a range of innovations you might like try on for size. As with anything I suggest you wrap a teaching as inquiry approach around your personal change, ask yourself "What is important (and therefore worth spending time on), given where my students are at?" This will ensure you are not you are not just innovating for innovation's sake, that you are trialling these strategies because they meet your students needs in some way. And don't just limit yourself to strategies where there is lofty research and evidence base to prove their worth. Hattie is only talking about the sh#t that's been happening for years anyway, if we have any hope of NZ being the world leaders in education we need to stop looking solely in the rear-vision mirrors, instead put those headlights on full beam and look forward. I mean, Edmund Hillary didn't sit around waiting for the evidence that scaling Mt Everest would be choice for his career, he just cracked on and did it.

So what are some new strategies/approaches you could try?

• Teach your kids about 'growth mindset' and 'grit' - we talk about this a lot as teachers and how we need have a growth mindset, but do you actually teach this to your students?? In a post I did last year as part of the #hackyrclass series I provided this definition - 

Mindset is a simple idea discovered by world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck in decades of research on achievement and success—a simple idea that makes all the difference.

In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success—without effort. They’re wrong.

In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all great people have had these qualities.

Teaching a growth mindset creates motivation and productivity in the worlds of business, education, and sports. It enhances relationships. When you read Mindset, you’ll see how.

Source: http://mindsetonline.com/whatisit/about/

You might also like to teach your students about the idea of 'grit' or as TED Talker Angela Lee Duckworth puts it: grit (according to her) not ability is the key to success.

• Introduce design thinking - Whilst it might be easy to write off design thinking as just another passing fancy of us educators that reckon we are all super cutting edge, it is important to recognise that design thinking has been around for ages and is not going anywhere, what feels flash in the pan for us is actually a well proven approach that we can use as teachers to iterate our planning and more importantly a skill we can share with our learners to ensure they really do become life long learners (and innovators). I have a full explanation of design thinking in a post from last year, where I included this definition:

What is Design Thinking?

“Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer's toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.” —Tim Brown, president and CEO

Thinking like a designer can transform the way organizations develop products, services, processes, and strategy. This approach, which IDEO calls design thinking, brings together what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable. It also allows people who aren’t trained as designers to use creative tools to address a vast range of challenges.

Design thinking is a deeply human process that taps into abilities we all have but get overlooked by more conventional problem-solving practices. It relies on our ability to be intuitive, to recognize patterns, to construct ideas that are emotionally meaningful as well as functional, and to express ourselves through means beyond words or symbols. Nobody wants to run an organization on feeling, intuition, and inspiration, but an over-reliance on the rational and the analytical can be just as risky. Design thinking provides an integrated third way".

Source: http://www.ideo.com/about/

• Turn your classroom into a maker space - So why do we need to thinking about makerspaces? Because making things is choice, is fun and makes learning memorable. I bet if you reflect on your favourite experience as a learner, it most likely involved actually making something. Personally I think all teachers and all classes should be looking to develop one. The reason I think this is simply - they develop 21st Century Skills (particularly critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and problem solving) and provide students with opportunities to engage in constructivist/deep learning. Look at our New Zealand Curriculum and I also see many opportunities within a makerspace environment to engage in effective pedagogy and for students develop a wide range of competencies. In a post I did last year, I provided the following definition (and a whole lot of ideas and resources):

What is a Makerspace?

Makerspace describe a makerspace as community centres with tools. Makerspaces combine manufacturing equipment, community, and education for the purposes of enabling community members to design, prototype and create manufactured works that wouldn’t be possible to create with the resources available to individuals working alone. These spaces can take the form of loosely-organized individuals sharing space and tools, for-profit companies, non-profit corporations, organizations affiliated with or hosted within schools, universities or libraries, and more. All are united in the purpose of providing access to equipment, community, and education, and all are unique in exactly how they are arranged to fit the purposes of the community they serve.

Makerspaces represent the democratization of design, engineering, fabrication and education. They are a fairly new phenomenon, but are beginning to produce projects with significant national impacts.

Source: http://makerspace.com/

• Let your kids go free range - I believe self-direction and developing student agency and efficacy is the fundamental shift all educators need to make to become more future-focused in their practice. In a sense we want step away from our 'caged' classrooms to develop increasingly 'free range learners'. Even if your school is not embracing of free-range approaches, there is a lot you can do in your classroom. In a post I wrote last year (yep, last year was very good year ;) I shared the following definition and a whole lot more thinking about this topic. 

Free range learners who are:

• Free to choose how they learn
• Free to choose where they learn
• Free to choose how they process their learning
• Free to choose how they evidence their learning
• Free to experience learning that is relevant and responsive to their needs not our limitations

This does not mean the teacher becomes redundant, quite the opposite as they are challenged to provide authentic relevant contexts for learners, with just enough 'enabling constraints' to ensure that our little chickens don't accidentally cross the road...in heavy traffic. Our roles need to change from teacher, to facilitator and ultimately to learning activator. Providing triggers and opportunities to learners to develop the relevant skills needed for their world (whilst somehow pleasing those pesky bloody UE requirements....universities of NZ...you have a lot to answer for in relation to slowing progress).

• Practice and teach the concept of 'mindfulness' - mindfulness, like design thinking might be easily written off as the next edu-fad, but personally, in a world where the pace of life and the amount of time we spend online, I believe mindfulness is simply a means to maintain balance. In terms of what mindfulness is, I like the infographic below. And this is not just for students, I have shared my journey towards increased mindfulness here (very much a work in progress).

