Change and Opportunity at Liberal Arts Colleges

From Maria Bowditch:
The conversation about creating "intentional communities" seems to speak to boarding schools, not to mention the discussion of cost.

Merci et Joyeux Noel!

Haverford and Swarthmore Presidents Explore Change and Opportunity at Liberal Arts Colleges

A Classroom Where No One Cheats

I found this article in The Atlantic compelling -- especially in that it asks how we as educators can create cultures in our classroom where cheating isn't as compelling:

http://m.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/12/a-classroom-where-no-one-cheats/282254/

Stress or Grit?

A nice little story from NPR this morning on the stress kids are facing in school.  One telling moment was when a young girl dropped a few APs and other parents accused her mother of "going easy on her."  Stories like these leave me wondering to what extent I differentiate between stress and grit, or, more importantly, do I teach my kids to differentiate between the two?

Audio and transcript here:  School Stress Takes a Toll on Health, Teens, and Parents

The Perseverance Process

The Search Institute's Webinar series on improving grit in academic situations is available online through their archives. The next live webinar (free!) is on December 3rd at 1:00 Eastern time covering Student Support Cards to bolster perseverance, but the webinar archive can be accessed at your convenience here:
Perseverance webinar Archive.
The Search Institute provides resources for parents and teachers looking to maximize student outcomes and relies on the research of Carol Dwek.

Classroom Equality Plus Service Leadership?

I started my teaching and coaching career as a capital L Leader, with very clear ideas on how things should be done and who should do them.  Maybe that was a result of the challenges in Detroit- crazy public schools plus an equally crazy boat club for a total of eight or nine hours a day of weird.

But, this year I've made a few resolutions.  One is that I will do my best never to reword a student's statement in class.  Another is that I am trying never to tell a student he or she is wrong, but find a way for that realization to happen independently.

I stumbled across this NPR blog entry on Facebook this morning (NPR's blog is the absolute best about Facebook by the way).  It details a student run classroom, similar to but different than Harkness.  It's very thought-provoking:

Subverting the System: Student and Teacher as Equals

Combine that with Greenleaf's classic The Servant as Leader and you have a fundamentally different kind of education.

The Servant as Leader

A Commentary on Plagiarism

I heard this commentary Tuesday on NPR.  Geoff Nunnberg is a linguist @ UC Berkely and had some interesting points on the recent charges of plagiarism that have been swirling around DC lately.  I'm not sure where I stand on honor versus literary etiquette, but I'm thinking.

Of course, it may well be a commentary on freedom, given Paul's political leanings...

http://www.npr.org/2013/11/12/244760001/did-rand-paul-commit-plagiarism-or-just-a-faux-pas

Even taken together, the charges didn't seem to amount to that big a deal - just a matter of quoting a few factual statements and a Wikipedia passage without attributing them. But as Rand Paul discovered, the word plagiarism can still rouse people to steaming indignation. Samuel Johnson called plagiarism the most atrocious of literary crimes and, actually, the word itself began as the name of a real crime.

In Roman law, a plagiarius was someone who abducted a child or a slave - it's from "plaga," the Latin word for a net or a snare. That connection was first drawn by the first century poet Martial, who accused a rival he called Fidentius of stealing his works in order to garner undeserved praise. Martial compared Fidentius to a man who wears a toupee and others have depicted the plagiarist as somebody who shines in stolen plumes.

The offense can be quite straightforward. Joe Biden was forced to withdraw from the 1988 Democratic presidential primary when he was caught lifting autobiographical passages from the speeches of the British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock. That was classic plagiarism; Biden wasn't just helping himself to Kinnock's literary children, but to Kinnock's childhood as well.

But in the higher precincts of cultural criticism, plagiarism has come to seem more cloudy and complicated than it once did, as it jostles with imitation, homage, allusion and postmodern appropriation. And technology has compounded the possibilities - so much stuff out there to repurpose, so many new ways to adapt and transform it.

What do we say when A Tribe Called Quest samples the guitar licks from "A Walk on the Wild Side?" Is it the same as Rossini working Mozart motifs into "The Barber of Seville," or is it something wholly new? But nuances and complexities are set aside when it comes to pedestrian forms of expression like term papers, news reports and political speeches, where plagiarism is greatly simplified.

Technology has played a role here, too. It may have made plagiarism easier to execute but it has also made it easier to detect. Time was when spotting literary pilferage could take some serious detective work in the library stacks. Now you just dump a passage into a search engine and run it against everything that's out there. Or you can just let some software do it for you the way some universities do.

