Reading the World in the 21st Century

I still remember my senior year AP English class.  I have long since forgotten exactly how much we read and what exactly we hashed out in class discussions, but I have still to forget the impact of the class as a whole.

I realized it for the first time as I went to the movies with some friends that senior year.  I spent the entire time trying to turn off the literary critic in my head.  “Good grief!” I thought, “I can’t even go to the movies any more!”  My teacher had “ruined” any kind of seemingly brainless fun I thought I might be able to have.  It was the same with music, commercials, sitcoms, billboards.

Now, at seventeen I couldn’t quite realize the gift that had been imparted to me through the passion of my teacher, but it has come into sharp focus as I seek to impart the same kind of critical thinking radar to my own students.

What am I passionate about?  What am I curious about?  And why are these things important?  According to Thomas Friedman, “The winners [of the 21st century] won’t just be those with more I.Q. It will also be those with more P.Q. (passion quotient) and C.Q. (curiosity quotient) to leverage all the new digital tools to not just find a job, but to invent one or reinvent one, and to not just learn but to relearn for a lifetime” (2013).  Passion and curiosity are difficult to measure, but we know them when we see or experience them, and as educators it is imperative that we know how to reflect on our own, as well as our students’, P.Q. and C.Q.

For myself as an educator, I am passionate about sharing this ability to read the world with my students, and to show them how this can both fuel and satisfy curiosity when applied.  It all comes back to this notion that everything I see or hear or experience is something that could be understood more deeply.  Things are never quite as they seem – there’s always something to discover if one would only dig!  This, for me, is what “reading” really is.  Sure it starts by looking past the letters to the words they represent, but it goes so, so much deeper than that.  It’s being able to see what’s there, but also looking past the surface to try and discover what influenced the writing or what unintentionally was communicated.

Thus, I tend to be pretty curious about everything!  Like a small child my favorite word is often “Why?” or “How come?”  I can get into some pretty awkward social situations sometimes, but it’s worth it.  This isn’t to say that I have time to investigate all the nooks and crannies of life, but I often wish I did.  I try to read people, ideas, events, and pop culture – not always successfully, but I try – and this is what I most want my students to do as well.  I want them to critically read everything with which they interact! In our modern world, technology has so interconnected us that it is both easier and more difficult to do this kind of “reading.”  Easier in that we have almost instant access to just about anything in the world and tons of it for free.  More difficult because with so much clambering for our attention it can be hard to focus on one thing long enough to think or even to identify reliable information.

I strive to impart a passion for reading everything by creating projects that push students to read both traditional and non-traditional genres, and expose them to lots of different online resources.  Kids know all about how to use the web, but often they don’t know how to use it well.  By giving them lots of guided access, I hope to teach them ways to reliably and safely use the Internet.  Being introduced to Creative Commons through my CEP classes for MSU has been wonderful for this.

One example of such a project I’ve created is “Are We Beautiful?” which explores self-image in a photoshopped world.  The project’s big, driving question asks “How does the search for beauty impact society and ourselves?”  Through the project we answer this with an eye toward both ELA and Heath standards.  We start by “reading” images and work our way to the formation of a history.  We blend in videos, articles, and blogs, and then they go in search of their own information.  All of this leads into learning about how to be a wise consumer of online sources.  In the end, students have a choice about what to create as a final product – a letter to a magazine editor or the create of a motivational speech to 6th graders (in person or via YouTube).  We research, draft, improve, and cite.  Then they can send their letter or I work to coordinate either the in-person delivery to a class or the recording for YouTube if parental permission is granted.  It’s amazing to see how the real world context does wonders for their writing about their reading!  Asking students to create authentic and important products not only motivates them to take their work seriously, but it gives them practice being active agents in the world around them.

Here’s a small look at some of the bones of the project available to students through our online learning environment:

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Working through this project, technology tools aid us in this process to collaborate and access material (got to love Google docs and YouTube), but at the end of the day our focus isn’t on the tools but on the thought process.  Can they look at the highly edited world in which they live without being duped?  Can they read between the lines?  If they are going to be passionate people living successfully in the 21st century, they will have to be.  Can they dig for answers past the surface?  Can they locate reliable information?  If they are going to be curious people living successfully in the 21st century, they will need to be.

