The GPS in Education: Meaningful Measurable Objectives

Goals are an important part of life.   Without them, we often are just treading water.  As Earl Nightingale said, "People with goals succeed because they know where they're going."  There are many different examples in life where we can point to the importance of goals: athletics, behavior of children, academic success, business success and so on.  

Often during pre-conferences and observations, a discussion centering around the focus for student learning takes place.  In this discussion, we often recognize the importance of measurable objectives in daily lessons.  As educators, we need to establish goals for our students.  Creating goals gives our classes more structure and are easier for students to comprehend because they know what is expected.  Think of it as a GPS; we type in our destination, receive directions and we eventually end up where we need to go.  Our classrooms should look the same way.

There are 4 areas of focus for creating measurable objectives:

1. What is your goal for day, the week, the unit?
As stated above, all students need goals so they can be successful.  What do you want students to learn when they are in your class?  Establish a goal: it can simple (five parts of the design process or steps to create a brochure).  Each day there should be a goal.  It may be an extension of a previous lesson, but there should be a goal nonetheless.

2. What knowledge do you want the students to gain?
This is accomplished by creating learning targets or "I can…" statements that identify the learning level where students should end.  A good resource for determining the level of knowledge for students is Bloom's Taxonomy.  Some lessons or projects require different levels of learning for students ("Identify the five parts of the design process" compared to "Demonstrate the steps necessary to create a brochure").

3. Choose your words carefully
You have to know exactly what you need in #2 above in order to complete #3 correctly.  The learning level of students will depend on the correct verbiage used for the behavior at hand.  A great tool to use is an objective builder such as the one featured on this site.  It allows you to choose the correct term so your students know exactly what they need to do.

4. Make sure to add your destination
Students need to know how they are to demonstrate they have reached the end goal.  Its much like our GPS example above, if we don't put in the destination, the GPS won't guess where we are going for us.     Let students know if they need to illustrate they know what they are doing in an assessment, project, paper, lab or whatever the educator is looking for to show mastery.  Referring to one of the examples above, asking a student to demonstrate the necessary steps to create a brochure doesn't tell the student how they need to do this to show mastery.  Adding how you want the student to "Demonstrate the necessary steps to create a brochure by creating a brochure in MS Office" does.

Measurable objectives are a basic part of our daily lives.  We need them in education so our students have a path.  A goal without a plan is just a dream.  Help our students get from Point A to Point B and be successful by taking the time to create meaningful measurable objectives that give students and parents clarity.

5 Steps to Personalizing Professional Development without Technology

Teaching can be a lonely place.  As educators we need to do a better job of connecting with others especially fellow educators in our buildings and districts. 

Many educators and educational experts talk about educators connecting through social media.  I would agree with that.  Educators should connect through different tools and applications such as Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and others.  But to grow as educators in our buildings and district, I believe peer-to-peer communication and interaction is most beneficial for overall growth of local educators and students in our communities.

Relationships, along with efficient and effective learning environments, are vital pieces in the foundation of outstanding schools.  As educators, we need to use the growth possibilities that exist in our own schools and districts.  The growth possibilities are created by the relationships with other educators in the buildings and district.  As educators, we eat with each other, work with each other, but do we really reflect and utilize each other’s practices and methods?  Do we take the time to go into other teachers’ classrooms and learn from them?  Do we gain knowledge from other educators’ instructional methods and provide them feedback on their methods? 

We need to make teaching a public act and open ourselves to learn from each other.  This is easier said than done due a number of reasons.  The most prominent is usually the lack of time educators have to instruct, plan, research, and develop professionally each year.  So how can we help educators grow from their peers?  Let’s look at five areas to focus on to find this growth:

Talk with other teachers

See what teachers in your building are doing.  Listen to what other teachers are doing.  Find out what you want to do in your classroom and who already does it well in your building.  Hosting a building or district EdCamp is an excellent way to do that.  There will be a variety of sessions on different methods and tools that will expand your instructional practices.

Make it a point to take the time

As mentioned above, we are all looking for more time.  Take time out of your day, whether it is during your lunch or conference period, to visit other classrooms.  Do it for no other reason than helping students.  Work with your department team to create a schedule where each of you may be able to visit other educators and learn something new from them.  Learn from observation and don’t leave any excuses on the table.  If you want to get better, make it happen!

Go cross curricular

Stretch yourself and visit classrooms outside of your department.  Observe what the educator and students accomplish and visualize how you will use the same thing or something similar in your classes.  Build partnerships with other teachers for the greater good of the building.  Again, EdCamps are a great way to start leanring from others in your building.

Share your experiences

Let other educators know what you experienced.  Share it in a building email, staff meeting, department meetings, or even in the hallways.  Sharing our experiences helps the overall growth of the building and again allows others to visualize.

Change the culture

As more and educators take the time to learn from other educators in the class setting, the professional development mindset of the building will change.   Make it a part of the vision of the building and model for others.  As more teachers begin to visit other classes, trust begins to play a larger role around the building and fosters growth for all.