Along the way, the practical definition of plagiarism has become more cut-and-dried than ever before. It doesn't matter what you copy or where you take it from, or whether it was deliberate or accidental. Not long ago, Time magazine's Fareed Zakaria and Fox News' Juan Williams were both obliged to apologize profusely when they published columns with unattributed passages copied word-for-word from other sources.

It made no difference that the passages in question were just bald factual recitals or that the copying was almost certainly inadvertent, most likely the work of a research assistant. Cut and paste, you'll be disgraced. And now Rand Paul is being pilloried for a couple of similar offenses, particularly for a speech in which he quoted verbatim the Wikipedia plot synopsis of the 1997 movie "Gattaca" without attributing it.

That doesn't seem quite as grave an offense as the literary larcenies of Joe Biden. Wikipedia isn't an individual author, just an anonymous collective project. And its prose has all the beauty of a pile of scrap lumber. Paul could hardly be accused of trying to shine in stolen plumage. Still, by modern definitions of plagiarism, Paul clearly crossed the line.

If you're going to use a Wikipedia synopsis, you should run it through a Mixmaster to the point where nobody could Google it up and see where you got it from. But considering the nature of offense, the condemnations were pretty severe. Theft is theft, people said, echoing Martial's vilifications of Fidentius. A journalism professor from Paul's alma mater Baylor announced that if it had happened in one of his classes, he would have failed the student and asked the university to investigate a possible honor code violation.

I'd just soon leave honor out of it. These aren't like those classic cases of literary theft; they're just infractions of the conventions we're bound to adhere to. But that doesn't make them trivial, as Paul implied when he said he was being hounded by the footnote police. Whether the copying itself was the work of Paul or of a staffer, he has to take personal responsibility for the cluelessness of that response.

The rules for quoting and attributing can seem arbitrary at times, with little connection to the respect for intellectual property that originally motivated them. You could think of them just as a kind of literary etiquette. But etiquette is just what comes of reducing moral principles to the explicit codes of conduct that govern our civil life.

Paul may not have been guilty of dishonesty, just cavalier disrespect for the rules. You don't put on the feathers of another, not even the drab ones that you find lying around on the ground.

PDC Webinar Carol Dwek: Changing Mindsets, Motivating Students

Webinar: Carol Dwek—Changing Mindsets, Motivating Students (November 5, 2013)

Carol Dwek presents her research concerning fixed mindsets (belief that people are born with a level of “smarts”) and growth mindsets (belief that the harder you work, the smarter you become) in students. She discusses how these two frames of mind are developed and how to encourage students to adopt a growth mindset. Why do many talented kids seem to “hit the wall” while those who appeared much less capable early on pass them by? How can praise be a bad thing? The Q and A gives practical ideas for encouraging a growth mindset.

This webinar can be accessed on demand for the next four months here: ARCHIVE

The email address is STONER@BLAIR.EDU and the password is webinar.

The Power of Patience

A thoughtful and evocative article about slowing down in the classroom, giving students time to focus, and teaching them that patience and "immersive attention" are imperative skills for lifelong learners.

http://harvardmagazine.com/2013/11/the-power-of-patience#article-images

Make Just One Change

Make Just One Change by Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana is game changer in my classroom.  At only 176 pages, it lends itself to an easy summary: Teach students to ask their own questions.  The authors' premise is grand enough that their work goes beyond the realm of education and into healthcare and mental health, parent and family engagement, voter engagement, and microdemocracy.

The authors set up a very simple system for creating an environment full of inquiry and creativity.  First, I introduce the Question Focus, or QFocus, which is essentially a prompt.  For my current unit on World War 1 and the New European Imperialism the QFocus is: Competition between industrialized European states.  Using that prompt as a springboard, plus some prior knowledge from reading around the topic, pairs of students began to ask questions.  The rules for this stage are powerful in their brevity.

1. Ask as many questions as you can.
2. Do not stop to discuss, judge, or answer the questions.
3. Write down every statement exactly as it is stated.
4. Change any statement into a question.  

The second and third rule relate to each other in an incredibly powerful way.  On a whim, I asked both WCIV sections if their teachers often rephrased or tweaked the statements they offered in class.  Every hand went up.  I then asked how it felt when that refining process occurred.  Every student felt "dumber", "less valued", "upset, because I meant what I said."  The overwhelmingly negative reaction to something I always considered helpful in a goal-oriented classroom was incredible, and I promised them I'd try never to do it again.  

As of now, my WCIV sections have worked with a partner to develop an open and closed version of each question (60+), whittled their options to three refined questions, and chosen one on which to write a paper.  The paper marks the second assignment where the students have designed and produced their own work.  The strange thing is the extent to which I have to let go of the room- it's not easy or natural for me, but, hey, they're the ones in school.  It's nice to bump into something so good, I just have to remind myself, "Do this."  

