I want to step away from education for a moment to say goodbye to a friend. My friend Sue Gabbert passed away Saturday after a long fight with cancer. If you didn't get a chance to meet Sue, you missed out. Sue was a teacher at Calumet High School, and that's where I first met her. Sue was the kind of person who was selfless, her attention made you feel important simply because it was Sue that was listening to you. She loved to talk, loved to listen. We spent many Wednesdays along with our friend Andy Trevino laughing and enjoying each others company at CHS. She loved talking about her family, her friends, great and cheesy 80's music, and her students. Life brimmed out of Sue everyday that you came in contact with her. Simply said, she was one of the good ones. She is a person that I am glad to have met, am lucky to have known, and wish I had met earlier.
I can only imagine the legions of people that have been affected by this loss. Sue simply was not a person that you met only to forget moments later. She stayed with you. My favorite memories of her will include bring your child to work days (where I got to see Sue and her daughter Lauren interact) and the Cinco de Mayo party she invited us to. Thank you Sue, God bless and good journey to you.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Tomorrow is a huge step in the direction of the future as June and I officially ask our students to move forward into New Tech. The students will not walk into the class and listen to a lecture; instead of this, they will log into Echo and look at their agenda. They will then go about completing the agenda of the day while I prompt them forward one group at a time. Calumet has a long way to go to reach the potential we have within us. That being said, our roll out on Friday as well as our baby steps on Monday can be seen as movement in the right direction!
With our first full week of the New Tech experience completed at Calumet High School, I thought it was time to recap what we've accomplished and as well as a few of the hurdles we've had to jump over!
There was some frustration involved as school opened up last week as the Science lab lacked the ability to access the internet. June and I instead focused on the culture of New Tech, what the students could expect and how our projects would slowly ramp up in their professionalism. Our first project will be a bridge between what they've done in the past and what will be expected of them in the very new future.
One source of frustration actually turned into a strength about my partnership with June. We spent the summer time working on developing and firm plan in place to be super organized, and yet we spent our first full week ad libbing things and being about 15minutes ahead of the students. It's not that we didn't have a plan in place, it was that we were not able to execute the plans we made for one reason or another. What we found, however, is that June and I can be flexible and rolled with the punches. We teamed up, rescheduled our plans, and moved forward.
There was some frustration involved as school opened up last week as the Science lab lacked the ability to access the internet. June and I instead focused on the culture of New Tech, what the students could expect and how our projects would slowly ramp up in their professionalism. Our first project will be a bridge between what they've done in the past and what will be expected of them in the very new future.
One source of frustration actually turned into a strength about my partnership with June. We spent the summer time working on developing and firm plan in place to be super organized, and yet we spent our first full week ad libbing things and being about 15minutes ahead of the students. It's not that we didn't have a plan in place, it was that we were not able to execute the plans we made for one reason or another. What we found, however, is that June and I can be flexible and rolled with the punches. We teamed up, rescheduled our plans, and moved forward.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Triple Header
I've been so busy here at Indy that I've neglected my blog! We're going into the last day as I wake up this morning, so let's re-cap what's happened!
Wednesday
Things really came into form on Thursday. For people that want to come down to the New Tech teaching training and get a ton of work done, you may get frustrated. I came down here expecting to be pounding out projects, really pushing the envelope to get as much done in one week as we can. I couldn't have been more wrong. The New Tech training staff is entirely interested in shifting our way of thinking, of changing our perspective of the way our classroom is run. For the most part it has worked. I'm pretty fortunate that I've been a PBL teacher on my own for quite some time, and I've already done most of what we do for New Tech to some degree. The differences however, are significant and I see why they are going to change my classroom.
On a more personal note, June 23rd was my wedding anniversary and Kari and the kids came down a surprised me for the evening! They came down to Indy and spent the night with me! We went out to TGIF for dinner and then returned to the hotel for swimming and fun! It was nice to see them, I didn't want them to leave on Thursday!
