Author: Troy (Page 11 of 31)

I came across an article on every teacher being a reading teacher (by Releah Lent) that argues reading skills need to be taught not universally across all subjects, but rather as disciplinary literacy. That is, different subject areas should teach not just reading, but specific reading strategies that align with that discipline. For example, in history, students should be taught to read (i.e. think) like a historian. That is different than reading in math, or science.

This struck me as a much more nuanced and effective perspective than “every teacher needs to teach reading” (or the “every teacher is a reading teacher” line).

The article points out that we’ve done tons of professional development around teaching reading strategies. Teachers remarked on the amount of professional development focused on strategies:

Utilizing K-W-L charts? Been to that inservice so many times, I could teach it. Close reading strategies? I can do that one too.

The article goes on to argue that reading needs to be taught as a discplinary skill, not a general one. The argument is that different disciplines require different reading skills. Through focusing on reading skills need by a discipline, the skill becomes authentic and useful.

I got to thinking about how this relates to technology. For many teachers, technology remains a separate curriculum, done by someone else. Or, technology has institutionalized via a similar “everyone is a technology teacher” pitch that doesn’t have real meaning. This has led to us being in a situation where technology coaches are frustrated because they are asked by teachers to come into classes and teach the kids technology. Since the teachers don’t really learn the skill (or even more importantly the “WHY” of the skill), no substantive change happens. Technology does not become embedded and lead to change possibilities but continues to be an outside/extra thing.

It’s time to make technology part of our expected skill set. Maybe focusing on the technology per specific discipline can help speed up that process.

Research shows that students assessing each other and self-assessing is powerful. Moodle has a good way of doing peer assessment (it would be great with a little bit of time flexibility). Part of the Peer Assessment (through the Workshop Module) allows for self-assessment. Students can self-assess just like they assess others in the class.

However, what if a teacher wants students to self-assess prior to (or at the same time) as turning in the work? Or, what if the work exists in the real world and is not a digital essay? How can teachers support students being reflective about their learning?

So, I did a search for the answer. Turns out, I wrote a lengthy post about students self-assessing a couple of years ago.

Today me is really happy that past me wrote that up as clearly as I did.

I’m continuing on the quest to truly answer develop a graceful answer for this. I’d really love for Moodle to provide a cleaner way of handling this. However, I don’t want to wait for that.

One of the teachers that I’m working with has developed a Google Spreadsheet that does allow the student to complete a self-assessment. However, the teacher then also has to manage several copies of the assessment (a spreadsheet done by each student, plus a spreadsheet for each student by the teacher).

Moodle comes so close with several different options, which I wrote up in detail, but doesn’t quite get across the finish line.

My research uncovered quite a bit of “it can be easily”, but no actual examples of how to actually have the students do the self-assessment. (Short of paper. Lots of examples of paper copies, but the same, multiple instances to manage and now you have to be in the same place.)

I’m open for thoughts.

The future is now clear. In Past, Present, Future, I discussed my decision to leave Dearborn Public Schools in order to be closer to my family. At the time, I didn’t know what the future would hold. I now have some clarity about the future (which is now).

I’m extremely excited to join Cape Elizabeth Schools as their Director of Educational Technology. Cape Elizabeth is a fantastic school district. Already high achieving, the school is looking to move forward with technology implementation that goes beyond test scores.

In Cape Elizabeth, I’ll be joining a new team. The Superintedent, Dr. Chris Record, is joining the district from Gorham, after being awarded Maine’s Assistant Superintendent of the year. There will also be a new Assistant Superintendent as well. We’ll be focusing on student learning.

Personally, I look forward to building an excellent technology team that will put student learning first and foremost. Lots of new and exciting relationships to build. Incredible people to meet. New systems to learn. But in the end, my focus will stay the same: how can we help students learn.

This will be a very different experience for me. The size of the district is much smaller than my previous district. This is also a new position for Cape Elizabeth. In my previous district, I knew pretty much where the department was and where it needed to go. I’ll need to catch up on where we are now, but I’m confident that we’ll move forward together. One of the great things about education (and specifically, technology in education) is that things are constantly changing. No matter how good we are right now, we can get better. We can do better. We can be better.

I’m looking forward to starting this journey with Cape Elizabeth Schools.