Avoiding Cookie Cutter Syndrome

Pearson & #OntSM

Daniel — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 01:33:34 +0000

Here is the Storify (?) that I have created to curate the tweets from #ontsm this past weekend. I’m still mulling over how I want to respond to the entire situation but I thought it worthwhile to make note of the many, many interesting tweets related to the event. Some questions that I have “marinating” are:

Is there anything inherently wrong with the use of focus groups by corporations that work in the education sector?
Should discussions related to the use and implications of social media for stakeholders in education be
What are the similarities/differences between the recent “Google Apps for Education” event and this one by Pearson Education?
Is the Ministry of Education involved in discussions related to the use of social media in education?
What are the characteristics of the interactions between various individuals and groups within this apparent subculture of “connected” Ontario educators?
What does the response after the event say about the state of education in Ontario and the relationships between Ontario educators?

If you attended this event or watched it from afar, what questions are most pertinent for you?

Creating Common Craft Videos in History Class

Daniel — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 02:52:50 +0000

Last December, during Unit Three: 1939-1959 in my Grade Ten Canadian History class, I decided to depart from the newspaper project which was the summative assignment for the unit. In its place, I wanted to provide my students with more choice in both content and format. I also wanted to try to link their final product more explicitly to the curriculum documents.

The result was the Unit Three: 1939-1959 Self-Directed Group Assignment. Click on the link to view the assignment instructions that I gave to students. Essentially I wanted them to make the following choices in their groups:

Identify if they would focus on aspects of Historical Significance (HS) or Continuity and Change (C&C).
Explicitly identify and incorporate four curriculum outcomes in their final product (I gave them this Curriculum Body of Evidence chart with explicit overall expectations from the Ontario curriculum documents)
Pick a topic for their content
Pick a format for their assignment: a Common Craft-style video or a Human Wax Museum

Here are some of the results:

C&C Science and Technology WWI to WWII from Daniel Ballantyne on Vimeo.

I will save my reflections on this activity for another post, but feel free to leave your feedback or questions below.

TVO’s The Agenda Twitter Stream

Daniel — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 02:25:04 +0000

Today I attended a taping of the Agenda at the Communitech Hub in Kitchener. The topic was “Learning 2030″ and various individuals discussed what schools will look like in eighteen years. In short it was fascinating. Here are the tweets below:

Twitter & Teacher PD

Daniel — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:39:15 +0000

Since I began using twitter a couple of years ago it has become an important tool for my professional development. Below is an example of the types of conversations that are facilitated by Twitter:

Yes, it was an intense conversation, but what I enjoyed was the collegiality of the process. These conversations push my thinking and challenge my assumptions as a teacher. In short, they help me to continually pursue the stance of a ‘life long learner’.

Teaching Civics in Ontario

Daniel — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 14:05:54 +0000

I recently responded to a post on TVO’s The Agenda blog asking teachers to share a tool which is indispensable to their teaching. I found this after reading a great post by Rick McCleary on his use of Twitter in the classroom and was inspired to share my use of the Civic Mirror in my Civics courses. After sending in my response, I was contacted by TVO to write a guest blog, similar to Rick’s, explaining why I think Civic Mirror is so useful. Here is my submission:

Here is a picture of an invaluable tool that I use in my Grade Ten Civics courses, the Civic Mirror. I have taught the Civics course for 8 years and, as you might imagine, engaging students in the study of Canadian government and politics can be a challenge.

Prior to using Civic Mirror it was a struggle to engage students in a topic like responsible citizenship. Most would argue that they were “good” citizens, and would support their assertion with examples like recycling their garbage or being friendly to their neighbours. Although these are both great things to do, I believe that what they should know about participating in our society goes much further. While the Ministry curriculum provides excellent criteria (active, informed, purposeful) for judging what a responsible citizen looks like, my previous civics course did not provide a suitable context where students could actually practice being responsible citizens.

This is the greatest strength of the Civic Mirror; it acts like a civics laboratory where students can engage in behaviors that they probably would not be able to in the ‘real’ world. The Civic Mirror creates an authentic learning environment where students can take on the role of a citizen in a country that their class creates. Having the opportunity to create a business, run for office, make and break contracts, provide for or neglect a (fictitious) family, lobby politicians, engage in graft, allows students to reflect on who they really are and what is important to them. Reflecting on their behavior in the Civic Mirror allows them to begin to see themselves in the larger context of Canadian society.

This reflection and connection with themselves and their peers occurs within the framework of the Canadian Constitution and the political institutions of the Federal government. While slightly modified (there is no Governor General or Senate), it is through this simulation that students are able to understand difficult concepts like the political spectrum as they create their own political parties, and public/private ownership when they debate who should control their country’s resources.