Thursday
The picture came into even clearer view as we worked on rubrics and norms. Part of changing any working culture is changing the vocabulary that is used, and to a certain degree I've been tracking that this week.
New Tech words list:
push back
authenticity
work ethic rubric
working calendar
agenda
pacing
production
feedback
task
For those you that are reading this, let me sum up New Tech in my words. New Tech is a PBL (problem based learning) program that allows you students to develop their own problem solving and critical thinking skills. The student is confronted with a situation and a driving question. This happens all the time in real life: A problem with no simply answer. The student then needs to develop an answer for this driving question, and along the way the teacher provides scaffolding (homework, discussion, assignments and resources) to cover and master the information. The student is expected to develop a final product of some sort (poster, movie, picture, power point, speech, and more) that answers the initial driving question. Along the way the students will work in groups, sign group projects, write journal entries, and generally hold each other accountable for work to be done. The end work is graded by a state standard's based rubric (answering the question, did the student learn what we intended for them to learn?). The key to all this is that the projects are developed to be interesting, professional, and real world based. We as teacher's will be expected to reach out to the professional public to get real professionals involved. Here are the projects that June and I have so far for the BioHealth class. These are in various forms of completion as of this morning:
Organelles by Monet - The students are expected to learn about cell types, parts, and what the parts do and what keeps them healthy. They will then develop an analogy to teach 6th grade student's about Organelles using the simplified analogy in terms that a middle school student could understand.
Microbes - The student will play the part of restaurant manager. This manager is responsible for creating new norms in their restaurant that determines the regulations that the workers will follow while transporting, storing, and preparing food products. The end product may include posters, power points, and/or a video that a restaurant could show new employees to encourage proper ways to handle and prepare food that follow Indiana Department of Health guidelines.
Baby no Baby - The student will study genetics and act as a Genetic Counselor. They will explore how Genetic Counseling is used to look at hereditary issues and what disorders and prenatal issues can be determined prior to or just after birth. The student will learn about different disorders, how they are checked, and the physical, mental, and social challenges the off spring may have in front of them.
DNA in the Courtroom - The student is working for a Jury Education Committee to educate a jury on how DNA can be used in crime scenes to determine the outcome of a case. They will look at various DNA tests, how accurate they are, how to determine accuracy, and how the jury should look at the results when they are presented.
Cancer - This is still being fleshed out, but this will explore various forms of cancer, what is happening to the body, and current practices to fight cancer in the U.S. and abroad.
Genetically Modified Foods - Students will explore ways that the U.S. is currently modifiying certain foods to develop specific traits. Student's will contemplate the moral, values, and health concerns and benefits of the public being presented with Genetically Modified Foods and these foods being present in our everyday menus.
That's it for now, but those projects alone will take a semester to complete. These projects will take anywhere from 1 - 4 weeks to complete.
Wednesday
Things really came into form on Thursday. For people that want to come down to the New Tech teaching training and get a ton of work done, you may get frustrated. I came down here expecting to be pounding out projects, really pushing the envelope to get as much done in one week as we can. I couldn't have been more wrong. The New Tech training staff is entirely interested in shifting our way of thinking, of changing our perspective of the way our classroom is run. For the most part it has worked. I'm pretty fortunate that I've been a PBL teacher on my own for quite some time, and I've already done most of what we do for New Tech to some degree. The differences however, are significant and I see why they are going to change my classroom.
On a more personal note, June 23rd was my wedding anniversary and Kari and the kids came down a surprised me for the evening! They came down to Indy and spent the night with me! We went out to TGIF for dinner and then returned to the hotel for swimming and fun! It was nice to see them, I didn't want them to leave on Thursday!
Thursday
The picture came into even clearer view as we worked on rubrics and norms. Part of changing any working culture is changing the vocabulary that is used, and to a certain degree I've been tracking that this week.