As I’ve been mulling over these goals and how I attempt to achieve them with my students, this image (full res by clicking here) began to form in my mind.  I hope it’s beneficial in representing what I have been attempting to explain about how I seek to transmit my passion for critically reading abilities.

(Thank you, once again, Piktochart!)

Whatever your passion is and however you choose to be curious about the world, may what you do infect others with a similar drive.  

By so doing you’ll only be increasing your own!  

That, at least, has been my own experience.

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References

Friedman, Thomas. (29 Jan. 2013). It’s the P.Q. and C.Q. as Much as the I.Q.  New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/opinion/friedman-its-pq-and-cq-as-much-as-iq.html?_r=1.

Normalizing Innovation

“Normal” and “innovation” are often not words we connect together in our minds, but that doesn’t have to be the case. What if instead of a few stand outs in each generation we so cultivated creativity and innovative potential in every individual that innovation was actually the norm?  What if creative ideas were so common that solutions to our world’s biggest problems started to come into focus?

Call me a dreamer, but I think that kind of world would be a pretty spectacular place to live and I don’t think it’s unrealistic to attempt such a feat.  It’s a tricky wicked task to say the least, but not impossible.

And at the very least, let’s be honest, it’s worth a try!  Even if we don’t succeed in creating an innovator’s paradise in our life time, such work would certainly benefit us all in the long run.

If you’re interested to get a clearer vision of why I think this wicked problem might just be solvable, I’d love for you to review this white paper “Normalizing Innovation in Education” and leave me your comments below.  If the whole idea of incorporating innovation into the current learning ethic is a bit new to you, might I suggest starting with my  Innovation as Learning Ethic infographic created via Pikochart.

At the very least I hope you can catch a tiny glimpse of what our classrooms might look like and how you yourself could play a part in changing the course of education.

Getting Out of My Own Little World

It’s easier than you think to get lost in your own little world.  Even when our world seems to be growing smaller by the minute, it is still our inclination to surround ourselves with like-minded people. Pariser warns us to pop our “filter bubbles” lest we become increasingly close-minded. Just because we’re using advanced technologies does not mean we are using advanced thinking.  We must make sure we are controlling our intake. Over the past weeks I’ve thought about my own information intake (or “infodiet”) and sought ways to expand it.  Like an actual diet we need a wide variety of thought and viewpoint if we are going to maintain active, critical minds.  I took stock of my infodiet and found that I gravitate toward the following:

• technology in education (articles, blogs)
• constructivism/PBL (articles and specifically Buck Institute)
• secondary education issues (articles, blogs)
• TED – I’m hooked
• racial justice issues (articles, blogs, essays, etc.)
• mommy blogs

My current diet is that of a progressive educator focused on secondary education.  My mother teaches 1st grade, and when I talk with her I am often surprised at how much I gain from her different perspective.  Our conversations inspired me to branch into the world of elementary. One theory that I’ve heard a bit about through my mommy blog reading and constructivist inputs was that of Maria Montessori.  I was surprised to see her name popping up as I stepped foot into the world of elementary teachers.  I became intrigued.  In particular, I read quite a bit from:

• Montessori 101
• How We Montessori
• Montessori for Everyone

A lot of the reading was directly applicable to my life with toddlers at home, but I have been impressed with how this method pushed my ideas as a teacher.  Here are the main themes in my thinking: #1 – Give the Child the Lead:  The idea of “following the child” is a big part of Montessori’s teaching.   We can trust children and people to develop well if we give them room to decide and move for themselves.  Trust is a difficult thing as is the relinquishing of power.  Continuing to read more from Montessori teachers promises to push me to give even more control and decision making to my students as I craft PBL curriculum. #2 – Control the Environment, not the Child:  Montessori teachers are extremely concerned about the environment.  Instead of over focusing on controlling the child, they think about each detail in the way material is selected and presented.  As they talked through lesson choices I was a bit in awe of ho w each detail was intentional, and sometimes found myself being skeptical of that level of planning.  I can learn a lot of about how to select and craft experiences! #3 – Teach by Teaching:  This phrase from Montessori herself has come up in numerous articles and posts that I’ve read.  The idea here is that teachers are to model and explain their own actions instead of telling/lecturing at students about what should be done..  Again, a lot of care is taken in how modeling is given and planned.  Modeling well is something I feel I struggle with as an online teacher.  I’m excited to see how I can glean inspiration for future work from this new perspective. It has been challenging, but rewarding to branch out and add to my info intake.  Rethinking our intake is a worthwhile use of time and something that should get us reflecting on a more regular basis.  After all, those filter bubbles aren’t going to pop themselves!

