Mindfulness: In a Nutshell

Here is some great information that I got at the Southeaster Minnesota School Counselor’s Association’s Fall conference.  I went to a Mindfulness presenter and l got excited about all the ways we can incorporate it at Friedell.  Some interesting points:

 

 Ted Talks - Andy Puddicombe All It Takes is 10 Min of Mindfulness (Great video summarizing info below)

·         Described adults and children have too many “tabs open”.  Thinking and multi-tasking too much

·         We are all living in a state of continuous, partial attention (raise in attention-deficit and mental health in humans)

·         We need to be in the moment in order to fully experience any positive or negative emotions or experiences.  When we do not take that time, we don’t fully appreciate the positives in our lives, and we don’t allow the negative thoughts dissipate.  These negative moments/thoughts stay with us.

·         We are not our thoughts, saying “I am angry”, registers in our conscious as our persona being an emotion.  It is important for us to meditate on the emotion in order for us to process what we are feeling.  Then we can chose the thoughts we want to keep and the ones we want to discard.

·         We need a stress response in life to do things like get out of bed and face the duties of the day

·         Our stress responses date back to the caveman running for his life from predators, however, we not utilize our stress responses to our modern day responsibilities and challenges.

·         The mind traps we get caught up in:

o   Catastrophizing – believe the extreme consequence will happen

o   Mind –reading- “I know what he really meant by that”

o   Discounting the positive – spend 10 to 15 seconds in a positive moment to truly appreciate it (don’t be a Teflon pan, let it stick J)

o   Black and white thinking – it has to be one way or the other

o   Blaming others instead of looking at how our own responses have contributed

o   Generalizations – This always happens, they never, everyone else

·         Each day, periodically ask yourself, “What am I doing right now?”, “What am I thinking about?”, “Am I happy?”

·         A wandering mind is an unhappy mind

·         We have not taught our children what calm down looks like, or helped them actually practice the skills of calming down

·         Stress is an epidemic, a 2013 study shows that the #1 stress in children is school. 

·         Stress= tired and depressed

·         Teachers are feeling more stressed now, due to frequent interruptions, not being able to complete all the tasks they set out to do, and caring deeply about what they do.

·         As teachers we should ask ourselves each hour, “Am I present, am I focused, am I empathetic?”

·         Mindfulness is being present in whatever you are going thought, good or bad

·         Mindfulness is NOT thinking about nothing

·         Mindfulness is NOT being happy all the time

·         Mindfulness is NOT only living in the present and never thinking about the future or past

·         Mindfulness is the opposite of multi-tasking, which is why it is hard for people to do because we take pride in multi-tasking

·         Sometimes mindfulness is reflecting on uncomfortable moments, which makes it effective for students who are having behaviors.  They reflect on the stressor, their response and then let the moment pass to work on alternative responses in the future.

·         Mindfulness gives us the power of pause

·         When we as teachers/parents take pause after a stressor, it invites the child to take a pause.

·         Mindfulness does NOT need to be lengthy.  Mini-mindfulness is being used in classrooms, 1 minute before class starts and 1 minute after (as time allows)

Noel X

     Last spring, Noel Carlson gave a TED X talk to the Friedell staff. We laughed, cried, and were inspired. I asked Noel for permission to post her presentation.

                 Laugh • Listen • Live

 Here is Noel X:

https://docs.google.com/a/isd535.org/presentation/d/1nDHxCtLvOHa_TWejeq30VW-hzPbkp1ka_nC7ogKQAVE/edit?usp=docslist_api

Connected learning is the new literacy

For decades now, literacy has been upheld as the most important factor in a student’s success at school.  In the early grades, half or more of a student’s day has been devoted to reading and writing.  While it is undoubtedly true that the ability to read can make or break a student’s education, I’ve learned throughout the course of LDT632 that literacy is no longer what a student does alone with a text.

“What is defined as literate today may not suffice tomorrow, given the fast-paced changes in technology” (Richardson, W. & Mancabelli, R., 2011, p. 23).

Students in tomorrow’s world will need to be literate in an entirely new way.  I would argue that while reading is essential, connected learning is now so essential to a child’s success that to not teach it is not preparing a child for a successful future.