New Tech words list:
push back
authenticity
work ethic rubric
working calendar
agenda
pacing
production
feedback
task
For those you that are reading this, let me sum up New Tech in my words. New Tech is a PBL (problem based learning) program that allows you students to develop their own problem solving and critical thinking skills. The student is confronted with a situation and a driving question. This happens all the time in real life: A problem with no simply answer. The student then needs to develop an answer for this driving question, and along the way the teacher provides scaffolding (homework, discussion, assignments and resources) to cover and master the information. The student is expected to develop a final product of some sort (poster, movie, picture, power point, speech, and more) that answers the initial driving question. Along the way the students will work in groups, sign group projects, write journal entries, and generally hold each other accountable for work to be done. The end work is graded by a state standard's based rubric (answering the question, did the student learn what we intended for them to learn?). The key to all this is that the projects are developed to be interesting, professional, and real world based. We as teacher's will be expected to reach out to the professional public to get real professionals involved. Here are the projects that June and I have so far for the BioHealth class. These are in various forms of completion as of this morning:
Organelles by Monet - The students are expected to learn about cell types, parts, and what the parts do and what keeps them healthy. They will then develop an analogy to teach 6th grade student's about Organelles using the simplified analogy in terms that a middle school student could understand.
Microbes - The student will play the part of restaurant manager. This manager is responsible for creating new norms in their restaurant that determines the regulations that the workers will follow while transporting, storing, and preparing food products. The end product may include posters, power points, and/or a video that a restaurant could show new employees to encourage proper ways to handle and prepare food that follow Indiana Department of Health guidelines.
Baby no Baby - The student will study genetics and act as a Genetic Counselor. They will explore how Genetic Counseling is used to look at hereditary issues and what disorders and prenatal issues can be determined prior to or just after birth. The student will learn about different disorders, how they are checked, and the physical, mental, and social challenges the off spring may have in front of them.
DNA in the Courtroom - The student is working for a Jury Education Committee to educate a jury on how DNA can be used in crime scenes to determine the outcome of a case. They will look at various DNA tests, how accurate they are, how to determine accuracy, and how the jury should look at the results when they are presented.
Cancer - This is still being fleshed out, but this will explore various forms of cancer, what is happening to the body, and current practices to fight cancer in the U.S. and abroad.
Genetically Modified Foods - Students will explore ways that the U.S. is currently modifiying certain foods to develop specific traits. Student's will contemplate the moral, values, and health concerns and benefits of the public being presented with Genetically Modified Foods and these foods being present in our everyday menus.
That's it for now, but those projects alone will take a semester to complete. These projects will take anywhere from 1 - 4 weeks to complete.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Tuesday is in the books for the New Tech meeting here in Indy. Today we worked on our Entry Documents and fleshed out a project based on a town festival. You can see a distinct difference between those that get it and those who don't. It's an interesting way that the facilitators run their sessions, some times we're expected to approach the information as a teacher and other times were supposed to approach it as students. June and I are doing well on our projects, she did a great job on a Entry Document for Sylvan Learning center for our Organelles project. I made up a Entry Document for our Microbes project, it was designed as a letter from the head management at a Chili's restaurant. This means we already have Entry Documents for 2 of the 6 projects we are working on, as well as the State Standards and the Driving Questions.
Speaking of restaurants, dinner tonight was at TGIF. It was a nice time for my fellow teachers to relax, enjoy one anothers company, and vent a bit. They even played a trick on Mrs. Karen Lee, but she didn't seem to mind, nor did her husband. :)
The ECHO web based program that we'll be using took some steps forward today, we were able to access some areas that weren't working on Monday. One of the perks of that was the ability to access the project library, an area where you can see projects that other teachers have put together. You can copy their ideas, or maybe just use it to brainstorm for yourself.