The Right Question Institute

PDC Webinar October 23: 'Sell' More to Students

Webinar: Daniel Pink on How Teachers Can ‘Sell’ More to Students (October 23, 2013)

Daniel Pink reminds us that anyone trying to teach, persuade, or convince another is “selling” a product. In this “Age of Information Parity,” teachers need to develop the three new ABC’s of selling: Attunement (seeing from another’s point of view), Buoyancy (staying afloat in a sea of rejection), and Clarity (differentiating the meaning from the noise). He gives “quick, cheap, and actionable” suggestions for increasing creativity in group dynamics by decreasing the appearance of power of the leader and discusses the value of falling near the middle of the extroversion--introversion scale to better relate to others. He shows the consequences of relying on others to be motivated to participate as opposed to the results obtained by eliminating barriers to participation.

This webinar can be accessed on demand for the next four months here: Archive

The  email address is STONER@BLAIR.EDU and the password is webinar.

PDC Webinar October 16 Intentional Instruction

Webinar: Intentional Teaching: Infusing Instruction with Purpose by Fisher & Frey (October 16, 2013)

This webinar provided concrete methods for introducing and framing daily class around the students’ learning outcomes and the purpose behind them (as opposed to the teacher's goals for the day). The authors propose that keeping the focus on student outcomes allows for greater critical thinking and deeper learning as students are encouraged to go beyond “what we are doing today...” by presenting “what we are learning today...” Students are encouraged to discover the purpose in each lesson as it relates to class and beyond. Strategies for guiding class deeper into critical thinking are presented.

This webinar can be accessed on demand for the next four months here: Archive 

The  email address is STONER@BLAIR.EDU and the password is webinar.

The Post-Lecture Classroom

I remain totally convinced that the power and the potential of the Blair academic experience lies in our ability to push students to use their classroom time as an exploration of content, skills, and big ideas -- at their own pace and with our guidance.  That this flies in the face of the teaching that some of our graduates will experience at university only re-enforces my concerns about the quality of teaching at that level.  How we approach this student-centered classroom experience (via the "flipped-classroom", "harkness"-style discussions, "socratic seminars", project-based learning) will vary by discipline and teacher, and will no doubt evolve over time.  The article below looks at some of these efforts as well as attempts to quantify the results to a small degree:

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/09/the-post-lecture-classroom-how-will-students-fare/279663/

A Return to Balance in Education: A selection of "Life's Operating Manual"

Sarah O'Neil passed along this thoughtful and inspiring selection from Tom Shadyac's Life's Operating Manual:

Life's Operating Manual Link

Playing with Fire

An impassioned essay that reminds us what we are all about and why we teach:

Playing with Fire

Cheating Feels Good?!?

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/07/in-bad-news-cheating-feels-good/?_r=0

Interesting - and disturbing - data points re: why some people cheat (and feel good about it).  While the circumstances aren't directly reflective of our students' experiences at Blair, the questions and concerns are valid nonetheless.  

Time for me to start asking students to sign the honor pledge at the end, not beginning, of assessments....

-- Rachel

Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action

Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action

 

Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership all starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?" His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers ... (Filmed at TEDxPugetSound.)

http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html


Shared by Maria

PDC Roundtable 9/24/2013 -- Effective Homework

PDC Thursday Roundtables—September 24, 2013:

Topic:  Effective Homework

Attendees:  Rachel Stone, Zoe Blatt, Ann Williams, Solomon Fleckman, Sarah O’Neil, Hans Doerr, Maria Bowditch, Rob Merrifield, Eric Lunger

Reading:  The Atlantic focus on Homework, September 2013

Thoughts:  There are challenges with any one approach to homework – does the assignment engage all students?  How does one assignment address the variety of learning styles present in each of our classes?  Do we know how to construct the most effective assignments?  How do our assignments integrate with assessment?  The conversation was fruitful and raised more questions than it provided answers.  That said, the issue how we best use student time, energy, and focus beyond the classroom is clearly one that deserves consistent conversation and attention by the faculty.

