Chapter 10 - Moving Forward
Some of my key takeaways from Chapter 10:
"While these projects are student-led, a good project manager (the teacher) helps students make decisions along the way. This is not to say you should manage the entire project or set up their calendar, but a good manager asks probing questions and challenges students to think deeper." Page 134
"Using the bullhorn of social media is one way, of many, that a teacher becomes a good public relations manager. And remember, local newspapers and television stations need good news. Nothing beats a feel-good story about local students doing amazing work. Rather than complaining about the negative media coverage of education today, get proactive and give the newsmen something positive to report. They will support you!" Page 135
"Now, maybe you're thinking, 'What if you have a budge of $0? What type of traveling can you do then?' That's okay, because travel can include going to the next hallway, across town, or even taking a virtual trip. Traveling can be as easy as taking your class out into the school courtyard, or even the room for the next grade level up." Page 137
These all continue to challenge us to think outside of our "normal" teaching and routines. Push our students along the way - toot their horns and our own! No matter what your budget, time constraints, grade level - we can achieve amazing things with our students!
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Pure Genius - Chapter 9 - Pages 117-132
Chapter 9 - Student Voices
I love the sawdust analogy used in this book. "Grades guarantee you good standing in your school. Executing on your sawdust guarantees you a promising career, an interesting life and personal influence that can be leveraged for progress and assistance."
This chapter reinforces what many past chapters have stated - we need to LEARN and TEACH that failure is OK. It's OK to fail as long as we learn from it and grow with our ideas in the future. So many kids, and adults, are terrified to fail - especially in front of others. Along with that, this chapter also talks about confidence, conviction and bravery - in our ideas, our beliefs and ourselves. We need to teach our children that they have value as EVERYONE they encounter also does. We can learn something from anyone and everyone.
What are your thoughts on the importance or lack of importance of grades? Do you feel we are moving away from them? Are they more important than ever?
I love the sawdust analogy used in this book. "Grades guarantee you good standing in your school. Executing on your sawdust guarantees you a promising career, an interesting life and personal influence that can be leveraged for progress and assistance."
This chapter reinforces what many past chapters have stated - we need to LEARN and TEACH that failure is OK. It's OK to fail as long as we learn from it and grow with our ideas in the future. So many kids, and adults, are terrified to fail - especially in front of others. Along with that, this chapter also talks about confidence, conviction and bravery - in our ideas, our beliefs and ourselves. We need to teach our children that they have value as EVERYONE they encounter also does. We can learn something from anyone and everyone.
What are your thoughts on the importance or lack of importance of grades? Do you feel we are moving away from them? Are they more important than ever?
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Pure Genius - Chapter 8 - Pages 105-116
Chapter 8 - Opportunities are Everywhere
Quotes that sum up this chapter, in my mind...
"Teachers know everybody, which is exactly why I know opportunities are everywhere."
"When you ask for help, you'll find that the overwhelming majority of people are excited about helping students succeed."
"Encouraging students to get out into the world and connect with people empowers them to have meaningful, even life-changing experiences."
Wow - soooo true. Even if we don't know someone for a particular topic or research - people we do know may know someone. Especially in our digital age, it is so easy to throw out a plea to our network and they can suggest someone or forward the plea on to their networks and we can't even imagine the potential results! Just as we expect our students to be - we cannot be afraid to ask for help; whether it be from someone in our building, our district, our town, state or even world-wide via social media. There are so many experts out there waiting to help.
I love the life-changing experiences part too - even something as simple as connecting a student or students to a professional in the area might lead to a future career choice for them. We never know what ripples may start with us and carry out to areas of our students lives that we cannot even see or fathom at this point.
What were your key take-aways from this chapter?
Quotes that sum up this chapter, in my mind...
"Teachers know everybody, which is exactly why I know opportunities are everywhere."
"When you ask for help, you'll find that the overwhelming majority of people are excited about helping students succeed."
