ISTE 2015 Reflection: Part 1 of ????

One of things I love about my job is the opportunities I get to engage in quality PD with my peers.  The last 3 summers I have been lucky enough to attend the ISTE conference and this years ISTE in Philly is just as great as the last two I attended.  Here is my David Letterman style top 10 list of take aways from ISTE...so far...

10. HackED 15  The all day conference as part of the EduBlogger Con event.  It was a full day Ed Camp style presentation facilitated by some big hitters like Adam Bellow (@AdamBellow), Angela Maiers (@AngelaMaiers) and more. The  smackdown portion of the day showcased those of us in the audience who shared our 3 minutes of genius smackdown style.  Click here to see the link of topics covered this day or click here to see the list of smackdown showcases

9. #SatChat This event featured your typical twitter chat, but was held in a meeting hall and then streamed on Periscope.  It was awesome to hear the voices of those tweeting and speaking in a panel type discussion.  My takeaway from this was, it is all about connections.  Not just connections in the digital sense, but connections with people.  I believe a CORE VALUE of our school ought to be RELATIONSHIPS.  It was powerful to see the multiple layers of conversation that take place during a twitter chat and see the authentic interpersonal relationship building that was taking place.  One of my goals for #TYIW is going to be to bring this to our school and community.


8. There is no 'Arrived'- Feeling like a rock star one minute with your grasp of technology and educational practice and turning around to seeing those around you and realizing your are but a grain of sand on beach.  The diversity of the professionals who attend ISTE is a key ingredient to what makes this experience so great.  It humbles you, it inspires, and motivates you make connections and 'Be More Awesome'

7. The Expo - About the time you are thinking you know what is out in the world for tools/sites/apps/providers/etc a walk through the expansive expo will blow your mind and prove you don't know jack about the who or what is out there for EdTech and education in general.  There is tons of swag to be had (and for us cheepos a great place to pick up a toy to take back home for our kids).  It is also a nice place for a change of pace of learning when visiting vendors like the Google Booth.  Google and many other exhibitors are conducting learning sessions on the use of these educational tools, pedagogy, or have show and tell sessions from teachers.

6. Social Media as instant PD - The idea of using social media, such as twitter, for professional development is not new.  My PD at ISTE  via social media can only be summed up as: PD on steroids, hyped on caffeine, all while experiencing a sugar high.  At ISTE it is easy to immerse yourself in the 'social media thingy' and expand your PLN.  My twitter feed was blowing up and Tweetdeck made it simply to follow a focused stream or my general stream.  It was a constant barrage of links, articles, blogs and tidbits of PD.  I honestly feel like I grew as much through my social media reading as I did in actual sessions while at ISTE.

5. Quips & Witticisms Piggybacking on the social media is the overwhelming number of quips and sayings you see in the form of meme's and cool pics.  These are great graphics that have been doctored to inspire and make you wonder and THINK.   And better yet, it happens in your social media feeds without you needing to do anything. These small tidbits of info and thoughts are great little mental pinups to keep you centered for the other 361 days of the year when not at ISTE.

4. Debreifing and Connecting Some of the most powerful conversations that happen at ISTE are those that take place after the doors to the conference close. ISTE powers the gears inside your head and those gears stay in motion well after the conference ends.  These reflective thoughts and passionate experiences lend themselves to great conversations.  After the sessions each day our group meets up and enjoys some food and great conversation.  The ideas that come out of these sessions are 'priceless'.  They are the ideas that will transform our classrooms and schools.  They are the ideas that will make our classrooms the place that will be transformational for students.  

3. Ignite Sessions  This fast paced inspiring session gave 15 presenters only 5 minutes each and 20 slides to share their message and inspire the audience.  Some of these were presented by average Joe's who wanted to share their genius but the most remarkable one was without a doubt the BE THE CHANGE message shared by Pernille Ripp (@PernilleRipp).  Her energy, passion, conviction and message sent chills up spines and tears streaming down cheeks.  I couldn't help but wonder why couldn't we bring and IGNITE style session back to Cozad to kick off our school with our teachers sharing their 5 minutes of genius.  Click here to  watch the video of the ignite sessions.  Pernille Ripp was the 2nd one and is about 5 minutes into it and it is worth the watch.


