Digital Portfolios and Beyond

Finishing The Innovator's Mindset was a great triumph for me because I am seriously bad at starting and never finishing professional books! I have a very hard time abandoning other kinds of books - I have finished terrible, awful, no-good, very-bad books in the past just because I started them - but for some reason, I get about a third of the way through professional books and then I lose steam. It's not because the books are bad; I think it's because I get overwhelmed with ideas that I want to implement in my classroom and then I can't keep up with my own thought process, so I just stop reading. I suspect it is also because I start to feel bad that I'm not doing enough or more or anything at all good in my classroom when I read these books - which I know is NOT the point of them and it's totally my own insecurities that make me feel that way - and so putting them down is a way to not think like that.

But I am also a very conscientious and still more-than-slightly anxious student, and so taking a class is the best way for me to make sure that I finish what I start. I would never dream of abandoning a book that was assigned work (even though some of my posts have been late), so this one got finished. I am so glad that this title was the focus of our group this summer because I don't think I would have picked it up otherwise. It felt like a book that would make me feel bad about my classroom.

I was so wrong. SO. WRONG. George Couros (@gcouros) has hit the perfect balance between nudging readers toward innovation and reinforcing that teachers are doing their best, that good things ARE happening in schools. His point that everything is a journey and that we never really get there manages to make me feel like I AM doing things right...and that what I'm doing right now will not be good enough next year or the next year or the next. I feel empowered and supported but also pushed (gently) to be better. 

I'm still thinking about how I know a lesson is innovative and how to measure the impact of innovative practices on education, but I believe I have had a breakthrough about how I want to at least start implementing some of the ideas that Couros talks about in this book. The idea that resonated with me the most was that of digital portfolios. He uses the term "digital portfolio" and "blog" interchangeably in the book, so for parts of it, I had the wrong idea of what he meant, but I think either way, it answers a question I have had for a while now: How do I house copies of the different iterations of my students' work (specifically writing) so they can see their growth without having to store reams of paper somewhere? And, since we are moving to more electronic versions of writing (at least with final drafts and submissions), how does that work with Google Docs? My biggest management problem this year has been with the fact that all the comments I make on drafts get "resolved" by the students, and when they make changes, they are automatically saved, so there's no way to look at each draft side by side. I know I can un-resolve the comments and re-open them, and I can also see all the changes individually, but that's a lot of clicking; having all the paper copies together was much easier.

However, it's also easier for me to comment on a typed Google Doc than it is to write everything. So...what if each kid had a digital portfolio where every copy of their writing pieces were uploaded? I've looked for apps for this for more than a year and no one has been able to help me. Couros talks about using Edublogs, which look easy enough, but I haven't looked into them too much. Just the idea of digital portfolios, however, is enough to energize me to look at the situation anew because it feels like there could be a solution to my paper management problem. Edutopia has what looks like a great list of potential tools, and since our school provides a Gmail address for every student, Google Sites might be the easiest. I'm also familiar with it, and the kids have worked on them for projects for my class. However, I've heard really good things about Evernote too, and the kids seem to be familiar with it. TeachThought also has another list of potential tools that also look great!

Whatever I end up choosing, it feels like a step in the right direction. I've known that there was a missed opportunity here for a while, and using Google Docs and Schoology more has helped me move toward the digital portfolio step. I thought that Couros' words about how to use the digital portfolios two different ways were really important, and I think that this year, my students need to use them for both ways: as a "'learning portfolio,' which shows the individual's growth over time...[and] as a showcase portfolio,' that highlights the person's best work" (208). My vision, which will hopefully become a reality, is for the "learning portfolio" to include at least the drafting and revision parts of the writing process as well as other pieces (TBD) and for the "showcase portfolio" to include whatever pieces the student thinks show his or her work the best. This doesn't have to be and shouldn't just be written pieces; they are doing great things with other formats as well.

Anyone who knows me as a teacher knows that I love writing things longhand - I love paper and pen or pencil drafts because I can see the changes in the students' thinking, and there are more and different connections made in the brain when writing by hand than there are while typing. I don't intend to completely give up the writing notebook. However, I do intend to give my students more choices about what the "final" version of their work looks like, and I think that will be a good first step on the way to encouraging innovation in the classroom. 

(thanks giphy.com!)