"Encouraging students to get out into the world and connect with people empowers them to have meaningful, even life-changing experiences."
Wow - soooo true. Even if we don't know someone for a particular topic or research - people we do know may know someone. Especially in our digital age, it is so easy to throw out a plea to our network and they can suggest someone or forward the plea on to their networks and we can't even imagine the potential results! Just as we expect our students to be - we cannot be afraid to ask for help; whether it be from someone in our building, our district, our town, state or even world-wide via social media. There are so many experts out there waiting to help.
I love the life-changing experiences part too - even something as simple as connecting a student or students to a professional in the area might lead to a future career choice for them. We never know what ripples may start with us and carry out to areas of our students lives that we cannot even see or fathom at this point.
What were your key take-aways from this chapter?
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
Pure Genius - Chapter 7 - Pages 91-103
Chapter 7 - Getting Started with Social Media
I think the best way to tackle this chapter - let's share!
Who do you follow on Twitter and/or Facebook? Maybe some of us "Owls" need ideas.
I can tell you, when I first read this book a couple years ago, I tweeted a question to the author, Don Wettrick, and HE ANSWERED ME right away! I wanted a little clarification on Genius hour in my classroom and he gave me his thoughts and offered his help anytime! I was amazed! Social media helps us to gain access to people we thought we may never have contact with. How powerful to get the thoughts and feelings on a specific topic from the author himself!
Why couldn't we apply that in our classroom? Elementary classroom - the teacher can tweet a question to an "expert" on a topic the class is researching. High school - can the students try tweeting an expert?
I love the quote found on page 93:
Even if you aren't completely convinced social media is the way to go, try it. You don't have to commit for a lifetime. Don't we try to teach our students this all the time - there's no harm in trying something out. You never know what you'll think until you give it a try!
Here are a few people that I "follow":
Twitter:
@rickwormeli2 - powerful thoughts on standards based grading
@spencerideas - author and full of Genius Houry ideas
@ToddWhitaker, @Jeff_Zoul, and @casas_jimmy - authors of LOTS of books - one of my favorites being What Connected Educators Do Differently
Facebook:
Clever Classroom
WeAreTeachers
Not So Wimpy Teacher
Anyone have any they could share with the group?
I think the best way to tackle this chapter - let's share!
Who do you follow on Twitter and/or Facebook? Maybe some of us "Owls" need ideas.
I can tell you, when I first read this book a couple years ago, I tweeted a question to the author, Don Wettrick, and HE ANSWERED ME right away! I wanted a little clarification on Genius hour in my classroom and he gave me his thoughts and offered his help anytime! I was amazed! Social media helps us to gain access to people we thought we may never have contact with. How powerful to get the thoughts and feelings on a specific topic from the author himself!
Why couldn't we apply that in our classroom? Elementary classroom - the teacher can tweet a question to an "expert" on a topic the class is researching. High school - can the students try tweeting an expert?
I love the quote found on page 93:
Even if you aren't completely convinced social media is the way to go, try it. You don't have to commit for a lifetime. Don't we try to teach our students this all the time - there's no harm in trying something out. You never know what you'll think until you give it a try!
Here are a few people that I "follow":
Twitter:
@rickwormeli2 - powerful thoughts on standards based grading
@spencerideas - author and full of Genius Houry ideas
@ToddWhitaker, @Jeff_Zoul, and @casas_jimmy - authors of LOTS of books - one of my favorites being What Connected Educators Do Differently
Facebook:
Clever Classroom
WeAreTeachers
Not So Wimpy Teacher
Anyone have any they could share with the group?
Saturday, February 25, 2017
Chapter Six - Social Media and Students
Social Media and Students
I apologize for the video syncing. Screencastify just ain't what she used to be.