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References Popkorn, Alice. (2009). “Earth day” [Image file].  https://www.flickr.com/photos/alicepopkorn/3465543289.

Powering Change By Creating Conditions for Success

It is easy in the current educational climate to talk about what isn’t or should be happening in schools.  When talking to my colleagues, I often find their desire for professional growth and change clouded by a degree of weariness.  Many of their professional environments focus more on what they should do differently than on what they are already doing well, and often provide little reward for a job well done.  That kind of environment is draining on even the most reflective, self-motivated of persons.

I’ve been there.  Weariness has pushed me to huff off professional development aimed at my growth for the betterment of my students.  My inner dialogue in those moments was less than helpful.  “What am I not doing this time?  What else are they going to add to my plate?  Why doesn’t anyone seem to care about the cool way I applied our last training?”

Not my finest moment as an educator, that’s for sure, but I think these attitudes have helped inform the way I approach colleagues when introducing new tools or ideas. I don’t want to be a voice of discouragement, but a voice of empowerment!

Over the last week I conducted a survey about technology use, spurred by my CEP 812 class.  As I began, I wanted to be careful about the way I approached my colleagues.  My goal was to craft questions that would give them a way to share honestly about how and why they use the tools they do.  I wanted to focus on the what-are-you-already-doing space, because the more we understand and recreate the conditions in which teachers have widely adapted tools, the more we can improve our learning communities.

Not surprisingly, the data gathered suggests that teachers, like any other learners, need time to gain experience and clear expectations in order to appropriate new tools.  With sufficient training teachers feel confident in their use which corresponds to an increased use in their instruction.  Similarly, they are much more likely to use tools for which they feel they will be held accountable.

You can read a report of my findings here: The Impact of Experience & Expectations on Technology Use.  I hope as you read you can find reasons to congratulate these teachers, while better understanding the circumstances that seem to have best supported their professional growth.

To view the full survey, click here.

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References

Williams, Malik ML. (Feb. 2014).  “365×3.040: I is for Incandescence” [Image file]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/brothaloveimages/12423570103.

Epic Battles of the Mind

Some problems go beyond complex, reaching epic proportions in how vast and various their inner workings and reach really are.  These kinds of problems were first called “wicked” in 1973 by Rittel and Webber to describe social policy problems.  Why “wicked”?  Because the word gets closest to embodying the tricky, often vicious nature of problems that are embedded within a society (Rittel & Webber, p.160).

Facing such problems may evoke images of folk heroes and mythological foes.

Paolo Uccello, St. George’s Fights a Dragon (1456, London)

But for better or worse the wicked problems facing education today are far from myth.  They have already begun to change the educational landscape of our nation and world, and will only continue to demand more attention whether we choose to address them, or not.

One such problem is that of innovation.  We know we need it, we see it’s wide reaching benefits, and yet we struggle to reorient our institutions and societal expectations around it.

Here are my meager attempts at understanding innovation in education as a wicked problem.  Check out the full res version of Innovation as Learning Ethic here via Pikochart or read as best you can below.

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References

Bledsoe, Dave. (2013). “Fort Tryon Park Medieval Festival 2013 (116 of 165)” [Image file].  Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/ennuipoet/10009781953.

Braverman, Asaf. (2007). Paolo Uccello, St. George’s Fights a Dragon (1456, London)” [Image file]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/theheartindifferentkeys/2161749121.

Fain, Paul.”Time to Change the Rules?” (2013.) Inside Higher Ed.  Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/11/01/calls-washington-streamlined-regulation-and-emerging-models.

Gee, James Paul. (2013).  “Institutions and Frozen Thought.” The Anti-Education Era: Creating Smarter Students through Digital Learning. (p. 85-94).  New York: Palgrave MacMillian.

Kezar, Adrianna. (December 2013).  “Innovation – Doomed to Fail?”  Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2013/12/06/higher-ed-disruptions-doomed-fail-without-addressing-state-faculty-essay.