Source: http://mindfulnessinschools.org/mindfulness/

Scenario Three: We have just introduced BYOD and I am sh#tting myself.

Fear not. BYOD is choice. It is not a destination, marker of modernity or an effective pedagogy (in and of it's self), it is simply access to a whole lot of approaches that can vastly improve student outcomes, engagement and autonomy (if used well). My main suggestion is that you actually make it about the students making the most of BYOD, not the teacher. You will achieve this by simply letting go a bit and letting students choose how they record their learning and share their learning and by ramping up your level of vigilance - don't be sitting at your teacher desk wondering why kids are distracted by the technology and access to cat videos. You need to be present (if you have to sit, sit behind them) or even better - amongst them! And you need to ensure their learning is interesting and relevant to them! Because if it isn't, a more interesting distraction is just a URL address away. Many moons ago, I made this wee EdTalk and this wrote this blogpost to provide a few simple ways STUDENTS can be the ones making the most of BYOD.

Claire Amos: Ten tips for BYOD from EDtalks on Vimeo.

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Hack Your Classroom: Week Nine - Making future-focused innovative teaching infectious!

Welcome to the last official post for Hack Your Classroom!

First up, a great big thank you to everyone who participated either by blogging and sharing or by simply joining the conversation via Twitter. It has been heartening to see so many teachers willing to reflect so openly and publicly whilst sharing and inspiring lots of folk along the way. It's impossible to say exactly how many people have participated, but the number of people I have encountered on and offline up and down the country (and across the world) suggests the reach may have been greater than one might suspect.


So here we are, a term into hacking our classroom and developing and encouraging future-focused teaching. So, what do I mean when I say 'future-focused innovative practice'? I mean everything we have covered in the #hackyrclass curriculum and then some - developing a growth mindset, getting to know your learners - hacker style, design thinking, maker culture, blending learning, universal design for learning, handing the power over to the learners, free range learning and students developing robust self-direction plus all those other future-focused skills such as complex communication, critical thinking, collaboration and basically anything that helps students (and teachers) to become adaptive experts. The innovative part comes in because I believe it can't just be about looking back to the tried and true, we also need to be willing to try the new along side the proven pedagogical approaches. We need to willing to take risks and see our responsibility to extend our students beyond National Standards, NCEA or even University Entrance and more about helping students to help their future selves and our future societies and economies.

So what? What now? For me the biggest hope of something like this is that it can provide a trigger or plant a seed for ongoing innovation and sharing. So how might we encourage the #hackyrclass and growth mindset to continue to propagate? For a starter, if that everyone of us takes the responsibility of purposely infecting a handful of others around us to start questioning their practice and to start sharing their practice we could expand the amount of educators engaging in future-focused innovative practice with relative ease. Think of it as viral marketing of awesomeness.

Source: http://www.sanketj.com/2013/03/viral-marketing-pointers.html

However our major challenge will not be continuing to encourage the converted to whom we mostly preach to, or those who encourage and support us with the confines of our conference, meet ups and online echo chambers. It will be the challenge of engaging the others - the unaware, the disinterested, the disheartened and even the 'happy oblivious' who have been lulled into a false sense of security bought on by good or even great National Standard and/or NCEA attainment.

So, what are your suggestions? How can you/we lead the charge and lead change from the ground up? How can we make future-focused innovative change less daunting and more delightfully infectious?

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Hack your classroom: Week Eight - Going free-range and developing robust self-direction

I believe self-direction and developing student agency and efficacy is the fundamental shift all educators need to make to become more futur-focused in their practice. In a sense we want step away from our 'caged' classrooms to develop increasingly 'free range learners'.

Free range learners who are:

• Free to choose how they learn
• Free to choose where they learn
• Free to choose how they process their learning
• Free to choose how they evidence their learning
• Free to experience learning that is relevant and responsive to their needs not our limitations

This does not mean the teacher becomes redundant, quite the opposite as they are challenged to provide authentic relevant contexts for learners, with just enough 'enabling constraints' to ensure that our little chickens don't accidentally cross the road...in heavy traffic. Our roles need to change from teacher, to facilitator and ultimately to learning activator. Providing triggers and opportunities to learners to develop the relevant skills needed for their world (whilst somehow pleasing those pesky bloody UE requirements....universities of NZ...you have a lot to answer for in relation to slowing progress).

The experience that really opened my eyes to the power of 'free-range learning' and students being truly self-directed was our (HPSS SLT) trip to the Self-Directed Schools in Canada last year.

Here is an outline how one of those schools operated.

Bishop Carroll has been self-directed for 40 years in a building created for purpose in 1971 - just in case you thought this was a new idea, it is not, nor is it untested. Bishop Carroll are now in the third year of a one to one laptop programme, running a lease to own programme and like the other Canadian schools we have visited they used D2L (Desire to Learn) as the LMS (Learning Management System). Bishop Carroll is considered a "magnet" school, taking students from all over Calgary. Approximately 20% students are high level sportspeople (the flexibility well suited to students travelling throughout the year), there are a lot of music students, approximately 20% of students with identified learning needs and 25% students who had English as a second language. Flexibility makes it appealing to students involved outside of school. One of the central philosophies of the school was that it was "a school for everyone" guided by the text of the same name by by J Lloyd Trump.

