Digital Equity Summit

NECC 2009 Attendees | Program | Digital Equity Summit
My Tweets from Digital Equity Summit

Given the fact that I teacher in a Title school, and make that an issue, I should be participating in this event but Equity Conference and I have not been getting along. Last year, I blogged my complaints about them charging a fee for attending ($25). I was urged to come by Jon Becker either because of my perspective as a teacher in a Title One school, or because he felt I would provide humor and amusement by causing trouble. He has been trying to shake things up with this event since last year. Apparently I was not the only one to complain, and this year it was free. Jon Becker shared this (and some of the background on why it occurred) with me on Saturday after his EdubloggerCon session on School Change. He also suggested that I go to the Conference based on my comments. So, I showed up on Monday morning. As an interesting transition, I had arrived early, and dropped in on the ISTE 100 Sponsor Breakfast. Having not read the fine print, I didn’t realize it was an invite only event for sponsors, and that it would last past the time the Equity Conference started. So not only did I crash the party, I left in the middle of speeches. Fortunately the event coordinator had to leave for the Equity Conference too, so I snuck out with her.

I get to the Equity Conference, and run into Vicki Davis who was set to present about Flat Classroom with Julie Lindsay. There was NO wifi at an event I hoped to live blog. Vicki was not happy about that either and we decided I would second her request for wifi. When I brought this up with the event coordinator, she noticed I didn’t have a “name badge” and said that it required advance reservations, I’d have to wait and see if there were no-shows. At that point, I lost it, and while I did not even argue with the conference organizer about it, I did send some rather sharp tweets up. I imagine that she had some concerns about SRO and the Fire Marshall (there has been a real crack-down on the floor sitting habits of NECCs past), so in all fairness, it wasn’t her fault, and she seemed to want me to get in. Fortunately my roommate, Adina Sullivan, was on the list, and couldn’t make it, so after a walk around the corner, to let off steam, I returned and explained I was taking her place. They were fine with that.

As you can imagine, I was not in a great listening mood, which was unfortunate because I almost missed some great stuff. Fortunately a friend next to me pointed out some could stuff and I started tweeting it. Here are my Live notes:

Keynote is by Jenelle Leonard, U.S. Department of Education
We’ve come very far, we have far to go
Now focused on what the new administration is planning, etc.
Scaling up proven practice, best practices, promising strategies, and innovative practice, and not be regulation focused. Those are all contradictory though.
They want to look back at past years, but to figure out both what works, and not just what didn’t. Want to “listen” to stakeholders about NCLB before changing it based on that feedback.
DOE wants to be innovative, not a compliance bureaucracy.They know the department had an image problem that is was seen as a compliance agency, rather than a source of ideas and help and they wanted to change that. Fight for better education is fight for social justice.
What you (we) are doing fits in with that.

Milton Chen from George Lucas Foundation and Edutopia
What are these young people doing while we’ve been living our lives.
New part of Edutopia site with video promos on bringing the digital to the natives (demerits for using digital immigrants)
digital generation project Sharing stories from the kids now.

Showing a video about Luis in rural OR with immigrant parents Shows his life, and also how tech Taking 4 AP classes, and uses FacBook to stay in touch with friends, and loves cnet and Youtube
School has a 4H Tech Wizzards at school, parents only use ATM. He does robotics, etc.We use video cameras, computers, etc. We use those tools like books in the group.
Did an inventory of trees for city. The best part of a trip to a conference in Chile was doing the presenation and realizing he could do that. Mentor elementary students.
Parents: Why aren’t you home? I have to help our community. When they saw what i was doing, they understood.