A new literacy

Gone are the days in which editors and publishers controlled the flow of information.  In today’s world we can know anything we want to know, and also a lot of things we didn’t want to know.  Our students no longer need us to teach them to parrot back facts that they can Google.  They need to know how to read Google.

They’ll need to be able to critically analyze texts from a variety of sources, both reputable and non-reputable.  They’ll need to understand how the information they’re seeing differs from what others are seeing.  They need to know why both Trump supporters and Hillary supporters are so sure they’re right.

In an unfiltered world, our kids also need to know how to publish ethically.  Whereas we shared our feelings to a diary under lock and key, they have a Facebook account and Snapchat.  Our children’s resume is already being written from the time they have their first Google account at the age of 5.

“How can you make sure that every student who walks on graduation day is well Googled by his or her full name?” (Richardson, n.d., loc. 403).

Source:  http://ministry-to-children.com/exit-interviews-for-childrens-ministry/

Relationships are key

Educational research has long established the teacher-student relationship as one of the largest predictors of student success in any classroom.  However, in a connected world, this relationship is only one of many factors.  Students interact in a web of relationships with their family, school, and within the classroom.  Today’s student’s web also extends into the world, including online relationships and real-world publishing.

One could argue that we should block social media from the classroom, but the reality is that our children are already going home and connecting to the online world.  Rather than shut it out, we should develop our abilities to make this world into a rich resource for our students.  As this online world becomes a greater part of our economy, our students will need to be literate in order to be successful.

Beyond the bubble sheet

“People who can innovate and generate new value with their knowledge will lead employment growth. Those who do not will be replaced with machines, outsourced, or be outmoded by those who can” (Moravec, 2013, p. 22).

Traditional literacy and a solid foundation of knowledge are still essential skills for tomorrow’s employees.  Without a solid foundation in knowledge, learners cannot operate at high levels of thinking (Willingham, 2009).  However, in preparing tomorrow’s learners we can’t stop at knowledge.  We need to use that knowledge to do something meaningful (Moravec, 2015).

Source:  http://complexionsbeautysalon.co.uk/vu-optical-bubble-answer-sheet.php

Tomorrow’s workers won’t be able to just replicate the work we’re doing today.  Our new literacy means not only consuming knowledge and learning skills, but also producing and contributing new value and sharing it with the world.  Let’s make sure our kids are contributing value today in the work they do in the classroom.  We need to move beyond learning that can easily be measured with a bubble sheet.

“Teach less, learn more”

“So what if we were to say that, starting this year, even with our children in K–5, at least half of the time they spend on schoolwork must be on stuff that can’t end up in the Friday Folder?” (Richardson, n.d., loc 497).

I would imagine that most any teacher you ask would rather do work with her students that can’t fit in a Friday folder.  But, most of us feel held back by the pressure to help students pass a test that still measures knowledge in fact form.  Despite its revered status as a leader in education, Singapore has faced a similar struggle.  In its “teach less, learn more” campaign, Singapore has attempted to reduce curriculum content in order to free teachers to spend more time on 21st century skills.  However, the high-stakes tests that evaluate students and schools are still measuring facts.  As long as schools are evaluated based on test scores, teachers will teach to the tests (Hogan, 2014).

“Performance-based assessments, where students actually have to do something with what they know, tell us volumes more about their readiness for life than bubble sheets or contrived essays.” (Richardson, n.d., loc. 363)

Change the test

We measure what we value.  As long as we’re measuring facts, we’ll value facts.  If we really want to prepare our students for the future, we need to have the courage to change the status quo and change the test.

References

Hogan, D. (2014). “Why is Singapore’s school system so successful, and is it a model for the West?”   Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/why-is-singapores-school-system-so-successful-and-is-it-a-model-for-the-west-22917

Moravec, J.  (2015).  “Building a manifesto for evolving learning.”  Retrieved from AldEtoyZy2k

Richardson, W.  (N.d.).  Why school?  How education must change when learning and information are everywhere.  [Kindle edition]  Retrieved from amazon.com.