Larmer, Johm. (February 2014). “How Can We Teach and Assess Creativity?” Buck Institute for Education Blog. Retrieved from http://bie.org/blog/how_can_we_teach_and_assess_creativity_and_innovation_in_pbl.

Markham, Thomas. (April 2013).  “10 Ways to Teach Innovation.”  MindShift.  Retrieved from http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/04/01/10-ways-to-teach-innovation/.

National Advisory Committee on Creativity and Cultural Education. (1999). “All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education.” Retrieved from http://sirkenrobinson.com/pdf/allourfutures.pdf.

Rittel, Horst J. W. and Webber, Melvin M. (1973). “Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning.”  Policy Sciences. Vol.4 (p. 155-169).  Retrieved from http://www.uctc.net/mwebber/Rittel+Webber+Dilemmas+General_Theory_of_Planning.pdf.

The New Media Consortium. “The Future of Education: The 2013 NMC Horizon Project Summit Communique.” (2013).  Retrieved from http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2013-Horizon-Project-Summit-Communique.pdf.

Towers, Joel. “Notes from the Dean.” (October 2013)  Metropolis. Retrieved from http://www.metropolismag.com/October-2013/Notes-From-the-Dean/index.php?cparticle=1&siarticle=0#artanc

Heavy Lifting of the Mind

If you’ve never picked up James Paul Gee’s The Anti-Education Era be prepared to get your feathers ruffled.  Gee doesn’t beat around the bush or hide his thinking behind overly academic language.  No, instead he’s perfectly willing to call certain kinds of thinking exactly what they are – “stupid.”

Thankfully he doesn’t wield this word without seriously considering the tendencies that lead to such poor thinking.  As I considered his arguments and ideas for why we so struggle to think in smart and complex ways, I found that Chapter 15 really highlighted the main pieces of his argument by organizing the problem into two categories.  The big issue is that we 1) avoid the kinds of “heavy” thinking that would lead to truth and 2) we prefer meaning to truth (Gee, 2013, p.133).

The unfortunate reality is that while we really need the kinds of thinking Gee champions in order to navigate this world, we won’t “get smart” over night.  However, with a bit of help from Gee’s discussion we can at least grow in our awareness of how smartness might be achieved.  We can start acclimating ourselves to heavy lifting, one mental benchpress and curl at a time.

Body builders don’t achieve olympic lifts like this over night:

And neither will we.

If you’re interested in a more expanded summary and a few more of my own thoughts, you can read my brief essay here:  The Need to Move Toward Complex Thinking.

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References

Gee, James Paul.  (2013).  The Anti-Education Era.  New York: Palgrave Macmillian.

Mike. (2007).  Weight Lifting. [Image file]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/mjzitek/475244661.

Farrukh. (2012). Weight lifting. [Image file].  Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/swamibu/7687322150.

Completing the Scaffolding: Using Citelighter to Bolster Executive Function

I teach for a blended school where students have freedom to choose what they learn and when, which has many benefits both for students and teachers.  However, it does mean students have extra freedom to abandon work without immediate consequences (no zero in the grade book, for instance).  Many factors contribute to giving up, but I’ve often wondered how decreased executive function impacts that tendency as many of our students seem to struggle with management.   A lack of management in self and resources is crippling in any school environment, but especially  this kind.  Unfortunately, it’s easy to lament the absence of these “soft skills” and very difficult to create a plan to teach, scaffold and model them.

This week I sought for ways to bolster executive function and was struck by a study by Steven Graham which focused on the writing process (I’m an ELA teacher, so this is my jam).  He asked middle school students with learning disabilities who struggled with executive function to revise their writing through a particular system – the CDO (compare/diagnose/operate system created by Scardamalia and Bereiter in 1983).  The system was designed to support revision by walking students through a series of predetermined steps and options (like a choose your own adventure for revision).  The concern was that “[revising] processes may occur sporadically or not at all because the writer has difficulty directing cognitive resources to the appropriate element at the proper time,” and not due to a complete lack of resources (Graham, 1997, p. 223).