As this is a senior school, taking only Grade 10-12 (our Year 11-13) and the only self-directed school in the province, it is important that all students complete 2-3 weeks orientation at beginning of year, during this time students are introduced to the self-directed timetable structure and given strategies to cope with it. Being the school with the longest history of self-directed learning that we have visited so far meant that it also seemed to be the school where it felt the most innate. Where Westmount and Mary Ward provided students with A4 sized diaries to manage their time, the students of Mary Ward seemed to find their own way, with many relying on the schedule on D2L or using their smart phone or laptop calendar to keep a schedule. In many ways the school operated and felt like a mini university with students being free to work where they pleased (I imagine the inclement weather also helped keep students in the building!).

Students arrived each morning, checking in with their Teacher Advisor and collecting their student ID lanyard which they wore thought the day day before returning at the end of day to their advisor to check out and return their ID. Students for the most part, worked independently through Learning Guides (a unit long learning guide that represented one topic for one subject) that they either collected from Learning Area resource centres or accessed online (once again these were pretty inflexible and sequential, with little differentiation across units but some within). They tested their learning at the end of each unit and moved on to the next. When they need to be assessed they booked in for tests or examination at the Examination Centre. A variety of tests for each unit were available to minimise the chance of sharing and cheating. Unlike Westmount and Mary Ward, Bishop Carroll students had to compete a number of end of year exams - Science, Maths, English and History exams (I think) in Grades 3, 9, 12. These are province wide, assessment is made up of 50% exam and 50% internal assessment. One frustration for these learners was that they did have to wait to sit the end of school year exam.

So what were the pros?

The sheer fact that this has been operating for 40+ years certainly proves the long term success of the self-directed movement - this ain't no pedagogical fad! I have to admit, the atmosphere of the school was pretty magic, the students somehow coming across as both more laid back, yet more switched on to learning than any school we have visited so far. Daniel, the Principal mentioned that engagement and ownership of school was better than any other school he has been in, I couldn't help but agree with him.

These students owned their learning, they could take advantage of the flexibility to engage in what we would regard as extra-curricular activities during the day, they called the shots as to where and when they learned. 

The more physical, practical subjects such as physical education, technology and performing arts could be focused on for hours at a time if needed. We sat in on a 10 minute student written and directed play that was testament to the benefits of this - it was stunning. The drama teacher, Pat Doyle (who had been there so long he had a theatre named after him) was equally stunning - energetic, passionate and with a twinkle in his eye. You did wonder if this flexibility enabled the educators to flourish as much as the students.

And the cons?

The Principal would have been the first to acknowledge that of course there was areas of weakness and as always, much they could improve. In fact, at this point I want to acknowledge how much we appreciated and enjoyed the fact that Daniel was so eager to learn from us, this visit more than any other felt like a genuinely two way discussion, with the acknowledgment that New Zealand is actually leading the way in many areas, for one, our curriculum never fails to be a source of national pride.

In terms of areas of improvement, he suggested that students could have benefitted from some more concrete deadlines, particularly as they did encounter these at tertiary level. He also hoped that next year all teachers would have to have two learning guides - one that is a structured and detailed full teaching and learning guide and another that is more like a frame that allows the student to co-construct the content with the teacher (I LOVE this idea). There was also a need for more cross-curricular links - more of learning areas getting together and create a course that is interdisciplinary. Also like the schools before there was still an element of correspondence school learning, albeit with more opportunity for face to face seminars and learning when needed. The Principal also suggested that he would suggest having more structured classes for Science and Maths, this was the first school to really discuss concept of different pedagogy needed for different disciplines - Science and Maths seemed to struggle a little with such flexibility. I thought this was great to hear, I think one issue we all need to reflect on when considering new models is that any one model does not fit all - neither students nor disciplines.

It will be interesting to develop a model that is actually flexible enough to allow for inflexibility where it is needed.

Some other interesting points.

Student notices come around each morning to show students what is on.
Some seminars are compulsory some are not.
English has choices of texts throughout.
They have a "prime time" 12.45-3.10 where students aren't supposed to move around.
English has physical sign up for English and others are online.
This is a true high trust model - some grade 12 students did take off during the day (they are teenagers after all) but they do fall behind and seem get back on track (this according to our lovely student guide).
Each teacher has a personal office.
There is an interesting flexibility project happening in Alberta - http://ideas.education.alberta.ca/hsc/current-projects/flexibility-enhancement-pilot/ (I plan to investigate this more!).

It was here that I learned that massive amounts of self-directed time lead to massive development of student agency and self-efficacy. I also learned that self-directed is by no means a pedagogical cop out. It actually takes a huge amount of planning and deep and powerful student-teacher learning relationships to make it work. Below are three key lessons I took away about self-directed learning from that trip:

1) Teacher Advisors (and strong teacher-student relationships) are the key
In each of the schools  we visited Teacher Advisors or TA, to a greater or lesser extent, played a central role in the lives of students, providing a single person that the student connected with throughout their high school career. In the schools where the TA worked best they had regular contact time with students - in Mary Ward students checked in with their TA three times a day and sat down for a formal learning progress interview once every two weeks. This meeting was recorded on a school SMS and sent home to parents as a pre-formatted email. At Bishop Carroll the relationship was similarly formal, but with students determining how regularly they met one to one with their TA, enabling students who were falling behind with more regular contact and support. The TA/student relationship was warm, close but definitely a learning relationship. A powerful way to ensure students received support, encouragement and guidance - particularly important when students are self-directing and may not connect with subject teachers on such a regular basis.