The classroom country simulation is not a new idea, however, the Civic Mirror incorporates online and in-class activities which engage students, especially boys, in topics (like the constitution and how a bill becomes a law!) that they would normally find boring. When they are the victims of an injustice, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms becomes very real. They begin to understand why the rule of law is so fundamental to our society and why social programs have been created in response to unjust situations. However, they also begin to understand the role of markets as they manage their country’s economy, how freedom can be squelched by too much government involvement through over-regulation, and just how difficult it is to have the initiative to become an entrepreneur.

Gamificaiton is currently a buzzword in education and the Civic Mirror exemplifies the best of this trend by harnessing the potential of a game but linking it with sound pedagogy to enable students to meet the majority of the Ministry’s curriculum expectations. What makes it indispensible is that it does this in a way that is centered on student inquiry and problem-based learning; in short, the students are given agency within a broad framework created by the Civic Mirror. As Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown describe in their book, A New Culture of Learning, “when play happens within a medium for learning… it creates a context in which information, ideas, and passions grow” (2011, p.18).

After experiencing the Civic Mirror, students are more knowledgeable, engaged, and passionate about their role as Canadian citizens and in my view, that is the purpose of a Civics course. That is why I could not teach Civics without it.

Back to the blog!

Daniel — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 13:57:28 +0000

As you can see by the lack of activity I’ve taken a hiatus from the Cookie Cutter. As I put the finishing touches on my M.Ed thesis I hope that trend will be reversed. I have so much that I would like to say about education but have had to work to stay focused on the thesis. Hopefully a portion of the 5-20 hours a week that I set aside for thesis work can be redirected towards sharing my thoughts with you here.

Ballantyne@BCI App for iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch is Now available!

Daniel — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 01:20:22 +0000

I have finally got the green light from Apple to release my classroom app. Here is the link to the page in the iTunes Store.

I used the third-party web app developer site, Conduit Mobile to build the app. Essentially it is an RSS feed from my classroom blog. But I have also included a Youtube feed for future video publishing, an “email” me button, and a class calendar. By now means is this complex or breaking any new ground but I’m hoping that it provides my students with one more way to connect with me and extend their learning.

Check it out and let me know what you think. Any suggestions are welcome.

The Value of Deviance

Daniel — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 13:26:56 +0000

I recently heard that Vladimir Putin has proposed to define a 100 book, definitive canon of Russian literature that all students must read before they can graduate. Beyond the somewhat disturbing nature of this proposal, it got me thinking about conformity and deviance within education.

In my everyday teaching practice I find that there are forces of conformity from my colleagues who are teaching the same course, district expectations on which “high yield strategies” I should be using, and Ministry expectations as outlined by the curriculum. And I want to make it explicit that I think these forces are good, conformity brings cohesion and consistency, fairness and accountability. But it also creates boundaries by defining things and setting a “norm” from which we can compare.

I also find that there are forces of deviance at play, pushing back against the gravity of conformity. It may be a unique group of students, with varying interests and abilities. My own set of expectations and habits, my own strengths and understandings. Deviance in my classroom practice allows for exploration, spur of the moment tangential discussion. Deviance from the “plan”, “norm”, or today’s “learning goal” allows for spontaneous engagement through links with the unexpected connections that may reveal themselves at the oddest juncture.

I used the picture above to discuss how to write “powerful questions” with my history class yesterday. My plan was for 15 minutes. It lasted the entire lesson. Now I am a day “behind”.

Uh oh. Deviance is “inefficient”.

We struggled to understand this concept of a powerful question, partly because it represents a new way of thinking and teaching. It is a deviation from the norm for both student and teacher. We’re in it together, learning as we go. The point was to apply clear criteria that define what a powerful question is to student generated questions about the picture. It was tough going and not an easy task for many as we got used to framing our decisions and explanations in the criteria. Many questions we came up with were opinion based but not truly criteria driven. This is the big transition that is a goal of our course… we want our students to develop, in the words of Hemmingway, “a built-in, shock-proof crap detector” by sharpening their critical thinking skills.

Conformity in our learning goals.

What is the value of deviance? Perhaps it lies in the ability to support a shared learning goal like developing an effective crap detector.

What do you think?

Image Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/worldnews/5972503/Hunting-shooting-and-fishing-with-Vladimir-Putin-Russias-man-of-action.html?image=16

Business Intelligence and Education

Daniel — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 14:07:13 +0000

A lifetime ago I worked in sales for a small consulting firm that specialized in business intelligence software. My job was to sell Cognos (now owned by IBM) software licenses to retail companies. For the record, I was a horrible salesman… and that was with a great product that I believed in!

The product was a powerful tool for organizing and exploring information that was created by the company. In sales the usefulness of this type of software is pretty obvious. It allowed you to “see” which product was driving sales; in which region, at what time, according to whatever attribute you chose to focus on. It laid the ground work for such management concepts as “Balanced Scorecard”.