Graham’s use of CDO with students with learning disabilities yielded similar results to it’s mainstream use.  Students liked feeling more in control and local improvements to the writing increased, although globally not much changed in their writing.  From his work, Graham concludes that students will always, “benefit from external support aimed at helping them organize and manage the individual elements underlying the revising process” (1997, p. 232).  Once resource management is under control, teachers can then spend more time with students building their resource bank. Because management was no longer a barrier, the study inadvertently highlighted what tools the students were using (and not using) to revise. For example, of the possible choices for revision queues to follow using CDO, students most commonly relied on if the sentences “sounded okay,” but rarely chose the queue “this is not useful for my paper”  (Graham, 199, p. 232).

To apply the study beyond the revision and to the whole writing process, one would use a predetermined system to alleviate executive function pressures so students can focus more on the writing skills themselves.   One resource that can aid on this front is Citelighter.  It’s an online management system for planning and drafting writing.  Students customize their writing outlines based on a few specific options and then work through filling in those outlines.  One can also purchase additional features that would allow teachers to track, comment and grade directly through the online program.  This seems to be a great match for reducing the stress of executive function because there are clear steps to walk through and a specific set of choices to scaffold the planning and writing process.  Similarly to providing a CDO system for revision, this would give a clear process, no matter what the genre of writing.  By providing a process, my students would “benefit from external support aimed at helping them organize and manage” as Graham concluded (1997, p. 232).

The downside to Citelighter, in my context, is that because we rely heavily on our own online program to deliver instruction and feedback, adding another program on top of this might cause students some confusion.  This would negatively impact students who struggle with executive function because there would be more to manage.  Finding a way to meld Citelighter into our current system would be ideal, but with copyrights and intellectual property barriers, that would be very unlikely to happen, I think.  I see this program working best within a face-to-face environment, so perhaps there would be a way to incorporate it into our learning labs.  Classroom teachers would do well to seriously consider the use of this tool or even consider talking-to administration about their whole-school options.

Check out my brief walk through here:

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References

Graham, Steven.  (1997).  Executive Control in the Revising of Students with Learning and Writing Difficulties.  Journal of Educational Psychology.  Vol. 89 (No. 2),  223 – 234.  Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.proxy1.cl.msu.edu/docview/614359750/fulltextPDF/BD548FB910E34930PQ/3?accountid=12598

Bengtsson, Jonas. (2008) Scaffolding Incomplete. [Image file]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonasb/2751113526

Valuing Creativity through Common Core Standards

While some educators create rubrics with which to evaluate the work they assign, this is strangely not a part of my job.  Instead of creating a new rubric for each assignment, our school uses the Common Core as a huge, on-going rubric that drives student evaluation.  I link certain standards to my curriculum and projects, but don’t create seperate rubrics.  When a kid submits work, I ask, “What skills have been demonstrated here?  What learning has taken place?  Which standards match these skills/learning?”  I then award proficiency for a standard or mark the standard as “possible.” Completion of standards then add together towards earning a course credit.

In this situation, how do I as an educator appropriately give value to creativity?

Working Solutions:

1. Note standards that can be leveraged toward creativity. 

• ELA. LAN. 3: Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts to make effective choices for meaning or style and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.
• ELA.WRI.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas concepts and information clearly . . .
• ELA.WRI.3:  Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique well-chosen details and well-structured event sequences. (Skill A – Engage and orient the reader. . .)
• ELA.WRI.6: Use technology including the Internet to produce publish and update individual or shared writing products taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.

Seeing creativity and innovation in standards is crucial for our students’ success, says James Paul Gee.  He notes that, “if they’re going to survive in a developed country outside of  low-level service work, they’re going to have to innovation and creativity.”  So it’s not simply a matter of being creative for a higher purpose; there’s a very practical side, as well.

2. When students work to earn these standards, give feedback and ask questions that would spur their creativity. 

• For LAN.3 :  The idea of being more effective in choices for meaning and style is something at the heart of creativity, I think.  It’s less about “rules” and more about doing “what works.”   Ask questions like “How do I know I’m communicating effectively?  What creative ways can I grab my reader and share my ideas?”
• For WRI. 2: Blogging would be a great way to encourage the writing of engaging informational texts.  Ask, “How can I gain a wide online audience for my information and ideas?  How will I grow my audience?  Why will people come and listen to what I’ve got to say?”
• For WRI.3: Narrative writing is a great moment to be creative.  Focusing on “engaging the reader” would be a great way to insist on creative expression.  Ask questions like, “How will you keep your reader’s attention?  What will make them want to keep reading?”
• For WRI.6:  Publish in real environments.  Provide students with great examples of dynamic websites, blogs, etc.  Ask questions like “How will be reading this?  How will you engage and keep their attention?”