2. 'Fanboy'itis' Having the opportunity to rub elbows with some of the most respected educational leaders in the world today.  Adam Bellow, Angela Maiers, Pernille Ripp, and Chris Lehman are just a few of the 'Rock Stars' I had the chance to meet, talk with and most importantly listen to!

1. The opportunity to recharge my batteries and be grounded once again in my pursuit to change the world one student at a time.  Cozad is lucky to have such great educators and I wouldn't trade the world for the time I spent collaborating, laughing,  dreaming,  and sharing with those who attended ISTE.  Thanks to Cozad Schools for believing in my professional development and caring enough about me as an educator to help me get better at making a difference.

Here is a link to a folder containing some selected resources from the conference.

Taking Risks: Student Designed Courses to Personalize Learning in K-12 Education

One yearly task that seems to cause dread, almost universally, among counselors is SCHEDULING and REGISTRATION.  While the reasons behind that dread may be varied, we all know how difficult it can be for a school and the course offerings of that school to "be all things to all people."  I have been thinking lately about ways to become all things to all students.

What if we as public education entities embraced the power in allowing students to truly direct their own learning for part of every day?  What if we modeled our school day after Google's concept of 20 time, where students were given 20% of their time to study or work on a project of their own choosing and design.  Now I am not proposing just free time with no expectations, but rather time to truly invest themselves into a course of study that they direct.  Nor am I proposing abandoning our traditional course offerings.  I am proposing a system that engages kids in their own learning.  We all know that when we are passionate about learning something we harness that power and throw ourselves full force into it.  We become almost obsessed with it and it invigorates us and refuels us to work on it.  

Over the course of my thirteen years in education, I have numerous times felt like there have been students who we have failed.  That failure to serve students can be grouped into two categories:

1. Failing the high ability students by handicapping them with our pacing and limiting them to our course offerings.

2. Failing the disengaged students by not allowing them to study what is relevant to their lives and futures and consequently never teaching them the power of pursuing your passion.

Now the first group of students succeed in spite of our work as educators.  Truthfully, these are the kids who are good at the game of school.  They earn good grades and learn regardless of the quality of instruction or materials.  They are just bidding their time until they go off to college or enter the real world where they become 'game changers'.

The second group of kids are those who are chronically disengaged from school.  They show up week in and week out on the eligibility list, detention lists, at-risk list, etc.  They hate coming to school, they find it a waste of their time, they don't see the school as applicable to their lives.  Sadly, many times I have to fight back the urge to agree with them.

What if we changed our system of schooling to allow every kid the opportunity to study something they are passionate about.  Then we allowed them the opportunity to create some sort of learning outcome they could showcase to teachers, administrators, community members, heck even the entire world!  I can almost guarantee you that when students are given the opportunities to study what they are passionate about they will almost always hold themselves to higher standards than we as teachers do when applying our industrial model of assessment.

Now, I am sure you are reading this thinking, 'What a whack job!' 'Doesn't he believe in accountability?'  Yes, and yes, I am not afraid to think outside the box and I do believe in accountability.  I believe we need to allow students the opportunity to hold themselves accountable.

Think back to the first group of kids I say we have failed (High Ability Students).  I believe that we have failed them because we have handicapped their potential.  Rather than setting benchmarks for them to reach, we put a ceiling in which they are not to exceed.  The second group of kids we feed more broccoli to even when they don't like the broccoli.  Why not put some cheese on the broccoli to make it more palatable.  Lets give kids the opportunity to create their own coursework for one elective and see just what happens.  The worst thing could happen is that they don't learning anything useful or don't do anything....(News Flash: That worst outcome is already happening in the courses we offer).

Now consider the possibility of one of those chronically disengaged kids choosing to pursue the study of cell phones and how they work.  What if in the course of that study, he learned about the electrical circuitry behind all of that and realized, 'Hey, wait a minute, I need to know Trig so that I can understand this.' or what if she got curious about the programming behind the user interface and learned how to code.  Next think of the shift that would take place as these kids came to our math or science or computer classes and engaged even more so they could learn what they needed to go even further with their personalized learning course.  Can you imagine how awesome that would be to have students who want to learn not for the sake of the test, but for the sake of applicability and pursuits in which there is no reward other than the intrinsic reward of learning?