Google Apps (Thing 4)

Google has done some extraordinary things for education. I may be late to the party, but I didn't realize how much they have that is geared specifically toward teachers and students! I have used Google Docs in several classes that I've taught (both in District 36 and out of it), and this year I started with more spreadsheets and forms. This is the rare case in which I can say that the technology has made my life easier literally every time I've used it. All Google-related apps or programs that I've tried have worked exactly the way that they were supposed to work...the first time! :)

Google Docs has been the best collaborative tool that I've ever come across (no hyperbole!). The ability to read the documents as they come in and make comments in real time has fundamentally changed the way that I run my writing and reading workshops. Instead of having to wait for a paper copy of the essay to be turned in, I can see the minute that students are ready for me to comment, and since I can type much more quickly than I can write (and more legibly!), I can offer much more specific, focused feedback on their writing. They can also write comments back if my suggestions have been unclear or if they don't know how to do what I am suggesting. Here's what I used to have to do when giving feedback on student writing:

All the information is there, but it's super cluttered and probably hard for the students to read which comment goes with which sentence or paragraph. Now, here's what it looks like in Google Docs:

I know it's small, but hopefully you can see that the highlighted words correspond to the comments on the side and how much easier that is to follow than the "track changes" feature in Microsoft Word. I like Word very much, but I don't think it was really designed to collaborate, whereas Google Docs absolutely was, and it shows. I like that the comments are still available but hidden after the student checks "resolved" and that the earlier drafts are still there (which I didn't know before watching this intro video).

 

The second app that has been great for collaboration on a more professional level is Google Sheets (I mostly use the spreadsheet but have also branched out into the schedule when doing conferences or other meetings.) I haven't used the spreadsheet with students yet, but since I am lucky enough to co-teach, that tool has been invaluable for sharing data with each other. Our students work with Wordly Wise 3000 online, which is a great program but was a challenge in terms of managing the transfer of scores from the program into my gradebook. An additional challenge with the program in terms of record-keeping is that since it's self-paced and has different levels, each student could very well be at a different lesson or level at any given time. I have my students complete one lesson per week on average, but since they could be on different lessons and levels, it's not like I can say, "Do lesson seven of level eight for Friday." This was a nightmare for me until I discovered Google Sheets! I can keep each class's scores for each trimester in the same document thanks to the handy tabs at the bottom, and my co-teacher can input grades, adjust scores when students retake lessons, or check in with students about lessons they're missing without me having to be there or hand over a paper copy of the information. Here's what it looks like:

The due date and post-test score are across the top; in each column, I record the lesson that is due on that date and the score each student received on that lesson. The gray boxes are lessons that were submitted late, the blue boxes are lessons that were retaken so I know to average the scores, and the red boxes are scores that were lower than 79%, which means the lesson needs to be retaken. 

The third app that I have started to work with much more this year is Google Forms. I've used this with students as well, mostly for collecting information about projects in which the students have a certain amount of choice. For example, when I taught Shakespeare this year, I offered a choice of either A Midsummer Night's Dream or Macbeth. In the past, I would have taken class time to summarize each play and then ask the students individually which one they would rather read. This year, I created a very simple form that they completed outside of class; it provided a summary of each play and asked them to choose which one they wanted to read.

The REALLY cool thing (at least to me) was that the results of the form were automatically collected into a Google spreadsheet, which made it very easy for me to see who wanted to read what. (The last column is usernames, which I have cut off on purpose, but is obviously really important to this kind of use for the form.)

Another thing I use the forms to collect is information about how they are progressing on a long-term assignment. For this form, I wanted to know which person versus society conflict they had chosen to research from their Civil Rights book group, why they had chosen that one, and what information they already had.

This form will give you either individual or summary responses and can also be exported into a spreadsheet. The individual responses just look like the form filled out, and the summary response view gives you a list of all of the answers to each question. It also provides a quick view list at the top of who has and has not responded - a very important tool for managing assignments, at least for me.

This is just the start of the first question ("What conflict did you choose?"). The pie chart - which updates in real time and is sort of cool to watch if you have time! - is what percentage of each class responded.

One app I would like to get better at using is Google Calendar. I think it would be great for collaborating professionally - then my colleagues and I wouldn't have to call or email each other to schedule all of our meetings - and I probably wouldn't forget things or have to use a dozen post-its stuck to my laptop. David Lee's ed tech blog seems like a good place to start for me, and although I've know about TeacherCal for a while, I haven't really used it, and it seems like this would be cool. Finally, this video brings me full circle: back to the beginning of this entry where I said that Google has done extraordinary things that are applicable for education specifically. I love it. You can attach documents to your calendar! Who knew? (Probably everyone else, but not me. :) ) You can also share the calendar so your co-teacher can edit and view! (I did know that, but I'm excited about it all over again.) 

P.S. This video is from 2014, but I think the basic information is the same. I'll find out when I try!

Teaching Writing in the 21st Century (Thing 2)

I looked for a video that had to do with writing because that's the bulk of what I teach, and I feel like a lot of the "21st century learning" around writing is just about the new publishing apps. I like this video a lot because it acknowledges that importance of face-to-face collaboration and handwriting along with typing and online editing/revision.

