MeTA musings

Russ and I led a session at the 2010 ITEC Conference in Coralville, IA on October 11.

Title: Technology has been around forever. Is 1:1 Enough?

Description: Many schools in Iowa are implementing 1:1 initiatives. Is placing a computer in every students' hand the end? What next? Bring your thoughts to this forum.

(This session was similar to the one we led at ISTE 2010 as previously mentioned here.)

Thanks to everyone who was able to make the session and contribute their thoughts.  The video archive is available below.


Technology has been around forever. Is 1:1 enough? from Matt Townsley on Vimeo.

Slides from this afternoon's presentation to the staff at Clear Creek Amana.




Thanks to Brad Fox and Michele Pettit for inviting me to speak today.

As a former statistics/probability teacher, I see a few possibilities. 

Bueller?

When talking about standards-based grading, I often hear the argument...

I agree with the standards-based grading philosophy, but I'm nervous about not grading homework and other practice assignments.  How do you motivate students to complete homework (or other non-graded assignments)?

My responses:

1. What do you do with students in the traditional system who don't do homework even when it is graded? 
   
2. Does the student need to complete the homework/practice assignment?  If he/she already understands the big ideas, doing the homework probably is not a good use of time. 
   
3. Engage in a conversation with your students that looks something like this...
   Teacher: "If homework was worth 3 points, how many of you would do it?"
   (Many hands go up)
   Teacher: "Okay, if homework was worth 2 points, how many of you would do it?"
   (Still lots of hands go up)
   Teacher: "If homework was worth 1 point per day, how many of you would do it?"
   (Several hands go up)
   Teacher: "If homework was not graded, how many of you would do it?"
   (A few hands go up)
   Teacher: "Johnny, why would you still do your homework?"
   Johnny: "My parents would still make me do it."
   Teacher: "Thanks for your honesty, Johnny.  Suzy, why would you still do your homework if it was worth zero points?"
   Suzy: "I love math class!"
   Teacher: "I do, too, Suzy.  Thanks for your enthusiasm.  Frank, why wouldn't you do your homework if it wasn't graded?"
   Frank: "If it's not graded, it would give me more time to play Playstation with my friends." 
   Teacher: "Frank, if you didn't do your homework for this unit, how well do you think you'd do on the test?"
   Frank: "I would probably fail the test or get a D."
   Teacher: "Thanks for your honesty, Frank.  If you didn't do your homework again for the next unit, how well do you think you'd do on the test?"
   Frank: "I would probably fail or get a D again." 
   Teacher: "Frank, how many tests do you think you'd have to fail before you realized that doing your homework is a good idea?" 
   Frank: "Probably two or three."
   Teacher: "Okay, now that you know that...why wouldn't you just do your homework?"

At one time in my teaching career, I "hid behind points."  Rather than having a discussion like the one above with students, I took the easy way out by giving students who didn't complete their homework a zero in the grade book.  My students didn't benefit.  It was the easy way out for them, too.  Confronting the reality that homework/practice/formative assignments and activities are important opportunities for feedback [not merely point accumulation exercises] is a classroom shift that requires ongoing discussion with students.  How do you accomplish this in your classroom?

Today, I will be leading a two hour workshop for a cross-section of educators at three neighboring districts. 




Two hours seems like just enough time to challenge thinking, demonstrate how it worked in my classroom AND have ample time to answer questions.  Other than a three-day workshop, I co-led this summer, this will be the first time I've been allotted more than an hour.  I continue to believe that...

Without challenging one's educational beliefs related to grading, the formative assessment cycle tends to be viewed as an add-on.  So many educators claim they believe all students can learn at varying rates, but few secondary teachers embrace this philosophy through their grading practices

 and with two hours, I am hypothesizing many more will be able to get past the philosophical hurdle known as "grades."