Student Driven Learning

How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses

Click HERE to read Joshua Davis' article for WIRED magazine.

360 Degree Math

For more information click HERE!

An Editorial from Thursday's LA TImes

latimes.com

Op-Ed

Don't fear Common Core

With the curriculum, coming soon to California, students and teachers are discovering new ways of reading, thinking and communicating with one another.

By Andrew Vega
September 19, 2013

I used to be afraid of the Common Core, a national effort to align public school curriculum goals across state lines and provide better tools for measuring what students are learning. I feared the new standards would lead to my students failing and that I would be scapegoated for those failures. But after two years of working with the Common Core in my Boston classroom, I'm a convert.

Teachers in California, where Common Core is being introduced, are probably as nervous about the changes as I was. And there's no question that the new standards require major adjustments to teaching. But I believe that California educators, like those of us in Massachusetts, will ultimately find that the changes are good for students and teachers alike.

That said, the first year wasn't pretty. I struggled, and so did my students, and when it came time for the first assessment exams of the year, my kids bombed. My ego was bludgeoned and my students were frustrated with the new types of questions used in the exams. I was afraid I would be viewed as an ineffective teacher, but thankfully, my principal remained unwavering in his support of the staff. He knew the transition would take time, and he wasn't looking to blame teachers.

As I got more familiar with the new curriculum, I began to appreciate it. One key component of the new standards for English is the inclusion of more nonfiction texts. This doesn't mean my students aren't reading novels; it just means they're reading nonfiction alongside the fiction, which I've found helps spark great discussions.
Last spring, for example, as my eighth-graders read Tim O'Brien's powerful Vietnam War novel "The Things They Carried," they also read primary source materials from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They drew their own connections between those wars and O'Brien's Vietnam.

One student, for example, read O'Brien's sentence: "We went to war because we were ashamed not to." He then raised his hand. "Isn't that why a lot of people are upset about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Because they don't understand why we're going to war?"

That kind of discussion occurs naturally with the Common Core. Previously, nonfiction would have been a separate unit of study. But I've found that this new way of integrating it with the novels students read helps them make connections between literature and the real world.

Moreover, the new curriculum helps students build the kind of educational scaffolding that will serve them well in high school and college. This is important for all kids, but it's particularly important at high-poverty, historically underperforming urban public schools such as the one where I teach.
Over the last few weeks, several of my former students, now in high school, have come back to visit. One of them went on to an affluent suburban high school as part of a local program that enrolls Boston students in schools outside the city. He reported that, at his new school, classroom discussion is a large part of the English curriculum. "I'm glad that last year we did a lot more talking than we used to," he said, "because I feel comfortable now."

The Common Core also pushes students to be better writers. Early last year, my students read "Catcher in the Rye," and alongside it they read psychology texts that helped them understand the turmoil Holden Caulfield was feeling. I knew my students had gripping stories of their own to tell, but many were afraid of opening up. So, to complement the book and our discussions, I invited adults from across the school, including the principal and the guidance counselor, to come into the classroom and share stories from their lives.

The process created a safe space that allowed my students to open up in their own writing. One, whose mother had died of cancer when he was young, wrote about his last conversation with her. He read it aloud in front of the entire middle school, breaking into tears and bringing many of his classmates and teachers to tears too. He received a standing ovation.

That kind of experience doesn't grow out of skill-building, or meeting standards, or preparing for a test. But it is what becomes possible when students are pushed to think and talk with their peers and teachers, in depth, across a range of subjects. That's what Common Core does.

Of course there are problems. We lack the kind of resources we used to have to help prepare students for standardized assessments. At my school, we've never taught to the test, but we did use our long experience with the yearly exams to build a curriculum that allowed our students to succeed. Now I feel like I'm flying blind when it comes to helping students prepare for their year-end assessments. We know they're coming, but we don't know much about them. It's imperative that administrators understand, as my principal does, that it may take time for the benefits of the new curriculum to be fully measurable.

I'm convinced the kinks will work themselves out and that teachers shouldn't fear Common Core. What I'm doing in my classroom now just feels so much better, and two years into the Common Core, I am a better — and happier — teacher than I've ever been.

Andrew Vega, a former L.A. Unified teacher, now teaches at Orchard Gardens K-8 Pilot School in Boston. He is a Teach Plus Teaching Policy Fellow. Twitter: @mravega.

Copyright © 2013, Los Angeles Times

Linguist, Educational researcher, and Activist: Stephen Krashen

Click HERE to go to his website.  

Teaching the Holocaust

Must have Books!

Gratitude: Louie Schwartzberg at TEDxSF

How to Teach Children Who Will Change the World

Is the American Educational System Obsolete?  Yes, answers Tony Wagner, the Education Fellow at Harvard University's Technology and Innovation Center.  Prior to that, Wagner had spent over 10 years at  Harvard's School of Education analyzing the changes that need to happen in education in order to prepare students for the 21st century global economy.

In his new book, Creating Innovators:  The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World,  Wagner studies American innovators and discovers some common patterns in their childhood and education--patterns that, alas, are discouraged by most traditional schools.  Wagner puts forth a case for a radical transformation of the fundamental principles of education, with the emphasis on the following five principles:

1.  Focus on Collaboration and Teamwork, rather than Individual Competition and Achievement
All the most important ideas and issues are just too big for only one person to handle

2.  Take a Cross Disciplinary and Multiple Perspectives Approach
This is kind of the curricular corellary to the point above.  Wagner points out that the Carnegie-unit-based high school structure is now 125 years old and is outdated for today's realities.