Thoughts about Web 2.0 (Thing 2)

I mentioned it in my last post and I will reiterate now: I don't like the idea of thinking that the ultimate goal of schools is only preparing students for a competitive global workforce. Obviously, our students are going to enter the workforce in some way or another. And even more obviously, that workforce will be competitive and probably more global than we can even conceptualize at this point. However, if we really want them to become lifelong learners and learn for the sake of learning, not to get ahead of their competition for jobs, then we need to reframe the message. Otherwise, like generations of students before them, they are learning skills that only apply in a specialized context, and that seems to be the opposite of what we need to teach them now.

Another thing that bothered me about Web 2.0 (again, I mentioned this in my last post) was it seemed like the assumption was unless we are using brand new technology every minute of the day, we are doing something wrong. Especially in the "A Vision of Students Today" video, it appeared that the statistics about teachers who never used digital storytelling (for example) were meant to illustrate that those teachers were doing something wrong. I do realize that this video is from 2007 (many of these materials were several years old) and that it is at least partially because of my pre-existing feelings that I felt scolded. I actually have used digital storytelling in the forms of "This I Believe" podcasts and Garageband for both personal and literary argumentative pieces (and Storyboard That this year for the first time - loved it!), but I don't believe it was only the technology that made those experiences memorable for the students. It helped them literally bring their own voices and visuals to their stories, and that is absolutely important. However, using statistics about which teachers do and do not use specific pieces of technology (especially nine years ago, when the technology was pretty clunky) to presumably show that they are "behind the times" overshadows, at least in my mind, the very salient message of that video. We need to be responsive and reflective educators, and technology is ONE way to do that. It is not the only way.   

I feel like I need to acknowledge that I AM aware that this is an educational technology course and as such, we'll be exposed to a lot of different technology options that we could use in our classroom. They will probably also be presented in a positive light; after all, why would we be taught about problematic or inapplicable tools? I DO want to learn about different ways that technology can help my students learn or bring them closer to topics they care about. I just also want to make sure that we remember that technology is not the saving grace of the educational system: it is a tool. Students, teachers, and their relationships will always be the most important thing to the learning process.

I liked reading "A Day in the Life of Web 2.0" very much. It showed that even 10 years ago, people were tinkering with the possibilities of what online collaboration and communication could do for teachers and students. It also included examples of face-to-face collaboration that was supplemented by the online collaboration, such as the cross-curricular teaching involved in the Monday report blogs and the research the librarian did for the new math teacher. The freedom to use technology as the students and teachers saw fit made me wonder if our students would be that responsible with their tools. I have had to manage kids playing games on their iPads during reading time in my own classroom; I'm not sure that they would use texting or iMessaging solely for school projects the way these students did. It also makes me think that if they were more engaged, they wouldn't be misusing their iPads, but how can we change reading to be more engaging? They already have the ability and permission to read however they want (a paper book, on their iPads or Kindles, with an audiobook, etc.) but since that's a skill they need to keep practicing, there's not much we can do to change it. However you do it, reading is reading, and they need to be able to do it. 

They also need to be able to spell correctly or at least recognize when a word is misspelled so they can look it up; autocorrect and spellcheck have stunted those skills for our kids. They don't have to have the perseverance to double-check on a word anymore. And for as great as online discussions are - and I love them! - they have revealed another weakness in our students' communication: they don't seem to be able to recognize what is an appropriate tone for the school audience anymore. Schoology messaging and emailing seem to be places where they think they can use text speak, even with their teachers, and I will never be okay with this. I always teach tone and audience characteristics in a literary and argumentative context, but I have started to have to teach it in a classroom communication context as well. Incorporating technology into the classroom that they also use outside of the classroom creates flow and consistency, effectively breaking down the erroneous assumption that learning only takes place in the classroom from teacher to student. However, it also blurs the lines between talking to your friends and talking to your teacher, and I think those lines need to remain bold. I don't talk to my students' parents or my boss the same way I talk to my friends; this is a lifelong skill students will need.

I have used Schoology much more this year and have loved the perks of being able to only take home my laptop and have my quizzes and essays right there at my fingertips. I have also loved the online discussions; I get to hear more from the students who are quiet in class, and my students can respond to peers that they don't necessarily communicate with in class. I am also a huge proponent of students being creators, not just consumers, of content: that is the best way to learn something. It is much more active, and learning should be an active process. I read a study a while ago about how students who created content were more confident and ended up being more successful as adults than those who simply consumed it - I'll find it! Unfortunately, these consumers v. creators tended to fall along socioeconomic lines, so part of the article was about how to get technology in the hands of underprivileged students. We don't have that problem in our district, but we do have kids who are overwhelmed by the amount of content they are exposed to, and I worry about them managing their learning with all of these new tools. That's one more thing we need to teach them in this 21st century world, and it is an important one for beyond school. Too often, even adults just skim articles online and don't check sources: we didn't have to do that when we used encyclopedias! Of course, there is more information out there now, and much of it is great - but just like we had to learn things our parents didn't, our students now need to learn to catalogue and evaluate information at a much higher rate than we ever did. It is a daunting, but potentially exciting, task for everyone.