Particular questions and issues that were raised:

•  AW, RS, and others noted that reading is a challenge for kids.  HD suggested more focused work on efficiency in reading and homework as part of a study skills curriculum.
•  Should we teach kids that there is a natural time limit to effective work?  EL noted that he tells his students to work for 45 minutes and then stop.  This helps kids prioritize the work and provides valuable feedback to the teacher about the amount of time an assignment requires.  SO asked if our kids are over-loaded and thus have too much work?  AW noted that the best  Blair students have a tendency to not stop, they keep pushing to complete assignments regardless of what they are told.
• SF pointed out that the most important part of any assignment is providing explicit directions and immediate feedback.  Kids should always know why they are doing an assignment.  Movements exist to make sure that nothing new is covered in homework while others suggest that homework is the primer for the actual practice of the discipline in the classroom.
• Rachel asked if we are preparing our kids to be Good Students or Good Learners?  With life-long learning as a goal, how do we help students earn an appreciation for our disciplines?  We don’t want to create a culture of dishonest students, but long homework assignments do lend themselves to cheating.  AW noted that 90% of AHC cases revolve around overwhelmed students.
• Do we as teachers actually understand the demands made on a Blair student’s time?
• Should we focus more effectively and intentionally on reading skills and learning skills? 
• SF asked how much we are meant to prepare kids for the kid of instruction they receive in college, especially if that kind of instruction isn’t always as good as what we can provide here?
•  Let’s ask our alums about their college experience to get a real feel for how prepared they are and understand what types of skills they really need!
• Stress vs. Challenge:  do our kids know the difference? 
• If we enforced a lower limit on homework (Hotchkiss has a strict 30 minute limit per class), would that help?  Do our grading policies help or hinder kids in their approach to homework? 
• What do college professors want from their students?  How can we best prepare them?

Action Items:

1.          Encourage departments to have regular conversations about homework types and policies that work best in their disciplines.
2.          Continue to reflect on how we can best prepare kids for the types of work we ask of them – reading and study skills.
3.          Encourage departments to reach out to college professors to get a sense for what they are seeing in their classrooms and what types of preparation they would like us to cover with our kids.  (The History Department hopes to undertake this task in the Spring.)

Losing is Good for You

Writer Ashley Merryman argues that labeling every participant as a "winner" is a losing proposition.

Jennifer Heuer photographs 

CSA images/Getty images

Losing is Good for You

Another interesting article from Carl:
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/education/2013/09/paying_attention_is_a_skill_schools_need_to_teach_it.html
Can you develop grit if you don't know how to pay attention?

In Defense of Non-Conformist kids

Via Robin --

An interesting and worthwhile article:

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114527/self-regulation-american-schools-are-failing-nonconformist-kids

The Power of Vulnerability. . .

This originally came from Robin. It is so good, and I thought it needed to be shared.  Hope you are all enjoying your summer.
http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html?source=email#.UfMZkjIKRsp.email

Leadership in Armenia

So, I'm in Armenia for the month of July.  I'm currently sitting in a homestay with my co-leader from the Park School in Boston.  For those of you who don't know, I've spent four summers leading trips through the summer camp I attended and worked at through college.  The trips are called Travel and Service Programs, and I thought I'd take a moment to detail the leadership curriculum I've been working on with my group.

1.  At the beginning of the trip, participants write down their goals for the summer and self-identify with a range of leadership styles.  The goals are broken down into three individual goals and three group goals.  Sometime in the next few days, the leaders meet individually with each member of the trip and discuss the goals and possible ways to achieve them.  Included in their packet are ten leadership traits, adapted from a YMCA book on teaching leadership at camp, which range from Engagement to Shared Leadership to Initiative, among others.

2. Each participant is a Leader of the Day, or Co-Leader of the Day several times throughout the trip (the total number depends on math and the number of days the group is together).  My co and I, for the most part, refuse to answer questions about the day's itinerary and constantly direct the LOD to our host partner.  The LOD navigates foreign cities; arranges wake ups; coordinates groupings and community service responsibilities; debriefs service projects; leads Cabin Chat (a nightly reflection and question); meets and thanks any partners on behalf of the group.  As leaders, our goal is to do as little as possible in a whole group setting, stepping in only when safety or group dynamics require a more serious response than the LOD can handle.  We also have a twenty minute debrief each night with the day's LOD, followed by another meeting with the LOD for the following day to go over the itinerary and brainstorm.

3. Halfway through the trip, each participant will reevaluate their goals and set new ones in the same format, which is where the real power of the program lies.  Having seen each camper try a few different styles of leadership, we can effectively guide them to a pattern of best behavior for the remaining ten or twelve days in our twenty-thirty minute meeting.  We tell quiet leaders they need to spend more time building relationships, because that will be their strength when they're counselors.  We remind vocal leaders how to listen, another leadership skill in their packet.  And we encourage strong and effective leaders to observe other LODs carefully and analyze the way they do things to refine their style further. For a group of rising sophomores, their investment in the curriculum is surprising.  Being in a foreign country exaggerates their learning curve, but the gains are impressive nonetheless.

4. The final meeting is a time for participant reflection, coupled with our final thoughts, all of which we write and sign together.