I have a feeling that this week's chapter will stir up a struggle with all of you. It is a sensitive subject for the majority of teachers as social media and students is a tough beast to tame. I just had this issue two days ago as a teacher was frustrated with students abusing Hangouts during class. So it begs me to question the approach of banning something. For some reason, these students want to use Hangouts. What if you found a way to use Hangouts for the purpose of learning? (I know...easier said than done, but certainly something to ponder.)
So your job this week is to brainstorm a way to utilize a form of social media in your classroom. You could use a class social media account and reach out to an expert. You could utilize a specific hashtag that represents your learning. You could use any number of the tools that I'll list below to practice social media. It could even be spending time talking about the impact of social media and setting up norms/expectations if you were to utilize it for learning. Why is this important?
If you are highly against this idea, feel free to share your ideas of why. I don't want to assume that you do this project just because I said so. :) I welcome all points of view.
- Here is the article about Blue and digital citizenship
- Here is my posts on Today's Meet
- Here is a resource on how to post items from SeeSaw to social media
- Here is the direct link to SeeSaw if you are unfamiliar
- Common Sense has a ton of resources on digital citizenship, here is their section on digital footprint
Saturday, February 18, 2017
Chapter Five - Social Media and Teachers
The Value of Social Media
Social media has had mixed reviews from educators for as long as I can remember. What I can do is speak from my own personal experience. Social media has allowed me to connect to other educators outside of my little corner in NE Indiana. Don't get me wrong, I learn so much from you all as I visit your schools, collaborate with you during workshops, or participate in book studies. But there is some exciting stuff happening in schools across the country. How do we really know about it unless we are connected to them in some way?
Here is your mission for this week:
Monday, February 13, 2017
Pure Genius - Chapter 4 - Pages 45-58
From page 46: "These six building blocks are necessary whether you're devoting an entire class or a portion of a class period daily or weekly to student-defined, passion-based projects. Every such class needs to be: Collaborative, Task-Oriented, Daring, Relevant, Reflective, and Ongoing."
In his section on Daring - I loved this quote: "In the cave you fear to enter lies the treasure you seek." How true is that statement? When we attempt and or achieve something we were afraid of, doesn't the satisfaction and fulfillment we feel with that achievement feel so much better? He continues by saying, "When students know they can trust that the teacher will not punish them for trial-and-error learning, they really start to push the limits of meaningful projects." As we have all commented earlier, we need to teach them and show them that it is ok to fail. Quite often, they will learn so much more about the topic - and themselves - when they fail and try again and again until they succeed. They will remember what did not work. They will remember what did finally work and they will have so much more pride in their results knowing they overcame the hard times and failures. I tell my fourth graders quite often that it is ok to struggle - they need to try on their own instead of rushing to ask for my help. Let them fail! As long as they learn from their past attempts and continue on and don't give up.
Andi McNair, a teacher at Bosqueville Elementary in Texas wrote, "I want my students to learn how to fail, how to struggle, and most importantly how to try again. As their teacher, I should be preparing them for the real world, rather than a place where every problem has a correct answer and all of their questions can be answered by an adult or a textbook." AMEN Ms. McNair - I agree WHOLE-HEARTEDLY!
Some examples of projects her students worked on were:
Introducing Augmented Reality to Teachers
Planning a 5K Run to Raise Money for Cancer
Finding Ways to Decrease Animal Euthanasia
Creating and Sharing New Ice Cream Flavors
Sharing Why Snakes are not All Bad
Teaching Others How to be Safe While Hunting
Finding Ways to Make Local Hospitals More Comfortable
Creating a Website for Students to Share Book Reviews
What a great range and collection of projects! Each passion project can be constructed and completed on their level.
What were your thoughts and/or take-aways from this chapter? Please share!
