SHHS Student Work Samples

My goal for this blog entry is to display students work samples [and a variety of other information] from our first year as a one-to-one laptop high school. 

I am often asked how laptops are used in our classrooms.  In response, collecting random samples of student work seems like a good way to demonstrate laptop use at SHHS.  The blog format places this information in an easy to access format.  These samples are not necessarily the "best" and they certainly are not the only samples, but hopefully they can supply enough information to answer a few questions and initiate further conversation.   There are hundreds of examples of basic technology usage that could have been displayed, but the samples provided here have extended student thinking and demanded a command of new skill sets.

The first sample was developed by several students and one instructor at my request.  This video was created for a fall School Board meeting as one of our early reports on laptop progress.  It is an overview of the entire laptop process, and the students had to incorporate many different forms of technology to create this presentation. 

Next are two student created movies.... but very different in purpose.  The first movie was created for a technology class.  Students had great freedom of content and were encouraged to have fun with the content.   The purpose was to demonstrate skills learned in the video editing process, as opposed to demonstrating mastery of content.  The second video demonstrates using similar skills in a classroom in order to demonstrate mastery of content, and technology was the vehicle for the demonstration of mastery.

Movie One - demonstrating mastery of technology skills.....

Movie Two - using technology skills as a tool to demonstrate mastery of specific course content......

This next example is quite different.  In this example technology has provided a method of creating an alternative assessment for students, in this case a Spanish final.  The teachers gave the students options and guidelines for demonstrating proficiency, and this particular students decided to use a "voicethread" to create their presentation.

http://voicethread.com/?#u1826043.b2045908.i10839581


While more basic in nature, this student used Keynote [power point], but extended the value of the presentation by creating and importing visuals onto slides.  This is one slide from the presentation.

Students often import music to create effect and personalize projects close to their heart.   Student engagement increases when students take ownership in their work.  This project demonstrates such personalization.

A large variety of information can be gleaned from our school website.   You can spend some time surfing the entire website or I have also listed links to specific pages.

SHHS website...........        http://www.southhardin.k12.ia.us/

A link to visual arts samples, primarily technology enhanced photography....  http://www.southhardin.k12.ia.us/fine_arts/art/art.html



For another perspective on technology use at the high school, as well as various specific student opinions, here is a link to the student survey given in May 2011 in an effort to gather baseline data about the one-to- one laptop program.....

https://spreadsheets.google.com/gform?key=0AlF1mvWqRT3HdHc1OFRIT1dPcGhGQ1lfNjVldTRnSVE&authkey=CLu44bcJ&hl=en&gridId=0&pli=1#chart



Special effects can enhance projects and are "fun" for students.  Here are three examples of students including special effects into their video projects.

Special effects #1.....

Special effects #2.....

Special effects #3....

Students and faculty alike use technology to create and monitor assignments during their formative stages. These new lines of communication between all members of a learning community contribute to a student-centered environment.  Classroom management tools such as Study Wiz and Edmodo are used daily at the high school for this purpose.  The first example shows a teacher posting an assignment on-line, a student responding with their resulting completed draft of the assignment, and the student then allowing the class to see their work.  This process allows for input during group projects when members of a group are unable to find time to meet or are unable to attend school due to illness, while allowing peer and staff review during the initial stages of work.

Students create their assignments in virtual space, allowing for quick feedback from teachers and selective input from classmates.   Teachers are able to view and grade the creations in a completely paperless environment.  The following brochure is another sample of student created work.

Continuing with the same idea, this example shows one page of the students on-line portfolio [as well as a link to pages of student work], the teacher's directions posted and permanently available for the class, and the resulting complete assignment posted by the student.

As time allows, I will update this blog in a continued effort to provide samples of technology integration into the classroom.    




 

NASSP CONFERENCE 2011

Recently I attended my first National Secondary School Principals Conference.  The process of ENP administration attending national conventions had been routine for most of my first 20 years in the district, but that routine ended shortly after I became a Principal.  I had attended one national convention during my 15 year tenure as an A.D. , however, I attended that convention with the distinct purpose of passing the National Certified Athletic Administrator certification. There was no similar priority at this time.  I had negotiated/requested the opportunity to attend a national Principal's convention two years ago, but had not been able to convince myself to take the time “off” in order to attend, even though I had district support to do so.  However, the election of our new “education governor” made me realize this may be the last chance to attend with school district support.  So even though my wife could not take time off from her new job, I somewhat reluctantly decided to travel alone to San Francisco. 

It is probably a fair assumption that our staff would [accurately] describe me as a person who is not fond of attending meetings, listening to “experts”, or missing days of school.  I doubt that many would say I was looking for a $2000 vacation on the school's tab, but it would only be human nature if some felt that way.  So, keeping in mind that it is only fair to expect school leaders to practice what they preach, I felt a need to ensure personal focus by setting some accountability goals prior to my attendance.  Also, I feel there is an obligation to report on the conference to the staff, School Board and administration team members, as without their support, I would not have had this opportunity.  It is my hope that my notes from this trip not only give accountability, but improve my job performance and provide new insight and information for the SHHS staff.