I'm writing because I'm currently reading Flourish, by Martin Seligman, plus leading this trip.  Flourish is a step more detailed than Tough, and I'd love the chance to sit down with anyone in August and chew over a few ways to integrate Blair's leadership initiative, Seligman, and Tough.  Maybe I'll even make Armenian BBQ down at Gateway (FYI, Armenians are incredible people).

Enjoy the rest of the summer,

HSD

How Children Succeed - Interview with the author
Paul Tough gives an interview (about half hour) discussing the details of How Children Succeed from Toronto Public Television: http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-education-speaker-paul-tough-on-not-treating-failure-as-a-disaster.html
The interview closely follows his book and expands a little on Tough's thoughts since he wrote the book. It is interesting that he now feels the most effective program included in the book is the OneGoal program, even though their data is incomplete (the students involved are only now college sophomores) and he spends more time in the book on some of the other programs.

This TED talk has always resonated with me... In our community, everyday leadership is part of who we are and what we do. Enjoy!
http://www.ted.com/talks/drew_dudley_everyday_leadership.html

Thinking About Learning

Connected Learning Now

Embracing Our Students’ Desire for a Different Kind of Teaching

John Palfrey; Illustration by James O’Brien

Summer 2013

Link to Article:

http://www.nais.org/magazines-newsletters/ismagazine/pages/connected-learning-now.aspx

Measuring Intelligence

I heard this show on a road trip the other day. A great take on intelligence and the consequences of ranking. Well worth your time.

From the show's site: Cognitive psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman—who was relegated to special education as a child—argues that the way we traditionally measure intelligence is misguided. In Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined he looks at the latest research in genetics and neuroscience, as well as evolutionary, developmental, social, positive, and cognitive psychology, to challenge the conventional ideas about the childhood predictors of adult success.

And the link: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/2013/jun/13/redefining-intelligence/

Why Do I Teach?

Short, but worth the read from The New York Times on-going column 'The Stone':

Why I Do I Teach?

Ken Robinson: How to Escape Education's Death Valley

Funny, fascinating, and worth a look - more from Ken Robinson:

Why Private Schools Are Dying Out

There are some really fascinating and nauseating points in this article. Perhaps we should discuss in a faculty meeting?


Worth a read "Why Private Schools Are Dying Out" - Chester E. Finn Jr. - The Atlantic

http://mer.gy/1wk

Summer reading

The Google Certified Teacher's list recently had a conversation about
books on the topic of 21st Century Students/Learning. Here is a Shelfari another teacher (from the Village School) put together with all of the suggestions (some of which have already been mentioned in this blog). Let's take the time to add more to the shelf ...?

Carolyn

http://www.shelfari.com/o1514890621/shelf

Multi-tasking While Learning

This blog post reinforces what you may already believe about the distractions of technology in the learning process. It's not surprising that researchers found students were only working about 65% of the time they thought they were working hard on their homework.
Multi-tasking Research
The New York Times is on the same page with this article about distractions:
Toggling Tasks

Flipping Professional Development

As we begin winding down this academic year and look to how to structure a Professional Development program for next year, this site on "flipped PD" and how it was implemented seems like fodder for good discussion.

Structured opportunities for professional development, organic personal learning networks, the use of tech to connect us to other educators, thinking about how design and priming work both in the classroom and in how we work as professionals, and looking at models for effective meetings and learning opportunities for adults all are on the agenda for the year ahead.

http://edudemic.com/2013/03/how-we-took-flipped-pd-from-concept-to-reality/

New Opportunities for Life-Long Learning

This is a great piece from the Sunday NY Times about the experience of online learning opportunities, like the Coursera classes that both Stacey and Hans have checked out.  While it doesn't offer any groundbreaking insight, I found it a particularly compelling advertisement for these content providers.  It seems like such offerings could be a tremendous addition to our individual Professional Development plans -- something that I hope to encourage many of our colleagues to develop in a more formal way in the year ahead.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/21/opinion/sunday/grading-the-mooc-university.html?_r=0

Why You Never Truly Leave High School

This is an interesting article from New York Magazine highlighting the importance that experiences in adolescents play in shaping our lives.  Ms. Senior notes that high schools are arenas of 'social combat' that are 'almost sadistically unhealthy places to send adolescents' for a variety of reasons, including the lack of contact with adults:  ''...psychologists Joseph and Claudia Worrell Allen note that teenagers today spend just 16 hours per week interacting with adults and 60 with their cohort. One century ago, it was almost exactly the reverse."  Because of this, adolescents establish their own set of rules for sorting or creating a hierarchy as the only thing they often have in common is age.  Ms. Senior points out that this non-mixing with people of a variety of ages is artificial and never occurs again in one's life.  She also cites various studies centered around the powerful emotion of 'shame' and how adolescent actions involving shame can stick with people their entire lives.  She also notes that high school might be the defining American Experience because just like a high school, we live in a world that is a 'box of interacting strangers'.  