Willingham, D. (2009).  Why don’t students like school?  A cognitive scientist answers questions about how the mind works and what it means for the classroom.  San Fransisco, CA:  John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Institute For Courageous Leadership

I am fortunate to be a member of a cohort of leaders participating in a two year program, Institute for Courageous Principal Leadership, through Minnesota State University. The focus of this work centers around increasing our capacity to eliminate achievement gaps which are racially predictable, especially so in the state of Minnesota.

Our cohort came together for three days in July to begin this work together. We will be collaborating with leaders from around the state including, Mankato, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and other metro districts. Day one was an opportunity to dialog with our newly established small groups, participate in activities such as concentric circle based sharing as well as hearing from a panel of principals who are past participants of the Institute. I recall feeling that we just jumped in on the deep end when we were asked to discuss (with people we were meeting for the first time) how schools have contributed to the recent police shootings in our state and nation. We participated in Beyond Diversity training on days two and three. I have been part of this training in the past and was grateful for the opportunity to refresh my learning as we focused on the four agreements and six conditions outlined in Singleton's Courageous Conversations About Race.

Moving forward we will come together once a month to continue our conversation and our learning. We'll be examining Strengths Based Leadership, we'll be exploring further how whiteness and white culture impact student achievement, and we'll all be carrying out a research project which will be shared with the cohort during the course of the next two years.

The three days were energizing and thought provoking. No matter how many times I engage in learning and discussion on this topic, I consistently realize how much I don't know... or fail to consider...when making decisions that impact students. And this is an unintentional omission we cannot afford to continue given that we are teaching in a state that leads the pack in terms of racially predictable achievement gaps.

Hands Free Life...9 Habits for Overcoming Distraction, Living Better, and Loving More

My oldest daughter, who is also a teacher, recommended this book (by Rachel M Stafford) to me.  In both my personal and professional lives, I am often overwhelmed by the many distractions that divert my attention from what is really important in life-my relationships-to give & love fully to those who share this journey with me. 

As we begin another school year, one that usually starts out with MANY distractions, I hope that I can stay focused on what really matters and not get too overwhelmed by all the crazy details!

I will end this post with a quote from the book:
"And the only thing people regret is that they didn't live boldly enough, that they didn't invest enough heart, didn't love enough.  Nothing else really counts at all."

Twitter's Impact on Me

Wendy Moritz asked for people to share how Twitter has impacted them.  After typing my response to her, I thought it would be worthy of sharing with my Friedell colleagues as well.  Twitter has been very powerful in my professional career... I encourage you to consider connecting with others through Twitter!

I've been pondering how to summarize how much Twitter has made a difference in my professional career in the past 7 months since I signed up, started following people, and joined in on RPSLead chats.  The funny thing is that I was so hesitant to join Twitter until attending the TIES conference last December.  I tried to stay out of social media and didn't want to engage in the politics and entertainment world I "thought" Twitter was.  I signed up for Twitter in the van ride to TIES and learned more about the professional power of Twitter as it was mentioned over the next few days.  WOW!  I had no idea the professional collaboration taking place on Twitter!  My Twitter feed contains little to no politics/entertainment, but a wealth of amazing things that are making me a better educator and person. A couple weeks ago, I just shared with a new teacher at my building that Twitter has been one of the best professional development opportunities I've been involved in throughout my 12 years of teaching.

Throughout the past two years after transferring back to middle school at Friedell and working with diverse groups of learners with such different learning needs, my philosophy of teaching and vision of where I want to guide students has evolved dramatically.  Working with our instructional coach, Laura Willis, as well as amazing colleagues has challenged me to be better and push further to make a difference and truly transform what learning looks like in my classroom.  I want learning to be relevant, real-life, engaging, student driven, and inspire students to become curious about the world around them.  This is much different than the more traditional educational setting I've seen over my past 12 years of teaching in Rochester Public Schools.  I want students to have growth mindset and believe that they can (and will) do great things as long as they keep trying and learn from experiences.

Collaboration... Twitter has allowed me to connect and collaborate with amazing people with a wealth of experience and knowledge from all over the world that are doing just what my vision involves!  Reading what others share has inspired me to go further, take risks, and build my toolkit with so many ideas to inspire those that step into my classroom for years to come.  It's so easy to connect and learn from others!