2) The more flexi-time the student has, the better
Whilst it was tempting to default to (and feel more comfortable with) a more hybrid structured/self-directed model, I still believe the more flexi or self-directed time students had, the more rewards there were for the learner in the long run. There is no denying that many students struggled to adapt to having the freedom to manage their own learning, but you could see that by Grade 12 (Year 13) the students that worked their way through several years of self-directed learning were seriously switched on, and as John Wright would say, they demonstrated a real sense of agency - they could manage their learning, and time and time again we heard how these students flourished beyond high school. The schools that ran on, pretty much, all flexi-time (Mary Ward and Bishop Carroll) were also the schools that had students making the most of this flexibility, particularly those that sporting or creative commitments. So often we see students fall behind for these very reasons, which is actually what their education should be about, not something they have to pursue on top of their regular timetables. Students could prioritise their passions and have more or less time and more or less focus on topics as needed.

3) Flexibility and freedom requires rigor, structure and systems to work well
There is every chance that giving massive amounts of freedom to teenagers could result in chaos. It was clear that if you want to ensure academic rigor you need to ensure that there are clear boundaries, clear expectations and a whole lot of check points and support to help keep students on track. At Mary Ward this was achieved by a combination of morning TA time where students received TA mail (personalised messages notifying students of upcoming assessments, grades etc), TA check in before lunch and end of day. Students had large diary planners to plan their time which were regularly checked by TAs and they also had regular sit down TA interviews. This system ensured no students fell behind (or if they did they were identified and supported) and that students were encouraged to create their own structure within the flexi-time.

What I loved about this was actually seeing that students being self-directed can work and it can lead to much greater engagement, self-efficacy and high achievement. I believe if you could take learning from the Canadians,  add to it the NZC, a kick-arse LMS and a more co-constructed approach to the teaching and learning guides you could achieve something magic!!

I realise very few of us are in a position to make free-range learning happen on this macro school-wide scale, however I do believe there is much we can do to achieve this on a micro classroom scale. How do you or could you achieve this in your classroom? Please share your ideas via Twitter with the hashtags #hackyrclass and #selfdirected

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Hack Your Classroom - Week Seven: Handing the power over to the learners

Source: http://novemberlearning.com/educational-resources-for-educators/books-on-educational-technology/

Interestingly, when it comes to teachers not really adopting and embracing technology it often isn't technical skill or lack thereof that is the problem, it is the teachers need to maintain power and control in the classroom. You hear the panic, the running joke that BYOD stands for Bring Your Own Distraction. Well I hate to break it to you, but if the students are distracted by the technology (particularly after the novelty of access to the Internet has worn off) the problem ain't the technology - quite possibly your/their teaching and the students lack of ownership of their learning is. *lobs grenade and ducks for cover*


Which brings me to this week's #hackyrclass topic - handing the power over to the learners. I am really interested in this. More precisely, I am interested in how we do this is such a way that increases engagement whilst still insuring depth of learning and academic rigour. So often we see schools controlling student learning to the point of spoon-feeding students and micro-managing teachers. This is quite simply, not good enough. Why on earth would you bother to get to know your learners, if you weren't in a position to actually be responsive to their learning needs and their interests? Why do schools pretend they are being responsive, when in fact they have published the dates they will be assessing students - how do you know students will be ready to be measured and assessed by that date? I understand externals (at present) happen on a pre-determined date, but internals are not, so why do we often shortchange our teachers and learners but creating artificial and unnecessary deadlines?

So what can we do about this? I suggest the answer is threefold. We can challenge this at a national level by sharing more responsive practices and encourage others to follow suit. Speak up at best practice workshops and challenge anyone that suggests that internals (or any other testing) must be locked down in advance. We can challenge this at a school level. Refuse to, or encourage your HOD to refuse to publish assessment (or testing) dates in the student handbook or assessment calendar. Challenge your Principal's Nominee if they insist on dates being published or dates locked down. Challenge your department to encourage freedom to be responsive around assessment. There is actually no good reason for students in your school to be assessed at the same time (if they are at present). In fact there isn't really a strong argument for them to even be assessed against the same standard and/or all in the same mode. At the very least teachers should be being encouraged to write NCEA assessments that are responsive to the work their students are engaged in. That TKI task is not the best for your students, it is an exemplar, a guideline only.

So what are the strategies we could use to hand the power over to the learners. If you have the freedom to do so, why not let your students create an Individual Assessment Plan. Look at your course plans (which you may or may not have co-constructed with your students) and let them explore the veritable buffet of Achievement Standards available and get them to design how they might be assessed. You of course bring the expertise of what they need to succeed in their chosen pathways, so can negotiate appropriate options. Get them to take on the role of task designer - show them examples from TKI, show them exemplars that they can deconstruct and get their ideas for how they could meet that outcome based on their learning context. If you don't have this level autonomy (and if you don't, ask why not) you could take one assessment opportunity at primary, intermediate or your junior secondary years and present it to your learners as a problem for them to solve. Explain the achievement objectives or learning outcomes you are trying to measure them against and ask them how they could best evidence it. Again, you should be the expert, but your aim is to build their expertise around assessment as well. The more we can demystify this for learners the better.

One thing we are hoping to trial at HPSS is how we can make Level One NCEA less of an event and more of level of understanding that students can evidence a number of ways and captured through their e-portfolio in their early years at secondary school. We want to look at Level One NCEA as a kind of foundation certificate that prepares students to attain excellence at Level Two and above - not just a hoop that they jump through in the same way we make them do so at Level Two and Three....often boring the pants off learners in the process.