In his section on Daring - I loved this quote: "In the cave you fear to enter lies the treasure you seek." How true is that statement? When we attempt and or achieve something we were afraid of, doesn't the satisfaction and fulfillment we feel with that achievement feel so much better? He continues by saying, "When students know they can trust that the teacher will not punish them for trial-and-error learning, they really start to push the limits of meaningful projects." As we have all commented earlier, we need to teach them and show them that it is ok to fail. Quite often, they will learn so much more about the topic - and themselves - when they fail and try again and again until they succeed. They will remember what did not work. They will remember what did finally work and they will have so much more pride in their results knowing they overcame the hard times and failures. I tell my fourth graders quite often that it is ok to struggle - they need to try on their own instead of rushing to ask for my help. Let them fail! As long as they learn from their past attempts and continue on and don't give up.
Andi McNair, a teacher at Bosqueville Elementary in Texas wrote, "I want my students to learn how to fail, how to struggle, and most importantly how to try again. As their teacher, I should be preparing them for the real world, rather than a place where every problem has a correct answer and all of their questions can be answered by an adult or a textbook." AMEN Ms. McNair - I agree WHOLE-HEARTEDLY!
Some examples of projects her students worked on were:
Introducing Augmented Reality to Teachers
Planning a 5K Run to Raise Money for Cancer
Finding Ways to Decrease Animal Euthanasia
Creating and Sharing New Ice Cream Flavors
Sharing Why Snakes are not All Bad
Teaching Others How to be Safe While Hunting
Finding Ways to Make Local Hospitals More Comfortable
Creating a Website for Students to Share Book Reviews
What a great range and collection of projects! Each passion project can be constructed and completed on their level.
What were your thoughts and/or take-aways from this chapter? Please share!
Thursday, February 2, 2017
Pure Genius - Chapter 3 - Pages 29-44
Chapter 3 title - "There is No Plan" - um, excuse me? No plan? I don't think I can handle that? 😐
I highlighted some items on the Innovation Class blueprint that I try to keep in mind:
project-based, passion-based
personal interest
individually or in a group of up to three
outside expert
blog/vlog their results weekly
present their projects
We all know that it is much easier for us to "buy into" something that peaks our personal interest. None of us want to work on something that we don't enjoy just as our students won't want to create, collaborate or learn about something that doesn't interest them.
Depending on the age group, blogs/vlogs may not work. But a weekly check in would be a great addition to keep everyone on track and moving forward. Touch base often to keep distracted or idea-challenged students moving ahead on their project.
I try to focus on the presentation step with any project my class works on. I can't remember what book I read it in, but even sending pictures to a nursing home is a form of presentation. Let your students know that others will see, enjoy, appreciate their work - they will have more ownership and hopefully work harder to create something they are proud of - a better end product.
Has anyone had any success with finding appropriate TED talks or with contacting experts on a topic via Skype, Google Hangouts, etc? There are so many people available at the click of a button or a sent e-mail...
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
Pure Genius - Chapter 2 - Pages 17-28
The title of the chapter says it all in my mind... "Creating a Culture of Innovation & Leadership". I think this is so important for a Genius Hour, 20% time, anything creative to work in our classrooms. We have to establish the CULTURE that it is ok to think different than other students and that failure is ok. They have to become comfortable with that setting.
Don Wettrick references the Daniel Pink and The Puzzle of Motivation video - if you haven't watched it, here is the link - http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation. Even if you only watch the first couple of minutes, The Candle Problem is quite intriguing.
Another quote I love in this book is, "Freedom is hard. Being told what to do, although not exciting, is easy." AMEN! Quite often, my students expect to be told what to do. They don't do well with freedom or interpreting directions in their own way. Example - I'm trying to introduce my class to sketch notes - YIKES! Some of them take right off with it, others, not so much. I gave them general, loose directions, and some just could not "understand" or think of ways to apply it. We will work and work and work until they benefit.
In my own classroom last year and this year, I have witnessed first hand what page 24 talks about. Allowing time for brainstorming is so powerful. They can create a list of topics that they are passionate about - things that interest them. Then, once they have freedom to lead a project their own way, they can refer to their brainstorm lists. Being inspired or passionate about their topic is amazing - their productivity will soar!