Besides learning that I wasn’t very good at sales, I also learned about the power of having the right information at the right time. If either of those two things are absent (wrong info at the right time, or right info at the wrong time) then informed decision making won’t be possible. And we all want to make “informed” decisions, right? At least to the best of our ability.

After reading this article “Top 5 Ed Tech predictions for 2012” and finding the first prediction about the use of analytics and business intelligence going mainstream, I began to reflect on my short time in this field and what tools that are similar to what I used to sell might do for education. This also draws a bit on a recent conversation I had with Scott Kemp. You can read about his thoughts that emerged from the conversation here.

In an earlier post I discussed the benign nature of data, and this appears to be a continuing theme through my post here on the Cookie Cutter. Setting aside for a moment that our selection of which data to use can narrow our focus of what is truly important or meaningful, I wonder what a tool that allows teachers to organize their student “data” would look like?

I’ve read about how some educators are using Evernote as a formative assessment tool with students. I’ve even begun my own experiment which has been hit and miss. But I want to extend that idea.

What would it look like to have transparency in student data across subjects and grade levels? If you could see the comments and feedback between a student and their other teachers, regardless of subject, what would that mean for your specific strategies for that student? What if you could track the progress of a student year to year?

I can already think of one potential objection, that a new course and teacher offers a student a “new start”. Sure, we wouldn’t want to label a student early on and then perpetuate that label unfairly if it is damaging to them in some way. But couldn’t transparency between teachers allow for more perspective and a more accurate picture of the student? Could it avoid damaging labels in the first place?

I would love to read about how a student is writing in their other classes. To see if there is a pattern in their reading comprehension or work habits. I would love to know that they are getting instruction in paragraph structure and citation formats in semester one from their English teacher so that I can continue and build on this when they come to my History class in semester two. I would also like to know that the “excitable” student thrives on activities that involve kinaesthetic problem solving in Phys-Ed and had great success creating a class game for a summative evaluation. I can use that “data” to tailor my own classroom activities and curriculum expectations in such a way that those skills and positive experiences of success can be leveraged to engage and build success in my course.

I see a convergence coming (or I hope to see…) where we begin to capture current data (grades, attendance etc.); create new, more meaningful data to get a more complete picture of student learning and progress in all classes for all educators who interact with the student. I think cloud computing, web 2.0 and social media tools, affordable devices, BYOD, and ubiquitous WiFi are all pieces to this puzzle that are available now. Using business intelligence tools to manage the data that we create with students and teachers is the piece that has yet to be imagined (it appears to me). I think an even bigger challenge will be in the implementation of this vision for the use of student data. Resources in education are scarce and change is glacial, but I can’t wait to see what happens.

This may not be a prediction for 2012… maybe more like 2022?

Off My Game

Daniel — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 03:21:02 +0000

I had one of those classes this week.

You know, the ones where the conversation veers off on a tangent, takes a backflip, lands and runs on to another series of tangents. We were all over the map that day.

I love conversation. I love learning through conversation. Often I find that I learn a lot from my students when they are comfortable sharing in the conversation.

That day though, this openness felt more like a liability. Openness isn’t far from honesty and sometimes the “truth” hurts. What frustrates me is when that “truth” is uninformed, insensitive, judgemental.

That day we talked about the culture of school and the role of the teacher and student. We talked about the power dynamics of this situation. How teachers are not compensated based on student learning and why it might be a bad idea to do that. I was frustrated by my inability to communicate this point in a way that they could understand. And by understand I mean agree with me. Perhaps that is my problem, I want them to agree…

We also talked about designing the classroom to accommodate the various learning “styles” of those present. This was seen as the teacher’s responsibility, and failure if the students did not learn. This is what got me today. Is it really all MY responsibility when a student doesn’t learn? Are there no other factors involved in the learning process? That is too unrealistic an expectation for me to accept.

What was especially ironic and served to support my point that accommodation is difficult is that a student told me afterwards that they didn’t like the conversation, they want more textbook work, quiet reading and less open conversation.

So I went home that night and I considered this potentially discouraging development. I was discouraged right up until I walked back into the classroom the next day.

I decided to set a positive tone, welcoming those who arrived early. We had another one of our usual discussions, lots of opinions, struggles to link new knowledge with adolescent experience/perspective. As I saw some eyes begin to roll, perhaps upset that I was letting things run off in an unplanned direction, I decided to let them “behind the curtain” and addressed it head on.

“Why do you think I let the class talk so much?” Then answering my own question… “Because you can sometimes teach each other better than I can.”

Lots of surprised looks… teachers aren’t supposed to say that, right? The student who was just brilliantly explaining a concept to a peer looks embarrassed but proud of herself.

Maybe I have recovered a little of what I felt I had lost the previous day. Not control so much, but maybe a little “street cred” that I DO know what I’m doing on occasion. And that is to get them to think and believe that this education is their own and no one else’s.