Lingo of the day:
Bench Mark
Rubric
Insight
Task Elevator Pitch
Google Docs (this is old, but I threw it in anyway)
Speaking of restaurants, dinner tonight was at TGIF. It was a nice time for my fellow teachers to relax, enjoy one anothers company, and vent a bit. They even played a trick on Mrs. Karen Lee, but she didn't seem to mind, nor did her husband. :)
The ECHO web based program that we'll be using took some steps forward today, we were able to access some areas that weren't working on Monday. One of the perks of that was the ability to access the project library, an area where you can see projects that other teachers have put together. You can copy their ideas, or maybe just use it to brainstorm for yourself.
Lingo of the day:
Bench Mark
Rubric
Insight
Task Elevator Pitch
Google Docs (this is old, but I threw it in anyway)
Teddy
So, I'm pretty sure it's due to the combination of the Indy weather and the fact that Kari and I watched Shutter Island last week that I keep expecting Leo DiCaprio to show up in all white and ask me about a missing New Tech teacher.
I'm not sure, but I remember the thunder storm last night to be very violent in nature. Loud, lots of booms and rattles. It could of been a storm or the room next to me, not sure.
Worked out this morning with a short run, arm workout, and a quick swim. Emphasis on the short and quick.
It's day two of the New Tech shindig, hopefully dim light bulbs continue to brighten, but I can't help but remember my days at Valpo University when I took my website class. I spent most of my time listening to instructors answer questions that I did not have all the while wanting to push forward on my own. I'm not a patient learner, that's for sure. I do understand that there's a process, and I will respect that. I went through day one waiting to be overwhelmed, and that simply did not happen. Maybe day two will bring that about!
Fun Fact: I have been here at the Sheraton since Sunday afternoon and my TV has not been on yet.
I'm not sure, but I remember the thunder storm last night to be very violent in nature. Loud, lots of booms and rattles. It could of been a storm or the room next to me, not sure.
Worked out this morning with a short run, arm workout, and a quick swim. Emphasis on the short and quick.
It's day two of the New Tech shindig, hopefully dim light bulbs continue to brighten, but I can't help but remember my days at Valpo University when I took my website class. I spent most of my time listening to instructors answer questions that I did not have all the while wanting to push forward on my own. I'm not a patient learner, that's for sure. I do understand that there's a process, and I will respect that. I went through day one waiting to be overwhelmed, and that simply did not happen. Maybe day two will bring that about!
Fun Fact: I have been here at the Sheraton since Sunday afternoon and my TV has not been on yet.
Monday, June 21, 2010
New Tech - Indy Style Day One
Day one of our New Tech In-service is in the books!
We kicked it off by registering and getting a bag, a lanyard with our name and school on it, along with a New Tech T-shirt. I was "fortunate" to get a Large T-shirt to kick off the day. I was unhappy to say the least, I've been a XXL guy for many years and the Large is not very flattering to a gentleman of my proportions. :)
After an intro speech we moved into smaller rooms and were introduced to what is basically a beta version of the ECHO web program that will be the backbone of our scaffolding for New Tech. ECHO has lots of potential, but it is currently pretty frustrating to deal with because of all of the bugs and dead end hyperlinks. It's really not ready for us to use, but we got to play with it for a bit.
Next up was lunch, where we were served chicken, pasta, and bread sticks along with salad.
After lunch we were divided up by subject, and I was thrown in the ELECTIVES group. The usual suspects were there; Art, PE, Consumer Sciences, and Foreign Languages. We learned more about the Project Intro process, as well as a useful tool called "Know, Need to Know, and Next Steps. This process is used to roll out a new projects in a manner that leads your students in the right direction without actually taking them there.
The day concluded with a wonderful and exciting group picture that involved a momentarily scary issue with an escalator. It was more funny than scary, but at the moment it certainly didn't feel that way!
Things I've learned:
-- I learned about Entry Documents and the variables that makes up an effective one
-- I learned that ECHO is pretty nifty but will not officially be ready for another 3-4 weeks
-- I learned that PE/Health is being coupled in several different ways at other schools
-- I confirmed my suspicion that June and I are way ahead of most of the groups not only at our school but also in all of the new New Tech schools here.