The table sessions:

1. Erin Reilly: Cases-study Zoe’s Room, after-school online room for STEM skills for girls in middle school. Playing to learn.
2. Washington D.C. set up a community computer center to develop STEM skills
3. Mouse Squad student run help desk
4. Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay Flat Classroom, DigiTeen to have students meeting
5. Dennis Harper Kijana Voices peer teaching by students to help others (case study in Central Calif and another in Africa?)
6. Edu Games with Stem content
7. Ruth Farmer Natl ctr for women in info tech has an award to high school girls
8. Alan Jones Imagine Us transforms eduction by customize ed for all students. Computers to dist. Old refurbished by students and dist to community

The really big fail of the conference was this, they were supposed to have some speeches, and short presentations, then there were table presentations that we would rotate through. Because the speechifying took so long, we only got to 2 out of the six tables. THAT was disappointing. Also, it seemed to be set up for non-tech based presos. No projection, no sound, lots of paper. I think that could improved. So, my suggestions would be this, keep the no charge, add some wifi and have better logistics for presenting, and a tighter adherence to schedule, and this could be something. As it was, it was a miss for me. I talked later with one of the SIG members, and she seemed receptive to my concerns and asked me to join. I have no plans to go to ISTE 2010, so I’ll have to find out what they do the rest of the year with that SIG.

Slam Dunk Projects with PowerPoint

• NECC 2009 Attendees | Program | Relevant Research is a Slam Dunk Using MS PowerPoint

• slamdunknecc09 / Wiki

• Relevant Research is a Slam Dunk Using MS PowerPoint – NECC Ning

Presenters: Meghan Jothen, Baltimore County Public Schools with Meshia Sutton

Why did I choose to go to this session? I’ve been using PowerPoint as a medium for students to do reports in. I like the large default fonts, and they see only one slide, and do only a paragraph or a question/idea at a time. It keeps them from getting overwhelmed by multiple pages in word processing. The session was based on work by Jamie McKenzie (who also was presenting at NECC).

This was a BYOL (bring your own laptop) session. They did something very wise in that they had two presenters. One did the introduction (the vice principal), the other was at the computer manning the presentation and talking us through the actual work. The presenter introducing had a very good into, explaining why this was a great idea, and had a very dynamic and engaging personality. You can’t underestimate things like that for setting the stage of a good presentation.

They then went through the model. I liked their approach which was to focus on having students answer higher order questions when they do research, not just spitting back factoids they copied off a Web site. It’s something that I had come to on my own in having students do with their reports. You would be surprised at how fact focused a lot of teachers get in their research report requests from students. This will not only not get students to “proficient” on state testing, they won’t learn to think critically in their lives.

There was one BIG miss about thie presentation. They felt you should provide students with a list of Internet resources, and NOT LET THEM USE GOOGLE ON THEIR OWN, because it’s not efficient, they don’t know what they are doing, and they will learn it later. I was once of this opinion myself, but let me explain why this is NOT a good idea. You need to teach them how to search effectively and efficiently. They need to start learning by middle school, and not after otherwise, they will pick up bad habits, and not learn how to search effectively. Then, when they are older, they will already have bad search habits.

That being said, the rest of the presentation was fine, they had a great delivery, and except for not letting students do any searches, they made their case for organizing research report assignments this way. This is for educators teaching K-8, or special education in high school, or those coaching and training them. The technical skills were definitely beginning level (she spent the last 10 minutes showing how to do interactive PowerPoints, that was the point where I left), but how they organized the projects was good for educators who are “stuck” in how they are structuring research reports which would be teachers at a lower level of instructional practice. This includes more educators than you would think.

Digital Tools for Math Education

• NECC 2009 Attendees | Program | Teaching with Digital Video in the Mathematics Classroom

• SITE Screening Room

Presenters: Joe Garofalo, University of Virginia with Glen Bull, Maggie Niess and Janet Walker

Both sessions had such potential, but each had one fatal flaw. This one was more in delivery than the underlying content (the problem in the session on Slam Dunk PowerPoints). This was about using digital tools (not just video) to improve math instruction. This was a “lecture” session, but cords had been trialed out to the center tables (which were circular).