RPSlead Chats... In our teaching profession, we often don't get much time to share the great things we are doing in our own little worlds/classrooms.   I participated in several RPSlead chats throughout the past school year (and even moderated one.) Talk about a power hour!  Twitter has allowed me a glimpse into other classrooms and schools right here in Rochester!  I've been inspired and feel pushed by those within our own district!  We have many rock stars!  This has allowed me to feel connected and motivated to continue on my mission of being innovative in order to make a difference to those (students, staff, families) I am fortunate to work with.

Reflection... Many people on Twitter share research or different perspectives that allows me to challenge my thinking, practices, and how I will change my actions to benefit students.  This practice is something I also want my students to engage in, so it's a powerful personal experience I will be able to share.

Innovating... One author, Angela Maiers shares, "When you are not sharing your brilliant ideas, you are doing a disservice to others." It's not bragging but rather sharing things that may help others. I've begun to share amazing things that are happening in my classroom and school.  Although they may seem small and not profound to me (I always want everything to be amazing!), they may spark something and inspire someone else to make it their own and do something great in turn impacting even more learners!   I'm not on Twitter all the time, but within a short 30 minutes a day, I'm saving at least 5-20+ ideas that have sparked something in me whether it be education research, best practices, relevant ideas, or something that may transpire into an amazing learning experience for my students.  Our world is filled with amazing things to learn and explore; it's our job as educators to help students learn how to navigate it and spark the curiosity that will inspire them to be life long learners.

It's so hard to summarize, but these are a few of the benefits I've personal experienced with Twitter.  I encourage others to jump on in and join Twitter.  Join an RPSlead chat or come see me, and I'll help you get started!

Follow me or check out ideas I've shared... @KellyStroeing

Erin and I attended the Minnesota Humanities Center Summer Educator's Institute: Transforming Education Through Absent Narratives at the end of June. While it was incredibly long days and loaded with tons of information, we did enjoy ourselves and came away with lots of new ideas. Here are some things we would like to share:

Humanities Center Core Values:
Build and strengthen relationships
Recognize the power of story and the danger of absence
Learn from and with multiple voices
Amplify community solutions for change

Sunday: We opened with a getting-to-know-you-type activity that allowed us to examine our seen and unseen selves and talked about the impact that these factors can have  in the classroom and in our lives in general.

Monday: While on the Bdote field trip we visited Mounds Park, Fort Snelling and Pilot Knob and discussed the untold stories (absent narratives) of what we think of as Minnesota history. After dinner that evening we played some Dakota games which you can find at the link below.

Tuesday: We discussed culture and how it can influence the way you behave. With culture we talked about cultural arrogance, humility and dexterity. We also discussed the idea of truth vs. truths. To conclude the long morning we finished talking about privilege structures that currently exist. In the afternoon we looked at Story and the idea of getting to know someone through their stories. What would happen if we told a story from the middle first or the end? Or dinner this evening we met with some fabulous students from the Equity Alliance MN Youth Executive Board for a Chinese Hot Pot meal and we discussed their work.

Wednesday: We spent the morning talking about Master/Settler Narrative, also be known as the Dominant culture. We all have some experience with being invisible. Culture becomes visible in the face of diversity. Having a "knowledge bomb" drop on you makes you realize you didn't know something but someone else did. (Feel free to use this with students :)) In the afternoon we met with a panel of authors from A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota, and Blues Vision: African American Writing from Minnesota. Both books are wonderful short story and essay collections and if you would like to borrow one please let us know.

Thursday: We learned about resources to take back to help with planning lessons to include the absent narratives we have learned about. We also spent much of the day working on an action plan to bring back to our districts and sites which we presented in the evening.

Friday: We spent in a story circle activity called "The Gift." The leader, Rose McGee, has many story circle activities in her book Story Circle Stories which you are more than welcome to borrow from us. 