-- I learned that New Tech was first funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
-- I learned that 27 schools across the US will be starting New Tech schools next year, including former basketball rival Oregon Davis. (Feb 22, 2003 1A Girls Basketball Regional WT 60 - OD 37 EAT IT YOSHI!!)
We ate dinner at my first official Chinese restaurant. I had crispy chicken with stick rice. My buddies Cindy Trevino and Dori Downing were nice enough to share some of their food with me as a sampler, that was delicious too!
This evening I finished up on the Health State Standards for another project and fleshed out a few more. Right now we currently have three projects well on their way and are in the first steps of fleshing out three more.
Let's finish up with the New Tech buzz words that Rick Good and I have noticed so far (I'm tired so I can't remember them all!)
Roll Out
Piece
Echo (please don't do it!)
Multimedia
Collaboration
We kicked it off by registering and getting a bag, a lanyard with our name and school on it, along with a New Tech T-shirt. I was "fortunate" to get a Large T-shirt to kick off the day. I was unhappy to say the least, I've been a XXL guy for many years and the Large is not very flattering to a gentleman of my proportions. :)
After an intro speech we moved into smaller rooms and were introduced to what is basically a beta version of the ECHO web program that will be the backbone of our scaffolding for New Tech. ECHO has lots of potential, but it is currently pretty frustrating to deal with because of all of the bugs and dead end hyperlinks. It's really not ready for us to use, but we got to play with it for a bit.
Next up was lunch, where we were served chicken, pasta, and bread sticks along with salad.
After lunch we were divided up by subject, and I was thrown in the ELECTIVES group. The usual suspects were there; Art, PE, Consumer Sciences, and Foreign Languages. We learned more about the Project Intro process, as well as a useful tool called "Know, Need to Know, and Next Steps. This process is used to roll out a new projects in a manner that leads your students in the right direction without actually taking them there.
The day concluded with a wonderful and exciting group picture that involved a momentarily scary issue with an escalator. It was more funny than scary, but at the moment it certainly didn't feel that way!
Things I've learned:
-- I learned about Entry Documents and the variables that makes up an effective one
-- I learned that ECHO is pretty nifty but will not officially be ready for another 3-4 weeks
-- I learned that PE/Health is being coupled in several different ways at other schools
-- I confirmed my suspicion that June and I are way ahead of most of the groups not only at our school but also in all of the new New Tech schools here.
-- I learned that New Tech was first funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
-- I learned that 27 schools across the US will be starting New Tech schools next year, including former basketball rival Oregon Davis. (Feb 22, 2003 1A Girls Basketball Regional WT 60 - OD 37 EAT IT YOSHI!!)
We ate dinner at my first official Chinese restaurant. I had crispy chicken with stick rice. My buddies Cindy Trevino and Dori Downing were nice enough to share some of their food with me as a sampler, that was delicious too!
This evening I finished up on the Health State Standards for another project and fleshed out a few more. Right now we currently have three projects well on their way and are in the first steps of fleshing out three more.
Let's finish up with the New Tech buzz words that Rick Good and I have noticed so far (I'm tired so I can't remember them all!)
Roll Out
Piece
Echo (please don't do it!)
Multimedia
Collaboration
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Indianapolis
Today at 3:30pm I am being picked up to continue the New Tech Adventure! We (by we I mean teachers at Calumet High School) are on a mission to improve the quality of the education of the students that pass through our school system. New Tech is a PBL (Project Based Learning) model that encourages our students to search for answers and applicability. Today we begin a one week seminar in Indianapolis to really get to the nuts and bolts of building a PBL curriculum! I'm hoping to record my adventure with this blog, as it is the most ambitious attempt at changing education that I've been a part of since graduating from Valparaiso University in December of 1998.
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