Many of these ideas focus on engaging the audience in different ways for different purposes.  Grant Wiggins calls this “impact”  saying, “The point in any performance is to cause the appropriate effects in a performance, i.e. achieve the purpose of the performance. Yes, you get some points for content and process, but impact matters.”  If we over-focus on process we are short-changing our students, because in the world of real communication, it’s the impact you make that counts.

3. Scaffold for creativity as I create curriculum.  

• I can create projects that allow for a variety of creative expression.
• PBL is the norm for our school and real-world context is the goal.  Providing great examples and giving them clear purpose  will give them the motivation and context for creating something wonderful.
• Look at language use and patterns, and allow students to play with breaking the rules a bit.

Wiggins notes that it “is vital when asking students to perform or produce a product that you are crystal-clear on the purpose of the task, and that you state the purpose.”  They need this context and staging if they are to reflect well on what, how and why they are doing what they’re doing.

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References

Gee, James Paul.  [Edutopia]. (2010 July 20). James Paul Gee on Grading with Games. [Video file] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=557&v=JU3pwCD-ey0.

Grant, Wiggins. (2012 Feb 20). On assessing for creativity: yes you can, and yes you should. Posted to https://grantwiggins.wordpress.com/2012/02/03/on-assessing-for-creativity-yes-you-can-and-yes-you-should/.

Sodeman, Bill. (2009) Evaluation Scale. [Image file] Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/billsophoto/4175299981.

Testing the Water Before Taking the Plunge – Getting Started with Maker-Ed

There are those people who jump into a pool without testing the water – they’re confident they’ll adapt to the change quickly and dive in without hesitation.  Others dip in a toe, then a foot, then a leg – slowly getting their body acclimated so the shock isn’t quite so startling.

So long as you don’t let the fear of temperature change keep you from enjoying fun in the sun, there’s not a “right” or a “wrong” way to enter the pool.  Whether you’re a jump-right-in or slow-to-acclimate, the point is that you get in and have fun!

The same logic can be applied to our teaching practice.  There are some folks who recognize a good change immediately and go all in right away.  Others are more cautious, choosing to try a few adjustments to their practice before signing up for more.  I submit that as long as you’re honing your practice in a research-based, thoughtful way, there’s no right or wrong here.

In recent years the #MakerEd movement has gained a growing following.  Perhaps you heard a bit about it and knew instantly this was your cup of tea.  You reoriented your classroom to be a space where creative artifacts were produced in as much of a real-world setting as you could muster. Or perhaps you’re curious, but aren’t ready to totally rework your entire career’s worth of curriculum.  That’s totally understandable!  Let me just encourage you to explore some basic ways you can give making a try in your classroom, without completely overhauling everything.

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 References

Halverson, Erica Rosenfeld;Sheridan, Kimberly M. (2014). The Maker Movement in Education. Harvard Educational Review; Winter 2014; 84, 4; ProQuest pg. 495.

SuperFantastic. “dive” (2010) Online image. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/superfantastic/4735666616/in/photolist-8dtwGq-dRYP7Z-dUsxbz-ddBt6N-bnGZEt-dqLWUN-xVdzG-dqLWoh-eNCNp-omwMHY-eNAd8-72C2VL-7wcSag-4Wzob9-6kSQtT-o7sfo-2zLSQz-au2p1g-52YzHn-533Spu-52Yzez-52YyKn-52YB8F-fiDsD-8cKHdX-bnGZx6-9M6PwV-hLL4q-c2HYEA-AnzyV-ozYEQy-2jMwcB-5b3fWk-c7tUqh-cEuh7S-533RsQ-5345S9-iMZphe-Anzei-6Favjv-dKTs5-6uuSho-7HEzqz-eHAX41-3w3x4-6kdSkW-4ahe1-6NLehN-axFanP-jMR6x.