Another way we can approach this, particularly if you are in a school that locks assessment down is by simply letting students negotiate the context, the mode and maybe even the timing. Talk to your HOD, your syndicate leader or SLT and see if some negotiation could be allowed - this may be the first steps in working towards greater student ownership and power over how they learn and how they are assessed. Take one assessment and if it is locked down, challenge it. Ask why that date is insisted upon, particularly if your learners are not ready yet. In fact challenge why a whole class is being assessed at the same time in the first place. Yes, I know the old argument that it is because it is hard to manage students being assessed at different times, it's a challenge, but not an insurmountable one. Could the context be adapted to better suit the interests of your learners? If the task looks exactly the same for a whole year group, unless it invites students to apply their own context, then it probably isn't floating the boat of all of your learners. Remember all the students at your school doing the exact same task doesn't make it 'fair', when kids down the road are doing more personalised, responsive versions of the same assessment. Finally, I encourage you to look at the mode and medium you insist you assess your students in. Unless you are specifically assessing their writing/speaking/poster making skills, do you need to actually prescribe they way they convey their understanding? Could you give them choice? Is the answer you just gave based on actual facts and knowledge of how best to assess that student and that leaner?

Anyhoo, rant is over. Would love to hear your thoughts and ideas around how you can 'hand the power over to the learners' whether it be about course design, task design or any other aspect of their schooling. Keep sharing #hackyrclass folk and keep challenging the status quo!

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Hack Your Classroom: Week 6 - Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners

This is a topic that has long been close to my heart. It really began with a two day conference with Carol Ann-Tomlinson, the woman I consider to be the guru of differentiation. It was her analogy of likening teaching through one mode or strategy as being akin to playing Ten Pin Bowling with just one ball - some days you were lucky a pulled off a strike, but more often you than not,  you only knocked down one or two or more likely achieved a gutter ball. It was this analogy that caused a light bulb moment where I realised by having a singular approach I was quite possibly robbing many of my students of the opportunity of being engaged and learning the best they could.

Tomlinson's approach to differentiation has three layers. She argues that we should be differentiating for student readiness (not the same as ability), student interest and/or student learning style. Learning can then be differentiated by Content (or context), process, product or learning environment.


There is a nice overview of the topic here: Differentiation of Instruction

For me personally, the easiest way to introduce differentiation is through student choice. The PPT below is one that I developed with David (Head of Science Faculty at EGGS) which we used as an introduction for differentiation through choice.

Differentiation Introduction from Claire Amos

Differentiation and Blended Learning

There is also the fact that pedagogically speaking e-learning or blended learning is actually a no-brainer. We have a responsibility to ensure they way in which we facilitate learning and gather evidence of said learning is inclusive. All students have a right to learn and enjoy success, therefore we must be meeting the needs of a diverse group - not just the select few that learn the way you do or did in your day. Consider differentiation as defined by Carol Ann Tomlinson which seeks to provide a range of learning opportunities differentiated for student readiness' learning style and interest. This is possible in a paper based classroom, but choices will still be limited and controlled by the teacher and the resources made physically available to the learner. You might provide a small range of different activities and maybe texts that a either written or more graphic based. Consider this now in a blended learning environment where if a student can access the Internet they can access unlimited resources - written, visual and oral. A teacher may well need to support a student in locating appropriate material or may even curate a collection for them. The speed and ease in which differentiated learning can be facilitated in a blended environment is incredibly enabling. 

Universal Design for Learning

For me, Universal Design for learning is simply an extension of differentiation. It is about providing choice arounds methods and modes for learning to ensure all learning is inclusive. Universal Design for Learning is based on the idea that to be inclusive teaching and learning needs to provide multiple means of representation (i.e. visual, written oral representation of information), multiple means of expression (i.e. through spoken, written visual presentation of understanding) and multiple means of engagement (i.e. variety of time, place, online offline, pace etc). For the most part this can be achieved by giving students much greater choice and variety in the ways that they receive information and evidence their learning or understanding. 

Universal Design for Learning and Blended Learning

Similarly if you consider the diagram below with a blended learning lens it is again a no-brainer. As stated on the Cast website 

" Universal Design for Learning was initially is a set of principles for curriculum development that give all individuals equal opportunities to learn. UDL provides a blueprint for creating instructional goals, methods, materials, and assessments that work for everyone--not a single, one-size-fits-all solution but rather flexible approaches that can be customized and adjusted for individual needs." 

Who wouldn't want this for their learners? Providing multiple means of representation (of information), means of expression (evidencing learning) and means of engagement is nigh on impossible in a purely paper-based  classroom, and again it limits it to a single teacher perception of what they think they know about the students ability, learning style, interests or even their mood or tiredness on any given day.

http://www.cast.org/library/UDLguidelines/version1.html

So I guess the #hackyrclass challenge is simple - how are you meeting the diverse needs of your learners? How are you giving them choice and ownership of using the means and modes that best meet their needs and interests?

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Hack Your Classroom - Week Five: Embracing blended learning, even if you don't have many devices...

 Source: http://classroomaid.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/10-drivers-of-blended-learning.png

Well it's officially 'hump week' for the  Hack Your Classroom project. Well done to the educators who are still with us! You/we rule!! The sharing via twitter has been spectacular and the shared learning has been magic to watch.

In a sense this brings us to this weeks topic - looking at the power and potential of blended learning. If we as educators can recognise the breadth and depth of personal learning (and motivation) that has been achieved over the last four weeks thanks to online environments and communities such as Twitter and Google+, then why aren't we all using these platforms this way with our learners? Obviously if you are teaching students under 13 years old, this isn't really an option, but there is much that can be replicated in a closed, private environment that can provide similar opportunities for younger students as well. I know my daughters who are 8 and 10 love going on to their classroom blogs to both share their learning and to comment and reflect on the learning of others. 