Here are resources and links that we gained from the institute:

MN Humanities Center

MNHUM.org

On Twitter @humanities (#MHCEdIn)

Follow them on Pinterest

Humanities Center resources

http://www.mnhum.org/resources

Highlights:

Booted field trip http://bdotememorymap.org/

Native American games http://www.minnesotahumanities.org/Content.aspx?PageID=130

TED Talks

The Danger of a Single Story https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story

Everyday Leadership  

 https://www.ted.com/talks/drew_dudley_everyday_leadership

Looking for something to do this summer?  Visit the Reframing Minnesota Exhibit (runs through 9/16/16) http://www.allmyrelationsarts.com/exhibits/current-exhibit/ at All My Relations Art Gallery http://www.allmyrelationsarts.com/ 

Links to MN History Resources 

http://www.minnesotahistory.net/

Phillips Indian Educators

http://pieducators.com/best-practices-indigenous-pedagogy

The Search Institute

Study: Five Factors that Impact Student Motivation

http://www.search-institute.org/blog/five-factors-impact-student-motivation

Making Sense of Math

I recently read and was part of an ASCD Webinar for the book Making Sense of Math by Cathy Seeley.

 The main emphasis of the book was how to help ALL students become mathematical thinkers and problem solvers.

Some of my biggest take aways were:
1) Teachers need to foster curiosity in their classroom.  If we do, then students will be intrinsically motivated and their learning will improve. If students aren't curious about the information you are teaching, they are not going to remember it.  Made me start thinking how I can make my lessons more student driven in the "How" of math and build off what they come up with.

2) Teachers need to slow down and give their students time and space to think, wonder, create and grow.  Often times, we teachers jump in too soon and don't let our students struggle enough with the topic/concept. (I know I do!)  We do this in an effort to help them, but really may be taking away that "ah ha" moment from them.

3)  Math is Supposed to make Sense!  Sounds resonable and is most math teachers goal.  However, when we give them tips and tricks to remember information, it doesn't always make sense to them and therefore is confusing.If it doesn't make sense, they won't remember it after they leave the classroom.  If it doesn't make sense, students should question it and we should give them time to make sense of it.  My struggle with this that darn curriculum guide that is always in the back of my mind. :(

I also loved this slide that Cathy shared in the Webinar:

In this class, mistakes are
Expected
Inspected
Respected


Mistakes are a critcal part of learning and making sense of what we are teaching/doing in mathematics.  I am going to make this into a sign I hang in my class and hang it in the front of the classroom.

So, my goal this year is to give my students time to struggle, so that they can make sense of the math we are learning, not just memorize what they should do to solve math problems,

Reading up on GT Students

Many educators are frantically scouring the isles of Target, Walmart, or even shop on Amazon for the best school supplies to stock up their classrooms. While many educators spent their summer shopping for school supplies, beefing pedagogies, or just beefing up, I've had the privilege to have taught summer academy to our students to prevent summer slide. However you spend your summer, the start of the school year can't get here soon enough.

I've spent countless hours reading up on GT materials from understanding students' social and emotional needs, over-excitability, and fostering learning in underachieving students. Throughout the readings, I have come across the idea of students whose cognitive abilities are asynchronous with their social abilities. Often times in our classrooms, precocious students are expected to act their cognitive strengths while their behavior trumps their abilities. When educators head back into the classroom, please be cognizant to our GT learners who are brilliant in their own ways who don't act their age. Even though they are "smart enough" to hold a deep conversation with an adult, remember that our GT students are still kids. 

With that in mind, we as educators need to listen, read their body language because some of them may feel frustrated. Educators may think the student is misbehaving, yet they are curious or passionate about the topic. This leads to my next point over-excitability. This fall, the presidential election will take place. What ever political background you hold, please be mindful to our GT learners. A trait GT students possess is a heightened awareness with the problems locally/globally. We have two major political parties and depending on the issues, GT students will either express their thoughts and feelings outward or keep it in. We must find strategies to help our GT students deal with their emotions. We can't stifle their interests, but we need to teach students to respectfully disagree with one another.

For more information, please visit the following sites:

www.davidsongifted.org

www.edutopia.com

www.sengifted.org

www.hoagiesgifted.org

Reading up on GT Students

Education in Me

After the viewing and reading about the DNC convention, I’ve been able to reflect on my own vision of education in America. Education should not be a controversial topic, but it is. To me, one of the best lines from the DNC was the line that was uttered, the “Chelsea Test”. If the school is not good enough for Chelsea, it’s not good enough for all children. The key words here is FOR ALL CHILDREN. Often times, the best education is only available to the elite types of people-people with the money and influence. As an educator, I am concerned that our education system is fractured. It’s not a perfect system, but we need to work together to fix the issues that our children face everyday.