The into started by Janet Walker was good, they discussed how mathematics classes are now structured (correct homework, lecture, do a set of problems, leave, do homework), and how they are trying to conceive of math class (Watch->Analyze->Create). They showed an Abbott and Costello video that has a series of cascading procedural errors, and asked us to think about it:

This showed one way to use video as an into and get students thinking and problem solving.
The next demo was where I, and my entire table, got lost. They set up a problem about a child riding a bike and hitting a stone. The written directions on PowerPoint described the path of the tire, but really, they wanted the path of the stone stuck in a tire tread,with the idea of students discovering cycloid periods. She then shows a way to teach this with spreadsheets, and I’m not the only one who doesn’t understand where the numbers are coming from (what’s your formula leading to the X,Y coordinates?). It involves using sine, which at the point of the day, I’m too whacked out to follow. I don’t see a lot of head nodding (oh, that’s what she means) around me, so I’m not the only one in the dark. She also showed some stuff using Geometry Sketch Pad, but I was pretty well lost at that point. Fortunately, she then handed off to Joe Garofalo. He discussed how he had pre-service teachers design digital lessons. One was a sophisticated interactive PowerPoint where students had a food budget and had to pick the best place to get pizza for a class party which scaffolded them to algebraic expression (hey I did a lot of what he showed as a banking analyst–don’t laugh). The next one was a lesson using a set up from the pilot of “Lost”, and trying to map where they are “lost” given their path, the likely jet and it’s mileage, and how far off we know they are. Used either Encarta or Expedia for research, Google Maps, and triangulation. All very interesting. I was pretty tired at that point, and still confused from earlier presenter, so I don’t think I gave it the proper appreciation it deserved.

I will warn you that because I kept losing my connection, the posts on the live blog are out of order, so that may be very confusing.

I met my students and their families prior to the first day of school. Our building was opened for a tour, and my classroom was set up. I was prepared to quietly meet and greet children, let them roam through their new surroundings, and then, if the parents wanted, to chat a bit. I’ve posted before about what I look for during these open house sessions. Calm, relaxed, and not playing center stage, my students’ comfort during this initial meeting is always my top priority.

Many Title-I teachers have to put extra effort into building relationships and creating multiple lines of communication with the families of their students. Home visits, introductory letters or postcards mailed prior to the start of school, meet-the-teacher picnics, or good ol’ “Open House” events are required activities of many Title-I teachers at the beginning of the school year. Open door policies are reiterated by the principal, teachers, P.T.A., central office, and support staff, and teachers utilize multiple methods of parent/school communication throughout the year. Homework folders, weekly e-mail messages, home/school journaling, phone calls, additional home visits, and conferences scheduled, rescheduled, and rescheduled again are used to engage parents and families, and communicate to them that their involvement is appreciated, valued, and crucial. Family diversity, socioeconomic backgrounds, and general feelings about school environments aren’t off-stage scene accessories that may or may not come into play depending on the director’s whim or the temporary addition of a new actor in Title-I schools. These dynamic factors ARE the stage itself. Not so in my new district.

In my new district, almost all of my students are from military families, but there are a few civilian families that the school also serves. Over 70% of our student population relocates annually as this post houses a majority of its military staff for only one year. Military officers from countries all over the world also attend international courses on post, but only a few travel here with their families, members often speaking only their native language. A seventy-plus-percent student turnover (including possibly fifteen students from foreign countries in the entire district) changes the students’ faces, but not the common background and lifestyle of the children in our classrooms from year to year.

When I asked colleagues about the kindergarten report card and our first parent teacher conference, I was surprised to learn that I wouldn’t be giving my students grades until the end of the second quarter. For my first meeting with parents, it was suggested that our conference time be spent with me “letting them (parents) do all the talking.” I had a year’s worth of self-created mid-quarter and quarter assessment forms pre-approved by my principal, and asked colleagues for suggestions on when I should share my initial screening information and subsequent assessments with families, so that we could successfully partner in their childrens’ education. As a response to that question, and many more regarding parent communication throughout the year, my colleagues did not object whenever I marched to the beat of my own drummer. I sent home mid-quarter assessments when they did not. I regularly invited parent volunteers into the classroom and communicated with families several times a week via email, after school chats or phone calls, all expected standards of practice in my previous schools, but apparently not required here.