In terms of why we should all be embracing blended learning, my thoughts are outlined in this earlier blog post http://www.teachingandelearning.com/2014/03/so-why-we-are-focusing-on-blended.html?spref=tw

This week I am keen to hear from you all about how you and your colleagues are utilising blended learning to provide opportunities to learning that go beyond the four walls of your classroom and the hours in the school day. I am also keen to explore and hear about how teachers are managing this in classrooms where technology is limited and where students don't necessarily have Internet access at home. 

For me I believe a hug amount can be achieved with just one computer and Internet connection. Geoff Woods at Rosmini College is a great example, where is students have taken the 'Over the back fence' health programme to a global stage via Skype. What started as his students teaching the primary students (literally over that school's back fence) is now a global programme involving students and universities literally around the world. Who could you connect your students with via a Google hangout or Skype Chat.

Add to the mix one or two iPods and then you have the opportunity to explore different modes for learning and sharing learning. Are you making the most if this technology to video or capture podcasts of your or your students teaching skills or content? Are you giving students opportunity to share or evidence their learning through video, podcast as much as you are through writing? It still amazes me how many schools don't let students utilise the technology in their pocket. Do you encourage students to use their phones in class? If so, how? If not, why not? Considering many are carrying devices with more computing power that the Voyager it seems crazy that we aren't all making the most of it. 

Here is a link to an EdTalk I did some time ago about making the most of BYOD.

http://www.edtalks.org/video/claire-amos-ten-tips-byod

So how do you make the most of the little or loads technology available in your classroom?

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Hack Your Classroom - Week Four: Introduction to Makerspaces and the Maker culture

Awesome classroom makerspace from
http://bpcsteam.blogspot.co.nz/2013/09/introducing-our-bpc-makerspace.html

What is a Makerspace?

Makerspace describe a makerspace as community centres with tools. Makerspaces combine manufacturing equipment, community, and education for the purposes of enabling community members to design, prototype and create manufactured works that wouldn’t be possible to create with the resources available to individuals working alone. These spaces can take the form of loosely-organized individuals sharing space and tools, for-profit companies, non-profit corporations, organizations affiliated with or hosted within schools, universities or libraries, and more. All are united in the purpose of providing access to equipment, community, and education, and all are unique in exactly how they are arranged to fit the purposes of the community they serve.

Makerspaces represent the democratization of design, engineering, fabrication and education. They are a fairly new phenomenon, but are beginning to produce projects with significant national impacts.

Source: http://makerspace.com/

Whilst Edutopia provides this description which I really like for it's simplicity:

A makerspace is not solely a science lab, woodshop, computer lab or art room, but it may contain elements found in all of these familiar spaces. Therefore, it must be designed to accommodate a wide range of activities, tools and materials. Diversity and cross-pollination of activities are critical to the design, making and exploration process, and they are what set makerspaces and STEAM labs apart from single-use spaces. A possible range of activities might include:

Cardboard construction

Prototyping

Woodworking

Electronics

Robotics

Digital fabrication

Building bicycles and kinetic machines

Textiles and sewing

Source: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/designing-a-school-makerspace-jennifer-cooper

I think we can explore Makerspaces on a number of levels. We can think about how we can utilise better the various community makerspaces popping up all over New Zealand (see the list down the bottom for starters). We can consider how a makerspace can be developed within a school community - maybe by revisioning the technology department (and making it available for all students and teachers) or maybe this could be part of how we revision the school library - Auckland City Library run a Makerspace...so why not your library?? We can also consider how we might create a makerspace in the corner of the classroom (see the great on in the picture above - that's the corner of a Life Science class in the US). If you have a makerspace in your community, school or classroom that you would like to share - please let me know!!!

Why Makerspaces?

So why do we need to thinking about makerspaces? Personally I think all teachers and all classes should be looking to develop one. The reason I think this is simply - they develop 21st Century Skills (particularly critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and problem solving) and provide students with opportunities to engage in constructivist/deep learning. Look at our New Zealand Curriculum and I also see many opportunities within a makerspace environment to engage in effective pedagogy and for students develop a wide range of competencies.

Source: http://www.p21.org/

I also really like this explanation provided in the Edutopia post 'Creating makerspaces in Schools'. 

We are constantly bombarded with the idea that the U.S. is "behind" the rest of the world in STEM education, that our students need to be able to think critically, problem-solve and collaborate in order to succeed in the future they will inhabit. (Forget the fact that critical thinking, problem solving and collaboration are part of what schools should be designed to support in the first place.) Makerspaces provide creative time and, well, space for people of all ages to build prototypes, explore questions, fail and retry, bounce ideas off one another and build something together. These spaces don't always include technology, since some prototypes and designs can be built out of anything or may include various stages of design that move from analog to digital and back again, but many do include technology. In the 3D printing and design thinking session, I was lucky enough to see how students might create a 3D design using CAD software, only to discover that their scale was off or that their prototype just plain won't work

Source: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/creating-makerspaces-in-schools-mary-beth-hertz

How can you set one up in your school (or even classroom)?

If you are thinking big and looking at developing a community or school makerspace, I suggest you check out these resources from Makerspace - they look like pretty bloody thorough start up guides for a uber makerspace! I will also be interviewing Richard Fortune from Makercrate and Makers Org NZ about how it can be achieved on a smaller scale (and budget) as well.