A Lesson in Starting a Revolution

This week I’d like to share the lesson plan that has sprung from my playing with the Squishy Circuit Kit – you may remember my homemade telegraph from here.  At any rate, I’ve developed a PBL style project based on that quirky little invention and driving to teach about context, audience and summary. Keep in mind that the lab sessions for the blended school I teach at are very flexible and can last up to a couple of hours.  The framing and timing of the lesson would need to be reworked for your own specific context.

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Driving Question:

How do you use a variety of of communication to start a revolution?

Standard Objectives:

(from the ELA Common Core Standards, underlined ideas will be the focus of this lesson)

• Literature 2 – Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
• Writing 4 – Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development organization and style are appropriate to task purpose and audience.
• Speaking & Listening 1 – Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one in groups and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9-10 topics texts and issues building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

Materials:

• Copies of Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. for each student to write on/use – the link is for a PDF of the story (it has lesson ideas as well, but I would just print and distribute the short story).
• Squishy Circuit Kit & play doughs
• Access to word processor of some sort – we’re Mac folk and use Pages
• highlighters – two different colors for each student

The Plan:

1. Open with video about last year’s umbrella revolution.  Connect back to when our own country was fighting for democracy, just without social media.
2. Introduce students to the DQ.  Large Group Discussion:
   • What different forms of communication could be used in modern revolutions?
   • What might people have used throughout history?
   • How might you try to answer the DQ now?
3. Introduce the short story – In this short story a young man, tries to start a revolution.  Let’s see how he communicates his ideas and how the government responds.
4. As we read . . .
   1. Use your yellow highlighter to mark when we read the ideals the government is trying to teach everyone.
   2. Use your blue highlighter to mark Harrison’s ideals.
5. Teacher reads story aloud while students focus on marking their copies.
6. Think Pair Share – What did you highlight?  What does this help you understand?  How do Harrison’s ideals differ from the governments?  Why might they have these different views?  Which view do you agree with – why?  What main idea or theme does the story focus on?  Why do you think Vonnegut decided to write a story to share this theme?  If you had to create a hashtag to share Vonnegut’s theme, what would it be?
7. Get in Groups – Two pairs join together to create Groups.
8. Group Challenge:  “The Year is 2082” Handout.  Review handout and the different materials available to complete the three communication forms.
   • Morse Code print outs & Squishy Circuit kits available for each group – your goal is to make something that can send a message in Morse Code.
   • Computers are available for the crafting of your pamphlet – use Creative Commons for pictures.
   • You can also use computers for the letters, or there’s paper available for that as well.
9. Teacher circulates, answering/asking questions as necessary, directing to materials/scaffolds and monitoring progress.
10.  Available Scaffolds:
    • Morse Code example
    • Sample pamphlets
    • How to write a business letter video
    • How to organize a pamphlet
    • How audience affects communication
    • Squishy Circuit basics video
11. Crafting of the three messages will take more than one lab session.  Students will create online groups for their work and work after lab.  The final lab session will be devoted to sharing out with the class and reflecting on our learning.
12. Sharing Out – Groups will have copies of their pamphlets and letters to share with whole class.  Each group will also deliver their Morse code message.
    • Pass out Morse code ciphers and have other groups attempt to decode the messages.
    • Give 5 mins to read the letter – underline one thing you really like and share one thing you might have changed/added.
    • Give 10 mins to read the pamphlets – underline two things you really like and share two things you might have changed/added.
13. Group Discussions:
    • How were you able to say the same thing in three different ways?
    • Which type of communication do you think was best?  Why?
    • What did you have to do in order to summarize your ideas in the Morse code message?
    • What did you have to do to elaborate on your ideas in the pamphlet?
14. Large Group Discussion
    • Revisit DQ – How do you use a variety of of communication to start a revolution?
    • Share learning from group discussions – each group shares two take aways.
15. Complete Group Feedback sheets before leaving.

Assessment

• The writing samples themselves will demonstrate an ability to write in a variety of mediums for different audiences.
• I will rely heavily on discussions as formative assessment as we go to determine how deeply students are thinking about how purpose and audience affect the creation of a text.  Large Group Notes will be taken to track participation and the types of thinking being shared by each student.
• The Group Feedback sheets will help me determine how successfully we are working in groups and what pieces of group work need reteaching.

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Have any constructive criticism?  I’d love to hear your ideas!