The Pressure of Failing #PBLChat #EdChat

One of the things I have learned over the years with project based learning is that some students are willing to take a risk and try something new to demonstrate their understanding of a topic and others will play it safe and stick to tools and resources they are comfortable using. There were many factors that contribute to playing it safe or taking a risk, but in school, being graded has a large influence on these decisions. Since removing grades from my new elective, Innovation and Design, I'm starting to see how much an impact grades were having on trying new things.

Students have been working to create prototypes of objects from the story, "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury. A student was very frustrated over the amount of time it has taken him to craft some type of cover for a Sphero so it could drive around easily and look like a mouse from the story. Time and time again, the student has failed, but gets back to the design and tries again. At the start of class I asked the students why they are willing to keep trying over and over again and they simply said because it wasn't going to hurt their grade if they tried something and it didn't work. They still have a deadline, but they can try crazy ideas that might work without fear of getting bad grades.

Giving students a space to try and fail without punishment is so important for students. They are given the opportunity to push themselves, explore new concepts, and see what they are capable of at the end of the day. A 6th grade student spent five 75-minute class periods figuring out how to use Vectr.com to design 2D images for the laser cutter to create a windows that could stay opened. After 5 or 6 failed prototypes, she was able to get the right size for everything she needed and then decided to add acrylic windows. Here is a shot of her work.

Kalie expressed some frustration that it took her 5 class periods to design something and cut it on the laser cutter in one day, but I told her she spent those days learning how to do something and then she did it. That's exactly what school is supposed to be about. As a 6th grader, she is now able to design to use the laser cutter and then set up the machine and cut on her own. This was all driven by her want to design the windows from the story. She was not chasing a grade and probably would not have chosen to learn an entire new program if there was a grade at the end of the project. This is the example, along with many of the other projects in the class so far, that shows me the extended value of Project Based Learning and a grade free environment. 

My new class still needs some fine-tuning, but I am confident the basic structure of PBL and no grades is going to create some amazing opportunities for student learning moving forward. 

If you are interested in connecting about bringing PBL, Design Thinking, and more to your school, please feel free to reach out to me at OneNerdyTeacher@gmail.com.

No Homework: Easier Said Than Done

One of the things that I wanted to make part of my new design class was a strict no homework policy. I wanted students to use the time in class to complete their work and not stress over completing things at home. If they wanted to work on their project at home, they could, but only if they really wanted to. Students loved this idea and parents were on board. I was excited to get rolling and I just realized that I failed on the first assignment I gave in class.

The first unit was exploring Deign Thinking and creating in Minecraft. We spent two weeks interviewing and building in Minecraft. When the students were done, they were suppose to post snapshots of their creations with some captions to SeeSaw. I walked students through the process and some students struggled to get the process done correctly or they forgot to add captions as was required for the assignment. Typical student behavior. The problem was that I had a schedule I was intent on following and felt I needed get ready for the next project.

I simply told the students that could not finish the upload in class to complete the work at home by the time we met in class next. That was a Friday and we met next on a Tuesday due to our block schedule format. My traditional thinking was that the students would have four nights to upload the work. I even created a video to help them with the process. I thought everything was great. Until I reflected on the assignment.

I make it a habit to reflect on my lessons, especially new ones, to see how things went and what I would change for the next time. For these new reflections for a new class, I really wanted to make sure I was sticking to the basic tenets of the class of no homework, no grades, and student choice and voice. The very first thing, no homework, stood out to me right away. Are students being required to do work for class outside of class time. The answer was an easy yes and I felt very defeated. The first lesson and I managed to give homework. I needed to fix this right away.

The next class I started with an apology to the students about dropping the ball and promised that I would fix the issue by setting aside class time for us to all work together and post what needs to be posted. The kids were very understanding and bit surprised that I was apologizing for making the mistake. The kids are just so used to being given homework that they did not really think much about it.

Breaking old habits is something that is very hard to do. I was surprised at how quickly I fell back into giving homework when not doing that is a core part of the class. I am glad I noticed it early and the only thing I can do is be more mindful of this for each assignment. 

The Great Homework Debate #EdChat

I wasn't sure if I was going to weigh in on this topic, but I figured I would because that is why I have a blog and Twitter account. To be honest, I'm actually pretty tired of seeing the HW debate bounce around the Twitter feed and the stances that people take. Maybe I'm not so tired of the HW debate, but the stances. Very few things in education are all or nothing.

Education is nuanced. You cannot just say all homework is bad and teachers are bad because they assign homework that takes students away from valuable family time. Ugh.