What did you all take away from chapter 2? Any stories to tell about your own classrooms?
Don Wettrick references the Daniel Pink and The Puzzle of Motivation video - if you haven't watched it, here is the link - http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation. Even if you only watch the first couple of minutes, The Candle Problem is quite intriguing.
Another quote I love in this book is, "Freedom is hard. Being told what to do, although not exciting, is easy." AMEN! Quite often, my students expect to be told what to do. They don't do well with freedom or interpreting directions in their own way. Example - I'm trying to introduce my class to sketch notes - YIKES! Some of them take right off with it, others, not so much. I gave them general, loose directions, and some just could not "understand" or think of ways to apply it. We will work and work and work until they benefit.
In my own classroom last year and this year, I have witnessed first hand what page 24 talks about. Allowing time for brainstorming is so powerful. They can create a list of topics that they are passionate about - things that interest them. Then, once they have freedom to lead a project their own way, they can refer to their brainstorm lists. Being inspired or passionate about their topic is amazing - their productivity will soar!
What did you all take away from chapter 2? Any stories to tell about your own classrooms?
Monday, January 16, 2017
Pure Genius - Chapter 1 - Pages 5-15
So sorry for this late posting - last week was a whirlwind for me! I was out Wednesday, Thursday and a 1/2 day Friday - each day was a different sub. On top of that, I had a new student start on Friday! Anyway...
Here are a few of the takeaways I had from Chapter 1 - please share your thoughts and/or experiences on these topics or share some takeaways you had from this chapter:
Page 5 "...asking the right questions is one of the most important steps in problem solving. Before we can solve the problem, we have to define it." What are we trying to achieve? What do we want to know?
Page 8 "...relevancy is the biggest key to retention." AMEN to this statement. If a student knows why they need to know something and/or if we can relate it to their life, they are much more likely to remember the topic and have a vested interest in learning. I try to relate every standard and learning objective to real life. Ex: Why do we need to know improper fractions & mixed numbers? Ever plan to cook? Double a recipe?
Page 13 "Yet pursuing anything valuable or important means you have to be willing to fail." Every student (and adult) needs to know it is ok to fail as long as you learn from it. Not everything in life will come easy for them. We need to create an environment for them that allows failure and turns it into teachable moments - it's ok, now what do we know going forward, what did we learn?
Page 15 "...let's provide them with experiences to grow by collaborating, creating a culture of positive failure, and allowing them the freedom to research and pursue what is important to them." Ah, freedom - choice. This can be a key piece to the puzzle. If they choose what they research and/or how they share what they have learned, they will be much more invested in the process. If they are allowed to fail along the way, they will remember their path and have pride in their results. I'll tell my kids in my class every week - "It's ok to struggle. I want you to struggle. You need to try it on your own before you run to me for the answers." I also love the focus on collaborating. In my classroom, we focus on what we learned from others in our groups and how they could create some thoughts in our minds, they gave us a seed to grow from. I feel they also need to learn to work with EVERYONE. They most likely will have a future class, professor, student, co-worker, that they may not necessarily get along with or enjoy. They need to know how to work positively with anyone and everyone in order for them to be successful and continue to grow and learn.
I can't wait to hear your thoughts - thanks for sharing!
Here are a few of the takeaways I had from Chapter 1 - please share your thoughts and/or experiences on these topics or share some takeaways you had from this chapter:
Page 5 "...asking the right questions is one of the most important steps in problem solving. Before we can solve the problem, we have to define it." What are we trying to achieve? What do we want to know?
Page 8 "...relevancy is the biggest key to retention." AMEN to this statement. If a student knows why they need to know something and/or if we can relate it to their life, they are much more likely to remember the topic and have a vested interest in learning. I try to relate every standard and learning objective to real life. Ex: Why do we need to know improper fractions & mixed numbers? Ever plan to cook? Double a recipe?