MakerSpace Playbook

Makerspace - High School Makerspace Tools & Materials 

But if you are thinking of going #hackyrclass styles then check this blog out. I love the idea of a makerspace in the corner or maybe even a really big box. I know as an English teacher I would love access to a 3D printer, sewing machine, playdough, glue gun, wood, nail, hammer, robots to make thinking, debating, creating come to life. One of my best teaching experiences was getting my Year 13s to create wearable arts pieces to explore the themes and motifs in 'The Piano' - the products were stunning, the thinking and exploration the students engaged in was epic! 

http://bpcsteam.blogspot.co.nz/2013/09/introducing-our-bpc-makerspace.html

Would love to hear your thoughts this week on how you think you could develop a makerspace in your class and how you see it as an opportunity to enhance teaching and learning in your own educational context. Remember to share on twitter with the #hackyrclass #makerspace hashtags.

Remember, even if you can create one on site, their are community makerspaces popping up all over the place.

Makerspaces around Auckland (let me know about ones around NZ and I will add them)

Makerspace at Central City Library

When: Wednesday and Friday 5pm - 8pm, and Saturday - Sunday 1pm - 4pm

Where: Central City Library Makerspace, Level 1 

Cost: Free 

A "makerspace" is a place where people can collaborate, innovate and create using information, resources and tools provided.

You can play, tinker, explore, and meet others with similar interests to share knowledge and make connections with.

Come and experiment with the help of library staff during our free-use hours. The space will be equipped with computers using free open-source software, a 3D printer and robotics kits are available to use.

The Mind Lab

The Mind Lab by Unitec is a collaboration between Unitec Institute of Technology and The Mind Lab. It draws on the education expertise of both organisations to provide teachers and their students with the opportunity to learn how to integrate technology, enhance digital capability and activate new teaching practices in the classroom.

Tangleball

Tangleball is an Auckland-based "Makerspace" or "Hackerspace". We provide a place for creative people to collaborate on building their ideas and aim to nurture both technical and artistic ideas. The best way to get in contact with us is by coming to the space on a Tuesday evening, from 8pm. 

Sources

I found lots of great reading around this topic. Make sure you check out some of the following:

http://www.makers.org.nz/

http://makercrate.org/

http://bpcsteam.blogspot.co.nz/2013/09/introducing-our-bpc-makerspace.html

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/designing-a-school-makerspace-jennifer-cooper

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/creating-makerspaces-in-schools-mary-beth-hertz

http://makerspace.com/

http://makerspace.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hsmakerspacetoolsmaterials-201204.pdf

http://themindlab.com/

http://www.tangleball.org.nz/

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Hack Your Classroom - Week Three: Introduction to Design Thinking

Source: http://dschool.stanford.edu/dgift/

What is Design Thinking?

“Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer's toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.” —Tim Brown, president and CEO

Thinking like a designer can transform the way organizations develop products, services, processes, and strategy. This approach, which IDEO calls design thinking, brings together what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable. It also allows people who aren’t trained as designers to use creative tools to address a vast range of challenges.

Design thinking is a deeply human process that taps into abilities we all have but get overlooked by more conventional problem-solving practices. It relies on our ability to be intuitive, to recognize patterns, to construct ideas that are emotionally meaningful as well as functional, and to express ourselves through means beyond words or symbols. Nobody wants to run an organization on feeling, intuition, and inspiration, but an over-reliance on the rational and the analytical can be just as risky. Design thinking provides an integrated third way.

The design thinking process is best thought of as a system of overlapping spaces rather than a sequence of orderly steps. There are three spaces to keep in mind: inspiration, ideation, and implementation. Inspiration is the problem or opportunity that motivates the search for solutions. Ideation is the process of generating, developing, and testing ideas. Implementation is the path that leads from the project stage into people’s lives.

Under this system, IDEO uses both analytical tools and generative techniques to help clients see how their new or existing operations could look in the future — and build road maps for getting there. Our methods include business model prototyping, data visualization, innovation strategy, organizational design, qualitative and quantitative research, and IP liberation.

All of IDEO’s work is done in consideration of the capabilities of our clients and the needs of their customers. As we iterate toward a final solution, we assess and reassess our designs. Our goal is to deliver appropriate, actionable, and tangible strategies. The result: new, innovative avenues for growth that are grounded in business viability and market desirability.

Source: http://www.ideo.com/about/

If you want to learn more, you could do the Stanford Design Think Crash Course here:

For me personally, my interest in design thinking as a learning design model was born out of a visit to Nueva School and meeting Design Thinking guru Kim Saxe. At Nueva School Saxe has taken the D. School design thinking model and has re-visioned it as a learning design model which sees students undertake inquiry in a way that insures they have an empathetic real world context. Below is a copy of her model and an excerpt from my blog post following my visit.

Source: http://designthinking.nuevaschool.org/dt-diagram

Nueva School is passionate about Design Thinking and Design Engineering. They have a Design Thinking Institute and Innovation Lab led by Kim Saxe. To me, this aspect of the school was the key to its success. It was also the aspect of the school which in a sense really exemplified what the NZC is all about. Students in this space developed Key Competencies. Their focus on real world learning and focus on empathy meant that it covered the Values and Principles as outlined in the NZC as well. The Design Thinking process they use has been developed by Kim Saxe, based on the Stanford model. It is a inquiry model and thinking process, not unlike the one used in our Technology curriculum. It is however a process that can be used across the curriculum. The real point of difference (for me at least) was the inclusion of empathy in the cycle. A great example of this was the 6th grade Health Innovation programme where students work with a person with health issues, identify needs of health care. Whilst students are not expected to find cures, they do focus on the human experience and identify issues that may have solutions. In one example given, a number of students happened to be working with people with similar illnesses and discovered that each suffered as a result of having to work through a number of different treatments to find which one suited needs, the students identified that if the patients had been informed of all choices up front and able to choose, this could have prevented much of the "trial and error" the patients experienced. 