With all the resources that exist digitally and the MOOC movement taking hold, why not harness the power of the winds of change before it becomes the tornado that destroys our pretty little system of mass education.  Why not use what we see working with these MOOC's to accomplish our goal of educating kids who are able to problem solve while pursuing their passion.  There are free resources online (Coursera, EdX, Udemy, etc.) There are communities abound online where collaborative discussions take place on nearly every subject imaginable.  Why not allow our kids to go beyond what we know and connect with these resources to really learn?

Why not?  Well it is messy and we don't like messy in education.  We like standards and maps and flowcharts and crosswalks.  I challenge each of you as you read this to consider the possibility that maybe we have it wrong.  Maybe, just maybe we need to personalize rather than standardize.  As people we all want individualization and to be seen as an individual with unique skills.  Why not give this a shot and risk being right?  What if this worked for 10% of the kids?  Would that make the reward worth the risk?

If we are truly educating kids to the best of our ability, then we can't be the limiting factor.  Let's get out of their way and start directing learning, facilitating their learning, provide guidance/feedback/criticism/encouragement to go above and beyond what we currently offer.  Heck it just may cut down on those who make our coveted lists!

Thanks for reading and best wishes as our school year begins.

Dustin Favinger
9-12 Counselor
Cozad Community Schools
@CHS_Mr_F

Topping off the tank

Summer time is a time for fun, sun, and relaxation...or a little PD to refuel the passion for education.  This summer I have had the opportunity to attend two very powerful conferences.  The first was ISTE in San Antonio and the second was the Great Plains Google Summit in Lincoln.

           

 As it turns out, these would be some of the best days of summer.  I am sure that all educators can relate to the fatigue we feel at the end of the year.  It is that fatigue of caring too much throughout the year and not having the emotional dollars to spend that makes us long for the days of summer.  However, as summer passes we feel rejuvenated by time away from our passion and become hungry once again to teach and learn with kids.

We need to cure what ails us, and...

...collaboration is the best medicine

These two conferences were instrumental in rekindling that fire in me. The sessions I attended solidified my beliefs that we are on the verge of crisis in education.  National mandates pushing the testing agenda are coming up against what we know are best practices of collaborating, creating, sharing, and making education relevant.
       
At the ISTE Conference, the closing keynote was delivered by Adam Bellow (Adam's entertaining talk starts 23 minutes in) who invited us to change the world by making education relevant to the lives of our students.   We were reminded that technology shouldn't be the icing on the cake, but rather mixed into the batter.  But the most striking point he made was that we as schools need a startup culture. We must move towards problem based learning and come to RESPECT FAILURE AND EMBRACE CURIOSITY.  As a system we have become almost systematic in killing the natural curiosity kids while teaching them the game of school.  If you want to rethink what we are doing as profession, take the hour to watch that closing keynote.  If it doesn't inspire you to do better, then you may not have a pulse!

The at Great Plains Google Summit opening keynote was delivered by Chris Lehmann is the founding principal of the Science Leadership Academy, a progressive science and technology high school in Philadelphia, PA. In a room filled 500 educators he lamented us to answer this question regarding the efficacy of the high stakes testing environment we are currently in compared to inquiry driven models we are discovering to much more effective. His exact question was: "By a show of hands, how many of you think we are getting it right in school today?" Not a hand went up. My first reaction was shame. Shameful that we are wasting our only chance with the kids of today. We don't get any mulligans. These kids don't get a second shot at the best we have to offer them.  That shame however morphed into a resolve to do what I can do to change the world as Adam Challenged us to in San Antonio.

Learning about turtles was one the best lessons of the summer with my kids.

This day and age of pervasive technology has given us so many tools, that we have no excuse for why we can't have kids engaged in inquiry based environments. My two and four year olds at home still love to learn about bugs, shapes, colors, how things work.  They are sponges without a saturation point.  Why?  Because learning is relevant to their world and it is fun.  I hope we never kill that curiosity.  It is my hope that we can shed the shackles of high stakes testing to engage kids in real world problem based learning.  Lets make school and learning a place where things are done with kids, not to kids.  I am ready to tackle the 2013-2014 school year with as much zeal as I have ever had.  I will seek to change the world.  Who is with me?

Dustin Favinger