Page 13 "Yet pursuing anything valuable or important means you have to be willing to fail." Every student (and adult) needs to know it is ok to fail as long as you learn from it. Not everything in life will come easy for them. We need to create an environment for them that allows failure and turns it into teachable moments - it's ok, now what do we know going forward, what did we learn?
Page 15 "...let's provide them with experiences to grow by collaborating, creating a culture of positive failure, and allowing them the freedom to research and pursue what is important to them." Ah, freedom - choice. This can be a key piece to the puzzle. If they choose what they research and/or how they share what they have learned, they will be much more invested in the process. If they are allowed to fail along the way, they will remember their path and have pride in their results. I'll tell my kids in my class every week - "It's ok to struggle. I want you to struggle. You need to try it on your own before you run to me for the answers." I also love the focus on collaborating. In my classroom, we focus on what we learned from others in our groups and how they could create some thoughts in our minds, they gave us a seed to grow from. I feel they also need to learn to work with EVERYONE. They most likely will have a future class, professor, student, co-worker, that they may not necessarily get along with or enjoy. They need to know how to work positively with anyone and everyone in order for them to be successful and continue to grow and learn.
I can't wait to hear your thoughts - thanks for sharing!
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Pure Genius MSD Book Study
Welcome to the MSD Pure Genius book study!
I will post questions, ideas, and/or discussion topics on here weekly that correspond to the chapter that we are on. PGP points will be awarded based on the amount of questions that you answer along with the alloted time for reading - up to a maximum of 10 points.
I would love for this to be an area to openly discuss any questions you may have, any ideas that you want to try in your classroom, sharing of successes & failures on your path to experimenting with ideas in our book, and support of our fellow colleagues willing to take on this challenge!
We will follow this schedule to finish the book study BEFORE Spring Break - but the great thing about conducting this book study via Blogger is that you can adjust the pace on your own. If you get behind, just answer that week's question(s) when you get caught up! You can participate when it is convenient for you at any time of the day.
Chapter 1: Jan 7 - Jan 13
Chapter 2: Jan 14 - Jan 20
Chapter 3: Jan 21 - Jan 27
Chapter 4: Jan 28 - Feb 3
Chapter 5: Feb 4 - Feb 10
Chapter 6: Feb 11 - Feb 17
Chapter 7: Feb 18 - Feb 24
Chapter 8: Feb 25 - March 3
Chapter 9: March 4 - March 10
Chapter 10: March 11 - March 17
WRAP UP via Blogger and in-person or via Google Hangout: Potentially set for Tues, March 18.
To get us started, please comment below with what grades and/or subjects you teach and what led you to choose to participate in this book study.
I will post questions, ideas, and/or discussion topics on here weekly that correspond to the chapter that we are on. PGP points will be awarded based on the amount of questions that you answer along with the alloted time for reading - up to a maximum of 10 points.
I would love for this to be an area to openly discuss any questions you may have, any ideas that you want to try in your classroom, sharing of successes & failures on your path to experimenting with ideas in our book, and support of our fellow colleagues willing to take on this challenge!
We will follow this schedule to finish the book study BEFORE Spring Break - but the great thing about conducting this book study via Blogger is that you can adjust the pace on your own. If you get behind, just answer that week's question(s) when you get caught up! You can participate when it is convenient for you at any time of the day.
Chapter 1: Jan 7 - Jan 13
Chapter 2: Jan 14 - Jan 20
Chapter 3: Jan 21 - Jan 27
Chapter 4: Jan 28 - Feb 3
Chapter 5: Feb 4 - Feb 10
Chapter 6: Feb 11 - Feb 17
Chapter 7: Feb 18 - Feb 24
Chapter 8: Feb 25 - March 3
Chapter 9: March 4 - March 10
Chapter 10: March 11 - March 17
WRAP UP via Blogger and in-person or via Google Hangout: Potentially set for Tues, March 18.
To get us started, please comment below with what grades and/or subjects you teach and what led you to choose to participate in this book study.
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