The focus on empathy and social action is woven throughout the curriculum at Nueva. Students don't just take "Business Studies" they instead learn and explore Social Entrepreneurship. They also learn a language of choice throughout using this as a platform for exploring world issues and social action on global level. Students learned about the country of their language and even engaged in a longterm in depth inquiry around designing and building an Eco house in the country they were focusing on. In the final year of the middle school, all students then spend two weeks in that country, one with a host family and the other exploring the country itself.

Inquiry was everywhere at Nueva. All students engaged in inquiries for each of the subjects, with much of the final two months of the school year being dedicated to inquiries in preparation for their "culmination" presentations which (I think) were basically an opportunity for students to present and celebrate their learning. Another core value of the school is collaboration and "collective knowledge", therefore presentations may be in groups or individual depending on how the learning took place.Students also engaged in a passion project in Middle School. The project was based on something the student is passionate about and also betters the world (that component is optional but 2/3s still opt in).Students have a mentor outside of the school and the project is very much based in the "real world". Students also participate in self-initiated projects that they engage in at lunchtime.

Source: HPSS Learning Design Model

At HPSS we, in a sense, began with the Stanford and Nueva School design thinking model, then the 'Specialised Learning Leaders' went through a process of 'deconstructing' or 'hacking the NZC' looking for the learning design model that existed within it. From this process the above learning design model was born. Visually it looks somewhat similar to the Nueva School design thinking model (and it was inspired in part by this) but look more closely and you will see that all of the words are actually pulled from the New Zealand Curriculum.

For me it is key to creating a more student directed model of teaching and learning, encouraging a way of teaching that is about students actively seeking knowledge rather than passively rote learning screeds of information. 

So how do you see design thinking aligning with how you you approach inquiry? Is inquiry central to your teaching practice? 

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Hack Chat 2 - Hacking with Purpose

This week we look at how we can get to know our learners better so as to ensure we are 'hacking with purpose! Remember to share your thoughts here on Twitter using the hashtags #hackyrclass #knowyrlearner #hackchat

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Hack Your Classroom - Week Two: Getting to know your learners...hacker style

With all this talk about having growth mindset about change and hacking the classroom and curriculum it is important that we are actually 'hacking with purpose'. We need to ensure that we are innovating to improve the learning experience and not simply innovating for innovation sake. In order to do know we are doing that,  there is something we do very well - know thy learner! And I mean really KNOW THEM. Sit back right now and consider a class you teach. Reel through your class list. Do you know their PAT/AsTTle levels (irregardless if you teach them English and/or Math), their ancestry, their culture, their interests, their pass times, their learning style, favourite book, musician, 1D member? If not, why not? Can we truly personalise learning without truly knowing the learner?

So what should we know about each and every learner? Well here are few suggestions to get you started:

What do we know about each student's:

• prior learning
• ethnicity/culture (Ko wai? No hea? - Who are you? Where are you from? eg. hapu/iwi/country of origin)?
• linguistic background/languages spoken?
• interests/hobbies/community involvement?
• aspirations/goals (both student and whanau/community)?
• skills, knowledge (including prior cultural knowledge) and understandings?
• expected levels of progress in your learning area

Why are these questions important?
Our two national curriculum documents The NZ Curriculum (NZC) and Te Marautanga Aotearoa place the learner at the centre of teaching and learning. In order to effectively "attend to the cultural and linguistic diversity of all students" (NZC p34), teachers need to develop a rich knowledge and understanding of who their students are, what they bring with them, and their learning strengths and needs.

Source: http://englishonline.tki.org.nz/English-Online/Student-needs/Planning-for-learning/Planning-using-inquiry/Focusing-inquiry

Now there are many dry ways we can get to know these facts. Yes some of this information will be on a SMS somewhere...but fishing through that doesn't really build a relationship does it? How else can we do it? How can we move beyond the questionnaire or letter to the teacher??

I love these #hackyrclass friendly suggestions from 21st Century Icebreakers: 10 Ways To Get To Know Your Students with Technology

1. Have students create a Pinterest board with 10 pins that summarizes them.
2. Ask students to create a 30 second podcast that introduces themselves. Then allow students to present them or play them on separate devices as an audio gallery.
3. Create a classroom blog and ask each student to write a blog post introducing themselves to the rest of the classroom.
4. Have students create a quick comic strip to describe themselves or to recreate a recent funny moment in their lives.
5. Use PollEverywhere to ask students interesting questions and get to know them as a class, like their favorite subjects, bands or TV shows.
6. Use GoogleForms or SurveyMonkey to survey students about their interests, academic inclinations, and background info – a 21st century alternative to the “Getting to Know You” info sheet!
7. Have students create word clouds to describe themselves and share with the rest of the class.
8. Have students go on a QR code scavenger hunt in teams to get to know each other and learn about your classroom rules in a fun, engaging way.
9. Ask students to create their own Voki avatars that introduce themselves to the class. Encourage them to be creative with the backgrounds, characters and details of the avatar to reflect their own personalities and preferences.
10. Have students create graffiti online that speaks to their interests and personalities and share with the class.

What are your ideas for getting to know your learners...hack style! Share your tweets with the hashtags #hackyrclass #knowyrlearner

Also remember to share your blog posts both on Twitter and on the Hack Your Class Google + Community as well!

If you fancy some more serious reading on this topic, I heartily recommend this piece of #hackyrclass reading extension: ASCD - Know our students as learners 

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