3.  Take Risks
Innovation, by its nature, requires experimentation, which means that most time, you are going to fail and/or be wrong.  That is anathama to way traditional school curricula approach most things.

4.  Learning Should be Active, Not Passive
Wagner argues that our current educational systems make students into learning consumers, not learning creators.  How are they suddenly going to turn into creating exciting new ideas and projects if they've been trained to sit back and be spoon fed everything during their education?

5.  Learning Should be Based on Instrinsic Rewards and Passions
Traditional schools are built around motivating students through extrinsic rewards--grades, gold stars, praise from happy teachers and parents, etc.  But innovators are driven by their internal passions, ideas, and motivations.

You can learn more by viewing this TED-style talk by Wagner or by reading a recent Forbes article: Creating Innovators:  Why America's Education System is Obsolete; or, of course, by ordering his book.

Youth Voices

Youth Voices is a school-based social network that was started in 2003 by a group of National Writing Project teachers.  This web site provides a forum for students to publish, distribute, and discuss their work with peers from across the country. 

Click HERE to check it out for yourself.

Inspire Your Students to Travel!!!

Commercial Breaks

How many of us use PowerPoint presentations to supplement the lectures we give?
How many students seem bored or start dozing off?

Here is something I got from my advisor in college that helps to rejuvenate student interest.

Commercial Breaks!

Embed subject oriented videos from YouTube into your PowerPoint presentations.

Check out some of these GREAT history oriented YouTube channels...

Crash Course History

Hip Hughes History

TEDed Lesson Worth Sharing

U.S. National Archives

History for Music Lovers

Mr. Zoller's Social Studies Podcast

Disney Education

However, sometimes your students need a 60 second break from all things educational.  Do a Youtube search for 'commercials from the 1950's'.  The results are funny, harmless and can be helpful in waking up the brain.    

Answering a Constructive Response Question

D - define term and state a topic sentence from the question

E - give example(s) from the text

E - explain the example(s)

R - refer back to the question

Define term and state a topic sentence from the question
This means that you define any terms that need to be addressed in your response. Also, you need to begin with a topic sentence. A topic sentence is a sentence that expresses the main idea of a paragraph.

Give example(s) from the text
As the constructed response question is meant to show how well you comprehend and are able to draw inferences from the prompt, it is essential that you give examples from the text to show how well it supports your answer. 

Explain the example(s)
In addition to the evidence you have cited from the text, you will need to supply your own reasoning for why you think your answer is correct. After stating your example you would explain it fully.  (The EE is repeated when the question asks for two references.)

Refer back to the question
Refer back to what the question asked to conclude your constructed response.

Key Word Outline: Smartphone Lesson

Main Idea: 
Are we over using our cell phones?
Objectives:

• Objectively read and dissect an article
• Clearly state an opinion
• Use examples from the text to defend opinion

Standards Used:

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.7 Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.    
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.

Materials:

1. Writing utensil & highlighter
2. Interactive notebook
3. New York Times article
4. Computer, Internet connection, & YouTube web-site
5. Projector

Lesson:

1. Play a short video for students
1. Click the following link to YouTube
   
   Charlene deGuzman stars in I Forgot My Phone
2. Front-load 3 quick vocabulary words
1. anxiety
2. adolescence
3. introvert
3. Read the Times article with students
1. Click the following link to article...
   Turn Off the Phone (and the Tension)
   Source: Jenna Wortham/ New York Times/ August 25, 2012
4. Break the article up into 3 sections and use a KWO method to dissect the text.
1. The first section, the teacher reads and determines 3 important words to highlight
2. The second section, volunteers read and determine 3 important words to highlight
3. The third section, small groups read and determine 3 important words to highlight

Assessment:

3 short answer assessment questions

1. Do you think society in general is "overcommunicarted"?  Explain.
2. Do you feel your life is “overcommunicated”?  Explain.
3. What are some coping strategies you can use to break the hold of your phone and other forms of electronic intrusion?

KWO: Key Word Outline
A key word outline is a mechanism employed by public speakers to concentrate on major points. It is in essence a map of the subject matter, employing keywords to classify most important points and to make certain correct flow of the speech.

The Merits of Merit Pay

Teaching Content IS Teaching Reading

Common Core is Coming

Common Core is Coming

Teach Like Your Hair is on Fire

I can't recommend this book enough!

10 Questions to Ask Your Students on the First Day of School

1. When have you felt particularly successful at school?
2. When have you been the most proud of learning something?
3. What is the easiest part of school?
4. What has been the hardest part of school?
5. What do you like about social studies?
6. When is social studies easy and/or fun for you?
7. When is social studies hard and/or boring for you?
8. What 3 things can I as the teacher do to help you become more successful as a student in this class?
9. What 3 things can you as the student do to help yourself be more successful this year?
10. Why do you think learning social studies is important?
• This is the only question where I volunteer an answer.  I tell them that learning history will help them become active participants in the political process.  (Then I explain that this means they will be better voters.)  However, I also point out that learning history will help to get the jokes in their favorite night time cartoons (The Simpsons, South Park, The Family Guy, Etc.)

Sir Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity

Food for thought....

Teachers Pay Teachers

Teachers Pay Teachers is the first open marketplace for educators to buy, sell, and share their original resources.  

Need Some Inspiration?

Do your students ask you for book suggestions?

Try the HERE to try The Bookerseer literary web project.