I recommend it as worth the time to read as it raises interesting questions about how Blair is perhaps different from the larger public high schools that the studies focus in on, and whether even with our communities ability to overcome some of these obstacles there could be more that we could do as the adult members of the community to help our students navigate this important time in their lives.

Why Your Never Truly Leave High School

Influences on Student Learning by John Hattie

Blair brought this site to our attention at the last PDC meeting:

Growth Mindset

Teachers: Will We Ever Learn?

This recent piece from The New York Times is well worth a read.  Although it addresses public education, several of Mehta's arguments are applicable to the independent school world, and in fact, I would argue that independent schools should take a lead role as the incubators for several of the ideas Professor Mehta puts forward.

Teachers: Will We Ever Learn?

Can a Computer Grade Your Essays?

This article (link below) from today's NYT describes a new edX plan to offer essay-grading software on the web for free.  The software is a logical complement to edX's goal of providing free courses online, as it will allow those courses to use essays as evaluation tools.  Moreover, the software should provide students with quicker feedback on their written work.

Of course, critics are concerned about the software's ability to evaluate writing with a formula:
“Let’s face the realities of automatic essay scoring,” the group’s statement reads in part.   “Computers cannot ‘read.’ They cannot measure the essentials of effective written communication: accuracy, reasoning, adequacy of evidence, good sense, ethical stance, convincing argument, meaningful organization, clarity, and veracity, among others.”

An interesting read, and the free software, once available, could be an interesting complement to what we already do in assessing student writing and providing feedback.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/05/science/new-test-for-computers-grading-essays-at-college-level.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&hp

Furthermore, I know others (Hans and Stacey, for starters) have used edX or Coursera for online coursework, and I look forward to giving it a try sometime in the near future.

If Students Designed Their Own School

     This is an interesting pilot program that I learned about from 'The Learning Pond', the Grant Lichtman blog that Jason pointed us towards earlier:  http://learningpond.wordpress.com/ The 14 minute documentary, created by one of the nine students in the pilot program, discusses how these nine students created their own 'school within a school'.  The students choose/create a 'Weekly Question' to present to other students each Friday, develop a 'Personal Endeavor' that they pursue over the course of a semester/year, and work with the other students on a 'Group Endeavor' that also involves a long-term group learning project.

     The students emphasize the self-directed nature of their learning and how the program forces them to take ownership of their learning in a way that the traditional schooling model does not.  I thought this would be an interesting possibility to explore for a small group of our students next year as our own 'pilot' or the model could also be applied to professional development with a small group of faculty who could use the self-directed learning model to create their own personalized and group learning opportunity.

  

Check it out.

The Empirical Kids

This is an interesting article from David Brooks in today's New York Times regarding how current college students view the world.  It made me think about how our own students view the world, what shaped their views, and made me reconsider what approach our students, especially the seniors headed off to college, will take to their own education and professional choices.

The Empirical Kids

The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning

Thanks to Marty Miller for passing along this link to The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning at St. Andrew's Episcopal School.  The CTTL is run by former Blair faculty member Glenn Whitman, and the website includes a blog as well as links to other resources.

Another great source for professional development.

http://www.thecttl.org/aboutcttl/index.aspx

Summer Opportunities!

Hey All!

Just procrastinating from finishing comments by daydreaming online about summer options! I get regular emails from a friend who loved the workshops at the Teach 21 site.

Anyone game for going to the design thinking workshop? --not that I can tell exactly what it is--but the description is intriguing. I am thinking of signing up for the June date, but I'd love company!

here is the link...( happy comment writing!)
Carolyn

Teach21

Signature Strengths

Thanks to Tiffany and a few articles on coaching, lately I've been playing with some of the strategies in Positive Psychology.  Martin Seligman started Positive Psychology several years ago, and its strategies are especially applicable to Blair.  One that I'm looking forward to trying in our remaining weeks is the Signature Strengths Test.  After taking a free questionnaire on Seligman's site, you learn your top five Signature Strengths.  Seligman's advice is to think of a weekly task- one you don't especially enjoy.  Then, find a way to complete that task using a Signature Strength.  By using something you're already good at, you'll be more likely to enter Flow, a state of Flourishing, in which time seems to stand still.  Check it out.  Turns out I'm Creative above all else.