This year, my communication with parents and families was an area of commendation on my teacher evaluation. Like any other teacher, I was relieved to receive proficient and distinguished marks for my teaching practices, but was also torn, as areas in which my principal felt I excelled were areas where those behaviors and practices were expected by my previous Title-I administrators.  Knowing that I was communicating with my students’ families much more frequently than my colleagues were with theirs caused me to ask myself: am I over-communicating? Am I sharing unnecessary information with parents and wasting their time? Are there things they don’t need to know? Should I continue to invite parents in as volunteers every month, send home monthly calendars,weekly newsletters, and daily e-mails when the inclination strikes me?

I began to look for signs that might put me onto a more efficient track upon which my colleagues seemed to operate. Their newsletters and class updates were posted to their school web page. Parents asked teachers if they could come and volunteer, and to my amazement, some teachers responded with a firm but polite “no.” Parents arrived early for their parent teacher conferences, and were eager to see results from MAP assessments. Parents of my students would apologize for interrupting me or for asking me questions after school, implying that while it was my job to teach their children, it was not expected that I spend additional time as a parents’ guide.

After a year’s worth of rude awakenings and reflection, I have my answers. My teaching philosophy works for me. My teaching practices benefit those I feel should be involved in education: my students and their families.  Hopefully they will also be of benefit to my colleagues.  I will continue to communicate with parents, families, and administrators professionally and thoroughly, risking being perceived as having “gone overboard.”  While I appreciate finally having the materials, resources, and support needed to properly provide a wonderful kindergarten experience for my students, I will always have to temper my anger and frustration at the inequality that I know exists regarding this country’s public education. Many of my current colleagues may never walk in Title-I shoes, and I’ll have to pick and choose battles over teaching practices and philosophies carefully.

After my first year in La-la Land*, I have developed a new understanding of the now painful description that fits best when it comes to comparing Title-I and non-Title-I schools:

Apples and Oranges

No school district is perfect, but if this one, in this state, in our country, can provide so many resources and experiences that benefit students, why can’t they all?

*****

* “La-la Land” is the nickname to which this district is referred by many of my colleagues.

In-building ponds (stocked with fish, turtles and aquatic plants), “21st Century Science” rooms, multiple computer labs (in addition to the student laptops and teacher’s computer in each room), and SMARTBoards in nearly every classroom can be found in each building.

Glass walled libraries, art rooms that resemble studios, music rooms planned perfectly for acoustic expression, gyms with climbing walls, artful installments in hallways, and dining facilities that are not cafeteria/gym/multi-purpose room combinations also catch your eye.

My school has its own planetarium. Read it again: my school has its own planetarium. No, not the inflatable kind. Not the kind you have to assemble and be trained on to operate, disassemble, and then pass on to another school for sharing either. Certainly not a little tabletop jobbie that runs on two AA batteries in a room with all of its window shades pulled.  The bright white area in the photo above is actually the dome of the planetarium.

I’d never experienced a week-long migraine prior to that orientation. While our guides were informative and helpful, they seemed blissfully unaware of the murmured communication that was beginning to take place between some of the new hires, those of us with prior teaching experience…those of us who had taught outside of this new La-La Land.