What were my goals?

1 - Obtain new ideas and resources on a wide variety of topics.
2 - Increase my personal motivation.
3 - Evaluation of my effectiveness as a leader.
4 - Obtain a feel for what the strengths and weaknesses at SHHS appear to be.
5 - Obtain information on the Common Core and subsequent changes in standardized tests.
6 - Attend the vast majority of the sessions.
7 - Ride a cable car, eat at Fisherman's Warf, see the Pacific, and see the Golden Gate and Bay bridges.

The rest of this report is a mixture of potential resources and personal reflections.   Since it is impossible to recreate the context of each speakers presentation, some of these thoughts may seem incomplete or out of context.  It is also possible some ideas that have meaning for me may be old news to you, or you may completely disagree with the concepts.  That is OK.  Feel free to post a question or e-mail me for further definition.  Hopefully what is included here will demonstrate why I feel I reached my first six pre-conference goals.  Goal number seven was easy and obvious.  Just pay $35 and sit on a bus and in two or three hours they show you all the sites.

If you who really want the full experience of the conference, here is the link to all of the session....
http://www.nasspconference.org/        Go to the top tool bar and pick "sessions" [5th one from the left] and then in the menu on the left pick "browse sessions".    If you find a specific session you want more information on,  go to the menu and see if there was a handout in "session handouts".

Sessions were focused on 1) curriculum, assessment, and instruction, 2) Leadership and PLC's, and 3) school environment.  Sessions were separated by middle school and high school levels [in most cases].  There were also keynote speakers.  I tried to go to sessions of all types.  Conversations I had with random Principals from New York to Chicago to Tennessee to California were amazing and insightful.  For the most part I left the convention feeling really good about the things we are doing at SHHS.  In fact I attended several session where I silently felt a little like "an expert" in the room.  Two things really stuck out in my mind; 1) kids are the same everywhere, and we mostly have the same problems as other schools, and 2) Like many schools we are struggling to get students to challenge themselves.  [It is not so much that students won't do anything at all, as much as it is they don't want to have too much expected of them.  However, some schools appear to be able to raise the expectations, and in comparison to those schools, we have work to do.]  If we can figure out how to raise expectations for all we can then change our school structure in order to allow for expanding options for students at the top of the academic spectrum, which we need to do.  Notes embedded later in this blog from McNulty [below] are specific to this.

Technology:

• The  common theme was that technology can be a toy or a tool.  Make sure you know how your teachers are using technology in their classrooms.  
• Twitter - like it or not it is the best social learning tool out there, and you better know how to use it to your advantage.
• There is only one direct linear relationship in learning research, and that is the relationship between poverty and achievement.  Customized learning [including tech] closes this gap.
• Don't fool yourself, be aware of sodacontrol.org and many other sites that are built with the specific purpose of getting around schools blocks and filters. 
• All school e-mails need a statement at the bottom identifying that you cannot copy or forward the e-mail without the authors permission.  This provides limited protection from parental use of your e-mail content "against" you.
• There were several suggestions to use "google alert" to manage what is being said on the web about people in your building.  I am going to experiment with this myself before saying anything further.

Politics, including insight on the Common Core and future Assessments:

A link to interesting facts about comparative assessment results -
http://nasspblogs.org/principaldifference/2010/12/pisa_its_poverty_not_stupid_1.html

Common Core - I heard this from at least 4 different speakers -  States are being told  91% of their current curriculum is the same as the Common Core.  What they are not recognizing is that the Common Core standards are on average 2 years ahead of state core standards.  [example - the Common Core expects a skill to be learned 2 years earlier than most state curriculum]   State are also not making the connection that the new national assessment for the Common Core are almost completely written around quadrant D thinking.  The process of data driven instructional decision making [that schools have struggled with] is exactly the thinking levels these assessments are aimed at, and the level of questions the new assessments will ask.  Can students use research to synthesize data?  If they can't, they will struggle greatly with new assessments.  The new assessments will eliminate at least half of the posted benchmarks as tested items.  There will be few quadrant A questions.  Nine countries outperforming us on NAEP have narrowed their curriculum, and we need to as well, in order to prepare for these tests.

One keynote speaker [Diane Ravitich] was extremely accusatory of the motives of corporate American and politicians to the extent I will make no comments about her presentation on this blog other than to say that if her assumptions are even close to correct, we are in deep trouble not only in education, but as a nation.