Authentic Happiness Questionnaires

The Dreaded Discussion

At this point in any year, I begin to get tired with the mechanisms I typically use to get discussion going in my US History classes.  So I was particularly happy to stumble across this list of tips on leading discussion in the college classroom.  Turns out my favorite professor at Vassar re-reads this article before beginning every semester...  there are some great ideas here:

http://www.indiana.edu/~tchsotl/part%201/part1%20materials/The_Dreaded_Discussion.pdf

Why Confusion Can Be a Good Thing

     

     This is an interesting, and short, post from the site KQED (which has tons of fascinating material on education) that argues for strengthening learning through 'brain confusion', and provides three 'bullet point' approaches to improve learning.  The article made me reflect on how I do this in my classes, and in my own attempts to learn new concepts, and reinforced my belief that our students are  more capable than they give themselves credit for; and that it is up to me to challenge them as much as possible in class.
     For instance, in my Western Civilization class this week I asked the kids to develop questions based on the prompt:  'The pen is mightier than the sword', in preparation for our delving into the Russian Revolution, Stalinism, and Animal Farm.  After they developed several questions, they chose one that they thought was their 'best' question and for homework they each wrote a short response to someone else's question.  Without having read or learned anything about the time period, they developed responses that already moved them in the direction of understanding the importance ideas play in history, and the subtle and large scale impact that writing and the spoken word can have over the blunt force of the sword.
     After going through the unit, we will return to these responses and see how accurate they were in relation to the actual events and discuss how the students would change their responses after studying the history of the time period.  I think this exercise is similar to #3 from the article:  'Test Yourself Before You Learn'.  Without opening a book they already have a rather strong understanding of human nature and how people are moved to action.

Why Confusion Can Be a Good Thing

Notes from the Roundtable Discussion on APs at Blair

PDC Thursday Roundtables—February 21, 2013:

Topic:  Advanced Placement Curriculum:  Pros and Cons

Attendees:  Lew Stival, Blair Buck, Bob Brandwood, Kaye Evans, Craig Evans, Mike Eckert, Jason Beck

Reading:  Independent Curriculum Group work on APs at Independent Schools

Thoughts:  While the general consensus was that the AP program does provide some good opportunities for Blair students, it may also close the door on more interesting and worthwhile academic options.  There was considerable energy behind a thorough review of the AP program at Blair and how our peer schools have dealt with the opportunities and challenges that it presents. 

Particular questions and issues that were raised:

• The English APs are good tests…  yet the question still remains that courses could be developed without tracking in the junior and senior year that would still allow for some students to self-select to prep for the AP itself.  Tracking hurts the quality of the regular courses, while integrated courses still allow the best students to distinguish themselves. 
•  Do the AP scores matter to Blair?  Lew Stival noted that the scores are meaningless from a college admission perspective, and that more and more of the best schools are doing away with giving credit for AP scores (see Dartmouth in 2012). 
• It was noted that the NY Times article about the APs at Scarsdale high school claimed that the APs were “good predictors of performance”.
• College Counseling did note that they AP designation is a “roadsign to rigor” for colleges – especially those that may not read applications closely. 
• If we were to radically alter the AP program at Blair, how would we communicate rigor to colleges (and parents and kids)?  Better course descriptions and better teacher recommendations would be required. 
• Blair Buck noted that the Bio AP curriculum and test were new this year.  The course is designed to be more quantitative, and has less breadth and more depth along with more lab work and more critical thinking requirements.  The question remains, however, how much prior knowledge will be expected on the exam itself and how that fits into our course schedule at Blair.  Other science tests will be revised in coming years…
• Is it valid to teach to the test, especially if the teacher doesn’t have a role in crafting the assessment?
• Does knowing that the test results don’t matter change the approach of the teacher?  The student?
• Would dropping APs at Blair be a marketing challenge or opportunity for Blair?  Given that some of the best independent schools are moving away from the AP designated courses, with an advanced studies program as an alternative, could be a way of distinguishing our academic program.
• If there is no AP designation on our transcript, would colleges focus even more on SAT and/or ACT results?
• Would current parents have concerns with such a radical curriculum change at Blair?  Especially given that the public perception relies on the “AP for All” marketing efforts of the College Board as much of its basis.
• If we teach kids how to think critically and how to write, won’t they be able to prep for the AP exams relatively easily beyond the actual coursework? 
• Could we have a blend?  AP US History and then no Senior AP options in the history department, for example?  This would seem to pull the lower kids up and may help distribute grades more effectively. 
• We need to remember that our kids are innately advantaged already when it comes to reading, writing, and thinking. 
• Could we design a pilot program to test the effectiveness of non-AP courses and self-selected AP testers? 
• Obviously, any change would require at least a year-long process of research, intentional curriculum design, marketing, and implementation.