I’ve spent most of my adult life trying to figure out what can I do to change and challenge the school system in a positive way. The answer is always evolving, but I’ve managed to stay true to what I’ve been taught and learned through this endeavor. I am a firm believer that one must “do good” to serve a purpose and that rewards come in many different aspects. In my ten years in education, I’ve managed to reflect on my education, and I’ve changed as a classroom leader.

Being a child advocate has its impact of who I am today. Education is always changing-evolving to meet the needs of learners. Schooling in the past had ALWAYS been about the teacher-my parent’s generation. Our educational system today is not my parent’s education system. We must transition from teacher-centered to student-centered. To master this, one must give up the comfort and status quo of education. Have students take charge in their learning by offering choice with guidance. Be pragmatic, authentic, and most importantly, listen to your surroundings (students, staff, parents, and the community). Continue to grow as learners and that teaching is never ending.

My final thought: the education system spends millions of dollars on trying to get students to be proficient. It is imperative that we continue to spend money to support our learners who need extra support, but on one thing that our people and lawmakers fail to understand is that our gifted population is starving. Starving  to be educated. The fallacy we have about our gifted learners is that they are able to learn on their own and that they don’t need the support. My response to this is an excruciating, NO! Gifted learners need to be educated like all other learners. We must not fail this population of learners because they deserve the right to an education.

ENVoY

ENVoY  (Educational Non-Verbal Yardsticks)  A guide to classroom management
Michael Grinder, Founder

In June I attended the two-day training seminar for this systematic approach to non-verbal management.  I'd like to share my following brief summary.

While I am teaching, I will try to keep in mind the power of influence with these four focus points:

Body
     Posture (straight, weight even on both feet)
     Proximity (silently move to routine place in front of class)
     Location (stand still & settle in a freeze-body position)

Voice
     Volume (use ABOVE (p a u s e) whisper! )
     Speed
     Tone

Eyes
     Where (varies for certain situations)
     When                    "

Breathing
     Break & Breathe (use this technique when needed)
     Low and deep

The Book Whisperer

The Book Whisperer is amazing!  Donalyn Miller synthesizes years of research along with what she has tried in her own sixth-grade classroom to motivate students to become life-long, passionate readers.  

She starts by stealing every available moment for students to read their independent books.  Donalyn references Stephen Krashen when she states "no single literacy activity has a more positive effect on students' comprehension, vocabulary knowledge, spelling, writing ability, and overall academic achievement than free voluntary reading.   Students enter Donalyn's classroom, get out their books, and start reading.  If the phone rings during the middle of a lesson, students know to start reading their books.  If they finish early, they read.  Donalyn admits, kids are busy.  "If I don't make time for them to read in school, why should they make time for it in their life?"

Resolve to edge in a little reading every day, if it is but a single sentence.  If you gain fifteen minutes a day, it will make itself felt at the end of the year.     -Horace Mann

Students in her class are expected to read 40 books a year.  They are given some guidelines about genres, otherwise they are free to make choices about what books to read.  

Donalyn teaches content lessons.  Students practice in pairs with mentor texts and then they practice individually using their independent reading materials.  The results for her have been positive.  Students are engaged, behavior problems are minimal and test scores are up.

This book makes me wonder what giving up time at the front end of my class and having high expectations for book reading would look like in my classroom.  Do I have enough books in the different genres to support this approach?  Should I reorganize my classroom library by genre?  What is the best way to ensure that each student is engaged and reaching their potential while reading independent books?  How could technology support this mind shift?  I think I will read Visible Learning for Literacy before deciding.

Hacking Writing

For those of you not familiar with the term "hacking" in education it is a term used to rethink, examine, and challenge the status quo in education. There are a few books that fit this type of thinking (e.g., Hacking Assessment, Hacking Writing, and Teach Like a Pirate).

The picture above is from a popular game called Clash of Clans (CoC). I am sure a few of you have seen some of your students playing this game during class or in the halls ways, right? Well, why not use this powerful game to your advantage. I see multiple ways that students could translate this game to meaningful learning. Let's look at a few of them.