Money for schools - It is a guarantee that the current policies on school funding are going to move to broaden competitive programs like Obama's Race to the Top, and eliminate most grants, such as Perkins.  Since both parties are backed by corporations that want schools to follow a business model, performance based pay is an eventual certainty.  If you examine Obama's education budget, you will see that schools competing for funding, rather than broad distribution of funding,  is a clear priority.

Charter Schools - Another priority shared by both the GOP and Obama, even though there is no research these schools really work.  There is not one piece of research that charter schools outperform public schools, however there is a recent Harvard study that supports the contrary.  There is not a single country that outperforms the U.S. on NAEP that supports charter schools.  There is also a recently released Harvard study stating that pushing all students towards four year schools is not a realistic path for employability after graduation.  This study indicates many students would be far more employable with appropriate two year degrees.

Gates Foundation - is pumping money into both sides of educational politic making in order to gain control of educator groups [who will not question the motives for fear of losing their current funding] while at the same time being a key player in the corporate movement to demand that teacher pay is solely based on student tests scores.

Climate and Culture:

Mindset, Carol Dweck - A must read.

Ray McNulty -  We must get out of the school design we have.  You raise student confidence in learning through empowerment.  We must motivate, excite, and create a passion.  Take a student interest survey to find out what kids are doing outside of school and incorporate this into learning.  Results of a national survey show the disconnection.  86% of teachers say they make the classroom interesting....41% of kids feel that way.  84% of teachers say they know their students interests....28% of students agree.  Relationships happen first, then relevance, then rigor becomes a self motivated by product.  McNulty expanded on what he termed the "participation gap" which is too long to explain here, but key points for SHHS are getting kids involved in the learning process so they know what good learning looks like, and making kids responsible for who they will become.  The idea of surveying kids to find out their interests and surveys to discover where schools are disconnected has modestly priced resources......
http://www.iknowsurvey.com     and       http://www.successfulpractices.org/

Bullying and Harassment:
I attended two sessions on this topic, and it came up in several other sessions.  There were many suggestions about policy and procedures, some of which I will consider for next year.  There were numerous warnings about the courts starting to hold teachers and principals personally and financially liable during the most extreme situations when victims cannot get settlements from the school.

• One of the better references was from Canyon Vista High School in Texas and their principal, B.J. Paris.  http://www.bjparis.org/   They have written a lot into their policies, but specifically "I was only kidding" is identified [and Texas court tested] as being a non-defense that will demand a consequence. They advise against conflict mediation, as it further victimizes the victim. They do a lot of education with kids at the beginning of the year, and follow-up as needed.  They get the media involved.  They educate teachers against "teacher baiting" [making a teacher mad in class and them recording it for YouTube]. 
• Lewis and Brunner, http://www.edu-safe.org/,  The organization Safe and Secure Schools emphasizes many of the same things, but gives tips for educating all students on bystander and student responsibilities, and parental education.   This session had a second component, one we will be implementing, which is the creation of a "threat assessment" team.  This team uses government provided procedures and policies to develop a process to determine the level of reaction and timeliness when threats are found on notes, bathroom walls, etc.
  

Classroom Management:   Chane Beam
When a kid does not know what to do they lack success and they either, 1) sit and do nothing, or 2) talk and act out.   Undesirable behavior is driven by a need to need to be successful.  When a kid is embarrassed they will do anything to keep from looking stupid.  Their view of success is not the same as the adult view.    Teacher sarcasm creates an atmosphere that says embarrassment is OK, and destroys student confidence. Kids must be able to feel safe from embarrassment to be successful.   


Instruction:
Reflective Assessment - John B. Bond  - A form of metacognition, backed by 10 research studies.

• Relates to lesson closure, "I learned", "the week in review", and "key idea" statements.
• Combine "I learned....." strategies with think aloud strategies.  This helps kids learn to write, and can be an effective strategy for lesson closure.
• Question authoring strategies - making kids write test/lab/quiz questions makes them revisit learning - they don't have to know the answers - over time they will write better questions.
• Question of the week - a Monday morning task for focus/interest and closure later - encourage them to ask other adults in the building/home for input.  Revisit at the end of the week.
• Reflective thinking is a way to make kids responsible, and is student centered.
• Research shows that the best number of students for think aloud strategies is two -  this strategy helps build student comfort level in the room and builds confidence that leads to engagement.

Hart, Natale, Starr - Recognizing rigorous and engaging teaching and learning.

• An interesting set of notes were provided which I intend to have faculty read these at some point.  There is a close relationship between these idea and the characteristics of effective instruction.

Bill Daggett - keynote speaker - Reading in the content area should be the nation's number one educational priority.  Rigor and relevance are they key, and standards should be rewritten to reflect that.  We must eliminate the "nice to know" - the new assessments will eliminate at least half of the benchmarks as tested items.  Teaching to the test may not sound like the right thing to do, but it is our current political priority.  What NCLB did to Principals, the new testing will do to teachers [fear of losing your livelihood].  Figure out how to play the game, while teaching guiding principals [honestly, citizenship, loyalty, etc.] and move on. 