Action items:

1. Create a Task Force to review the research on the AP program, look at how other schools dealt with these questions, and consider effective Blair options.
2. Encourage departments to regularly review their AP offerings and the effectiveness of those courses in meeting the departments’ educational standards and goals. 

Looking Ahead:            We will plan on two more Roundtable Discussions in early April on the following topics:  Gender and Education at Blair and Moving Toward a Humanities Curriculum.

                                    In addition, we hope to return to the Action Items of all six Roundtable Discussions in late April to reflect on what we would like to move forward with.  Stay tuned for more information on this process in the weeks ahead.

Notes from Roundtable Discussion on Foundational Questions

PDC Thursday Roundtables—February 14, 2013:

Topic:  Foundational Questions:  What We Live and What We Believe

Attendees:  Hans Doerr, Marty Miller, Cindy Crowner, Mike Eckert, Andrew Sykes, Blair Buck, Ann Williams, Jason Beck

Reading:  Foundational Questions PDC Blog Post

Thoughts:  Using the questions below, our discussion ranged from the set of “buzz-words” that we fall back on in these types of conversations to how we differentiate ourselves in the marketplace:

• What are the essential learning outcomes or qualities of your students when they graduate?
• What is the desired relationship at your school between students, teachers, and knowledge?
• What is the differentiated value that your school offers to your clients?

While we didn’t come up with any real answers to these questions, they did lead us to a number of very good conversations about the nature of school life at Blair and places like Blair.  The notes below come at these questions from a wide-array of vantage points, but they suggest a natural desire for focused goal setting and that proactive approaches with a defined set of intended outcomes can be incredibly helpful for faculty and students both in the classroom and the broader community.

Particular questions and issues that were raised:

•  Independent learning, critical thinking, having an ethical compass, lifelong learning, living with passion:  while we may list these traits as important, don’t all schools want to do these things? 
• How do we instill a sense of stewardship in our kids?
• Old-style boarding school life created an Old-boy network that provided real value to their personal and professional lives.  Is that a value we create – whether intentional or unwanted?  Is our alum network a vital contribution to the lives of our graduates?  Should it be?  How can make the most of this network?
• So many of our students come from non-traditional boarding school backgrounds and are fully buying into our community and way of life with a non-cynical sense of service.  Some schools have made it their mission to produce leaders of education and social change institutions.  Should such a public service focus become a more intentional part of our community and educational function?
• Do all of our kids feel challenged to lead or serve?  While our best kids do wonderful things in this way, what kind of improvements do we engender for those who don’t arrive at Blair as leaders and servants?
• A Value-Added Approach demands that we not simply claim the credit for the accomplishments of our best kids, but that we look at what we have provided for our students who struggle.  While we work at this in an organic fashion, it is hard to quantify and exists without structure.
• How do we differentiate ourselves from other boarding schools?  We should easily provide value over public and day schools, but what about our peer and aspirational groups?   
• How do we create Academic Differentiation:  APs?, a place that teaches service and learning? Technology in education and life?
• Why are students successful at Blair?  How has the school changed?  What do students who leave Blair think were the real values of their experience here?
• The value of an intentional approach to community life, the dorm experience, community service, leadership training, academic issues.  Differentiation asks for a specific set of approaches to these important areas of school life. 
• There is a ton of value and learning that happens at Blair in all areas of life, but how can we make sure it is being maximized for all our students? 
• Things that could be an area of focus:  service-learning, global studies (we already have a developed international program in Kenya to draw upon), Housemaster-ing as an educational function, harkness learning, essay writing, humanities curriculums, etc
• How do help kids find academic curiosity?  How do the adults in this community model the learning and living behaviors we expect of our students?
• When asked what makes Blair special, the conversation tends to rightfully come back to “community”…  what does that mean?  And how can we highlight what is special about our academic approach?

Action items:

1.  Look at surveying recent alums (5 and 10 year) to more fully understand how the Blair experience provides value in their lives both in college and beyond.
2. Continue broad conversations about how Blair differentiates itself in the community and in the classroom.  Be aware of how other schools market their value-added approaches to school life, and see where opportunities exist for Blair to carve a niche. 
3. Continue to advocate for academic approaches that go beyond the basic:  flipped-classroom models, humanities curriculum, skill-set alignment by grade level, Harkness-style classrooms.
4. Encourage more people to attend the regular PDC Roundtable Discussions.

Looking Ahead:           Thursday, February 21^st at 6:30 PM in Clinton 205.
Topic:  Advanced Placement Courses:  Academic handcuffs or a valuable curriculum?