Maybe the most obvious way is the application to social studies. What about comparing a battle on CoC to the Battle of Gettysburg or or Stalingrad. Students could research the battle then compare the forces used in both. What type of weaponry and military tactics would be different on CoC? Of course there are a plethora of ways to enrich learning. Just think of the worst ideas. Often times they are the best ideas.

Another way to use this is for math and ratios, calculating and saving (a life skill that many adults need). For example, I have three gold mine producing 3500 units of gold per hour. I need 103,000 more units of gold to upgrade my defenses. How long will it take me to earn this gold? Students would have to prioritize what is more important in the game and blog about it. They could defend their reasoning by talking or blogging to comments from other students. So many ways to inspire students to learn these critical skills.

I have lots of other ideas about how to use games and gamification in the classroom. If you have and interest or comment, please let me know.

Happy Fourth of July.

Energy Educators Workshop Tidbits from Monnet & Nelson

Energy Education Workshop Tidbits

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

What we learned from our Energy Workshop

We had the opportunity to tour the Prairie Island Nuclear Plant (hardhats required!) and were impressed with the high level of security (yes we did challenge their procedure and opened the doors the "wrong" way and had security called down to let us out), and the continuous training the employees go through to ensure the safety of the plant. 

We also toured the Hasting Hydro Plant and got to stand at the bottom of the river with the huge turbines (above our heads) with the Mississippi river water flowing through them! 

MN is required to generate about 20% renewable energy and we learned that we do that (and more) through nuclear, hydro, wind, solar, and biomass. 

The MN Energy Center sponsored this class. We received valuable resources that we will be able to implement into our classrooms next year. 

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The Flipped Classroom

Next week, three  of us from the math department are meeting during curriculum writing to work on the concept of "flipped classrooms."  I have been reading a book called "Flip Your Classroom:  Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day" by Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams in order to learn more about it.

In case you don't know, let me explain what a flipped classroom is.  In a nutshell, it is when students learn the material at home via a video, book, or some other method and they do the "homework" problems at school with the teacher and the rest of the class there to help.

The rationale for the flipped classroom is the idea that today's youth love to watch things on the internet such as You Tube and so giving them the lesson online will increase engagement.  Another reason is that the students get help with their homework from a professional and not whomever may be at home.

I am willing to try anything that they say helps student achievement, but I have my doubts about completely flipping the whole year.  I tried it once a while ago and not one student said they preferred it over the traditional way.  They said they liked the interaction and the ability to ask questions during the lesson.

I went to a workshop once given by teachers in Byron that have been flipping their classroom and the data they gathered did not show any significant results on standardized tests and final exams.

I am wondering if maybe the flipped classroom is better than a traditional lecture format where the teacher talks the whole time and students do the homework completely at home but maybe it isn't better than the format where we go over homework from the night before, give the lesson using periodic formative assessments to check for understanding, and maybe do an activity or something else that different than a lecture.  I almost always give my class time to start the homework in class where i can help them.

Maybe I'll try a lesson or two using the flipped method next year and then survey the class or assess them to see how much it helped.  We'll see how far we get with the curriculum writing next week.

Helping Kids During Crisis

Following the tragedy in Orlando, the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) posted crisis resources on their website in hopes of helping adults to better address the needs of students following a crisis.  The link below will bring you to the ASCA website where you will find webinars (free to watch I believe), links to support sites, and a helpful walk-through titled The Orlando Shootings: Parents' Guide to Talking to Children.  Even if we don’t have connections with Orlando, we are all left with questions and emotions that are hard to explain and our students are no different.

While some of the information on the ASCA website directly focuses on how to respond after the Orlando tragedy, the resources can apply beyond Orlando to crises that our community here in Rochester experiences.  I think back to the two situations we had at Willow Creek this past year and how that not only impacted the students at that school but some of our students here at Friedell.  Death, tragedy, and change are hard concepts for adolescent students to comprehend and cope with, even if the situation is removed from their personal life. At the same time, it can be hard for us as adults to know how to address student feelings that come with such unfortunate events.  The information listed here can help ease some of that difficulty and gives us some guidance on how to explain what seem like unexplainable acts and events.

http://schoolcounselor.org/school-counselors-members/professional-development/2016-webinar-series/learn-more/helping-kids-during-crisis