“All this school needs is a Starbucks” whispered one. Another said she had been disoriented when touring her school for the first time because the upper level resembled a high-dollar mall in its architecture and décor (second photo). Yet another said she was getting tired of being looked at like she had three heads when she’d ask a grade level partner, custodian or secretary questions about risk management, classroom décor, protocols for testing, intervention resources, child and youth services, bi-lingual aides or staff, and drills (stranger danger, fire, earthquake, disaster, drop). Questions about acceptable photocopying, allowed videos, possible MANDT training, or visits from the testing police, those school visitors who walk into classrooms to check for proper (or improper) poster placement for state testing, were answered politely but with a palpable air of “wow-is-this-one-a-nut-job” by many of our new colleagues. I was asked why any classroom teacher would need MANDT training.

Those of us with Title-I experience not only wanted but needed to know our restrictions within and the liabilities and lawsuit history of our new employer. We needed to know all of the secret nooks and crannies that might house resources necessary to meet the needs of all of our students. As Title-I teachers, we were used to sewing purses out of pigs’ ears, and were ready to wheel and deal, beg, borrow and steal materials for our students. Title-I teachers know there is a battle to be won, that the battle must be won. Our students, schools, and our jobs depend upon our skill. Teacher “burn out” is our battle fatigue.

Amongst the Title-I new hires, the inherent inclination to not only quickly learn whatever choreography was in place, but to act with urgency motored us through our first quarter of school, and affected not only our attempts to bond with new colleagues, but made us stand out like sore thumbs in regard to our open communication and persistent relationship building activities with students’ families.

Many of our new colleagues gave us a wide berth.

To reintroduce myself, I’m a kindergarten teacher, wife of an active duty soldier, mother of three, and bi-racial (Inupiaq Eskimo and Caucasian). Thanks to Uncle Sam, my husband and our family have been restationed four times in the past six years, Alaska to New Mexico, New Mexico to Kansas, Kansas to Texas, and now Texas back to the Heartland. I’ve taught in Title-I schools for twelve years in three states. I appreciate and enjoy diversity and I believe in a common fairness for all.

My thirteenth year as a kindergarten teacher began last August, in my first-ever non-Title-I school. Once I finally received my teaching assignment, I was eager to sneak a peek into my new school, examine my classroom, and like all teachers with Title-I experience, start my “need-to-buy” list. What was it to be this year, new math manipulatives? Additional book sets? Dress up clothes, glue sticks, construction paper, or used computers so that students could have a technology center?

I found the school on post (it is not a D.O.D school) and was amazed at the beauty of the grounds, the condition of the building, and the newness of the kindergarten playground equipment. Upon entering the building, I couldn’t help but notice the ample light, not new but nearly pristine bulletin boards, perfect carpet, and eye-pleasing yet completely efficient architecture. I was given my key and was walked to my room by the school secretary, who immediately located the summer custodial staff to have them give me an estimated date for when my classroom, which already appeared spic and span, would be cleaned and ready for me.

I spoke with two custodians and asked if there was any place in particular they’d like me to store my belongings so that they wouldn’t be inconvenienced as they worked in my room. One asked how much I was bringing and was surprised when I told her that I traveled with all of my own classroom materials: a full library, math and science manipulatives, centers, computers, etc. “Why do you need those things?” was her incredulous response, as she directed me to where the previous teacher had stored the classroom inventory.

For the first time ever as a teacher, I had a fully equipped classroom. Every math, science, and reading manipulative necessary, and many “extras” as well, were neatly stored not only in my classroom, but in a workroom/storage closet that I share with only one of my three other grade level colleagues. When I asked how much of the materials were to be divided between me and my neighbor, the custodian, wearing yet another look of confusion, replied “None. These are all for your students. She has her own set.” She told me that my student computers would be delivered to the classroom the week before school started, but that my room would be clean and ready for me two weeks before then.

The custodians excused themselves, and left me standing in the middle of my classroom, my jaw on the floor. Out of what I thought was nowhere, I started to cry. I cried in appreciation, in awe, and finally in defeat, because I realized that no matter the national rhetoric, no matter the latest educational “movement” or “revolution,” true equality between schools, between states, between students within a single city, isn’t really happening.