Staffing / Personal Reflection:

http://www.toddwhitaker.com/     I went to several sessions put on by Todd Whitaker, not only because he generally has some good ideas, but because he could probably be a stand up comic.  I wondered into "Dealing with Difficult Teachers" after first going to a rigor session.  The content at the rigor session was OK, but the presentation was poor at best.  Whitaker ended up being a very good session, not because we have difficult teachers, but because I learned a lot about myself.  A  profile he presented made me realize I am a "difficult person" from time to time.  I knew this, but I needed to hear it in another context.  There was also some very good advise for dealing with situations and difficult people of all ages.  A few points...

• Deal with difficult situations when you are ready, don't rush into them.  Rushing into it gives the other side the control.  Especially with kids, once a situation is stable, allow them to sit and reflect on what they may already know was a mistake.
• Approach people from the side.  Face to face at times draws a line in the sand.
• Develop conversation strategy to put the "monkey" on other people and off of yourself.
• Emotions in difficult situations are crucial..."I was mad..." is no where effective as "I was hurt..." when trying to explain to someone that their actions were unacceptable.
• It is OK to repeat certain thoughts in a tough conversation in order to make the other party repeatedly hear it.
• Documentation is a legal necessity, but since it severs relationships, make it the last card you play.
• End a difficult conversation with "I am telling you this because if I was you, I would want to know" in order to give perspective.
• When the Principal sneezes, everybody in the building catches a cold - this can be good and bad. Everything you do is a leadership piece.
• There is next to no place for sarcasm in a school setting.
• At the end of the day, "I am sorry that happened" always helps, and does not have to mean it was your fault.

Random "ah-ha" Moments:

• We need to "sell" our credibility and connect to parents.... statements such as "As a parent I...."
• When talking with parents - "he won't do homework" is wrong approach....instead identify which homework is missing and what specific skill is deficient to get to the root of the academic problem.  Give the parents and student a starting point for recovery.
  
• Accurate student self record keeping will raise the consciousness of the task at hand [adult pulse rate example].  Ask kids [and parents] to keep tract of time on a task/goal.   This is a real eye opener to those thinking they are working as hard as they can.
• Ask yourself - is your classroom questioning making kids more reflective, or more impulsive?
• Broad based research results - nationally teachers "out-talk kids" in the classroom 3 minutes to 1.
• Can a culture be changed?   Think back 25 years to sexism and tobacco in commercials and then think of current total lack of acceptance of these ideas.
• Teach the kids what the 4 R's are, so they recognize good teaching.  One school has kids select the "best" rigor/relevance lessons and have an assembly rewarding those teacher lessons chosen by students.
• At Commencement have all students stand to be recognized after the top 10/12 are recognized.
• As NCLB standards begin to erode public confidence, we will need to show the public "who we are as a school" and that school achievement and high test scores are not synonyms.
• We have to get away from what we like and know [lessons on "our" favorite novels, pet science labs, reciting formulas] and get on to connections that excite kids about learning....but unless we ask kids, we don't know their interests.  We should even consider asking kids..."how would you teach this?"
• A key to better understanding might be to stop calling it formative assessment and instead call it formative instruction.
• Its people not programs.  Make every decision based on supporting your best teachers.
• Make the first day of school a special instructional day in the classroom and invite the media.....there is plenty of time for rules and procedures.  Engagement is key, as is PR.
• Bell to Bell Instruction - an important point for overwhelmed teachers - this does not mean you lecture bell to bell.....it means you keep ALL kids engaged bell to bell with differentiation and focus on student-centered activities that require you to facilitate, but it does not require you to be the only speaker for 45/90 minutes.

Tech Topics

Welcome to my first effort at self created blogging with the SHHS staff. 

As you know we just finished a student tech survey.   Next we have to figure out how to evaluate and share that data.   We will soon be doing some form of a faculty survey, and later a parental survey, in order to further establish baseline data.   I would like to have you help formulate the faculty survey by proposing questions for the survey.  Please post concise and complete sample questions to this link..........https://spreadsheets0.google.com/ccc?key=tr35BVYda7GP7cgb45J2hMg&authkey=CPjgxcAD&hl=en&authkey=CPjgxcAD#gid=0

In order to hope to create some interest in blogging as a classroom activity,  I am posting a photo from my home album and a short video taken on vacation,  just to show how easy it is to add features that help create student interest.

 You can use this blog just to a) experiment with responding to a blog, or b) make other tech comments as you feel needed.


By the way - pics and video from Contoy Island, a game reserve.  We went there from Isla Mujerus, which is an island we stayed at which is off the coast of Cancun about 3 miles.