As a HS English teacher, I assigned reading almost every single day. No more than 20 pages per night. The reading has to get done outside of the classroom because there is no way possible for a HS English teacher to cover 3 novels, 2 plays,  and numerous short stories and poems in 180 days of school. It could be possible if all students did in class was show up and read with no discussion or assessment, then maybe there is enough time. I still gave students in class reading time for novels we were reading because they do have busy schedules and I try to be understanding, but students will have to read at home. That is work that is done at home. Homework. I have yet to find an instructional strategy that allowed all of the curriculum to be covered while not allowing students the time to read at home.

There is bad homework though. Work that is designed to keep students busy and they have to finish it at home. That is busy work. Word searches and crossword puzzles are the worst. In my view, most worksheets are awful and need to go away, but I do not teach all grade levels in all areas, so I could be wrong in some instances.

The problem with all homework is bad is that it is a very final statement. Twitter is not a very good place to have a HW debate because you are very limited in what you can say and education, as I said earlier, is too nuanced to be addressed  in 140 characters.

As the school year starts, I recommend all teachers to take a look at the assignments they intend to give this year and see if it is something that students need to do. Take notes on what students are doing at home and revisit the the assignments at the end of the year to see if they need to stay or go.

The final verdict from me is that there is good homework and bad homework. If we spend more time helping teachers get the most out of their instructional time, this will limit the need for homework. If something needs to go home, teachers should be supported in creating the best possible homework so students can get the most out of that take home educational experience.

Please leave your thoughts in the comments below to continue the conversation.

Hugs and High Fives,

NP

#NerdyCast S2E2 - Homework #edchat

Hello everyone! Welcome to Season 2 Episode 2 of #NerdyCast. In this episode, we will be talking about Homework, Girl Meets World and other fun and exciting things. You can listen to the podcast on my PodOmatic site or on iTunes.

It would be double awesome if you would leave a comment/rating on iTunes to let me know what you think and continue the conversation. I encourage others to respond to our thoughts in the form of blog posts, podcasts, carrier pigeon, etc.

Thanks for listening and I can't wait to hear what you think about homework.

Homework is NOT Bad! #edchat #NerdyCast

I felt like ruffling some feathers and speak out in favor of Homework. Here are my thoughts. What do you think?

What's The Deal With Homework? #edchat

I've been reading plenty of great posts on homework, or more specifically, the lack of value to homework. Research has been done and it says it shows that homework has little impact on learning. I do not want to argue the research. My issue is the broad definition of homework.

Just because it is done at home, doesn't make it worthless. Are these studies being conducted focusing on worksheets and study guides? The odd numbered problems in the textbook? If so, I tend to agree that those assignments do not impact leaning as much as people think. However, if they are talking about the first two chapters of The Great Gatsby, the research is wrong.

I'm a high school English teacher. We have to guide our students through the invisible world of themes, symbols, satire and other important ideas that will add value to the world around them. I learned a little while back that handouts and study guides were not really helping to reinforce these ideas. It was just busy work to grade. That does not mean I ditched homework all together.

Students need to read at home and come to class ready to discuss what they have learned. At the high school level, English teachers do not have the time to let kids read all they need to read in class. When I want students to read Huck Finn, Gatsby, Catcher, The Cricible, Death of a Salesman, poems from Dickinson, works from Poe and other pieces from great American authors, reading in class every day is not possible.

Learning to read at home and annotate is an important skill that needs to be practiced at home after the skill is taught in class. So this work that is assigned to be done at home is homework, but it is valuable and important.

We all need to read and find value in our jobs. I did so when reading other posts on homework and I can now articulate my writing based on what I read. This is possible because I learned to read on my own and create my own thoughts to share with others.

I get annoyed when parts of education are generalized as all being bad or all being life changing. Like all tools, how work assigned to be done at home is used is dependent on the teacher who assigns it.

There is bad homework. There is also valuable homework. I think we need to remember that so we can have meaningful discussion about the good, the bad and the ugly.

Let the comments begin!

Nick

The "value" of work

As some of you might have seen on Twitter last week, I was checking essays on Huck Finn. They were not the best essays in the world, but they were not the worst. The students need to work on their analysis and I decided to spend the next few days helping them in that area. Today I had them review their essays online and see the comments I made. I discussed what the analysis should look like and gave them an opportunity to fix their essays with more analysis. They had class time today and they will resubmit Tuesday. A girl raised her hand and asked how many points it was worth. I told her not to worry about it and focus on improving her writing. She was adamant about knowing the “value” of the redo. I asked her if she would try harder if it was worth more points. Her response was bothersome. “I don’t know. Work is worth points, that is what school is about.” I felt terrible when I heard this. I told her not to worry about points and focus on the writing. She was clearly disgusted at my response and I got the teenage eye roll in response. I want to me annoyed with her attitude, but is it her fault for feeling that way? Isn’t it our (Schools in general) fault for creating this culture? #Barf

- @TheNerdyTeacher