Teaching can be a lonely place if you don’t allow your teaching and others teaching to become an observation of work.  Work with other educators to share practices and methods to help our students grow by utilizing all of the educators in the building, not just the ones they have each period.

Effective Strategies for Teacher Evaluations

As we begin a new school year, many schools will focus on student growth and improving student learning.  While these are great ways for our schools and students to get better, it is also important to not lose sight of teacher and administrator growth during the school year.  Districts will focus on educator professional development during the year as a way to grow staff.  At times, we seem to forget that teacher evaluations are a great way for teachers and administrators to grow and become better at what they do.  Let's take a look at some effective strategies for teacher evaluations that will help both teachers and administrators grow during the school year:

1. Clear Communication

Clear communication between administrators and teachers is imperative.  Open dialogue including meetings before the observation, conversations with staff in the hallways or at lunch, or using applications such as Voxer to communicate with staff members will allow all parties to excel.  Its important to focus the conversations on teacher growth, administrator expectations, and the building's educational philosophy.  What the administrator expects to see in the classroom each day (whether it is an observation or not) should go hand-in-hand with the building educational philosophy as a whole.  This will develop a cohesiveness amongst the staff because they will know what it expected of them in each observation and evaluation.  

2. Attention to Detail 

Too many times administrators go into observations intending on writing everything down that is said and done in the classroom.  This practice allows administrators to refer to it when they are completing the paperwork for the evaluation.  As administrators, we need to turn our attention away from scribing and more towards focusing on the environment and relationships in the classroom.  Those two areas of education are the most important part of strong instruction.  If there is not a positive environment and quality relationships in a classroom setting, the instructional methods used are insignificant.  Focus on student engagement and generalize what you see and what stands out to you.  Yes, at times this will include collecting what is said as your evidence.  But don't get too wrapped up in recording evidence when you could be missing the most powerful part of the classroom experience: the learning environment and relationships that allow our students to grow as learners.

3. Timely and Positive Feedback

Observations and evaluations are a waste of time if there is no feedback involved for both the teacher and administrator.  It is important for administrators to share feedback with teachers as quickly as possible.  Think of it this way, the quicker an administrator can get feedback to a teacher, the quicker the building has a chance to grow.  This is really something that is overlooked by many administrators.  Teachers work and communicate with each other every hour of every day.  They discuss many things throughout the day and often into the night.  As administrators, we should encourage these discussions. Not only does it keep each teacher informed, but it also allows them to grow and learn more especially when it comes to observations and evaluations.  The sooner an administrator can share information with  a recently observed teacher, the quicker the feedback can be shared amongst the staff.  This will allow more teachers to try different instructional methods that the evaluator thought was positive and not use as much methods or resources if they were viewed as something to build upon for future observations.  

It is also important as an administrator to make suggestions for improving areas of need.  Do different things like suggest mentors or recommend class visits to other teachers in the building or district.  This allows educators to experience different educational settings that may help them learn more methods and resources to use to improve their instructional background.  

4. Learn Something Yourself

As an administrator, don't let the evaluation process take away your opportunities to grow as an educator.  Use the evaluation process to learn more about your staff and yourself.  Get educated on different content areas that are offered in your schools.  Become familiar with the different teaching styles that are utilized in your building.  Collect methods and resources to share with the rest of the staff and other buildings in the school district.  Go into evaluations with the thought process of, "I'm going to improve myself and assist the teacher in getting better too."  Its different than what many of us are used to in education, but it will help our students and that is really all that matters.

Administrators need to use the evaluation process as a way to improve your craft and solidify your place as an instructional leader in the building.  If teachers can see that the evaluation is a tool for them to get better and not remove them from their position, our entire educational system will improve.  Focus on the four areas above to allow yourself as an administrator to dig deeper into evaluations and use them for their original purpose: to help people get better so the overall product will improve.

Guest Post by Noah Dennison: Another Freshman Experience

While there are some who grew older and remember high school as a place that filled their time before college and the rest of their lives, I think as graduates of GLHS our seniors have done a little more than fill their time.  But with all of the accolades and accomplishments of high school, the reality is, we all need to change at certain points in our lives because the world around isn't going to sit still.  As seniors, you will find out that change is good and it sometimes comes with pain and frustration.  The good thing is, the pain and frustration are only temporary and eventually lead to success.

I recently asked '14 GLHS graduate Noah Dennison to write a guest post on my blog about his first year in college.  I thought the best way to send the Seniors out into the world was the same way they came into GLHS: with a Freshman Experience.  Take it all in Seniors: #WeAreLions

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As much as you may be academically prepared for college, with the help of great high school teachers and countless hours dedicated to your studies, or maybe your  talent for guessing really well on multiple choice tests, one thing is certain: college is a different ball game. Sure, you'll more than likely take an entire schedule full of general education classes required by your school, but you've probably also heard that college professors are quite different. After all, how couldn’t they be?

Compare your class size of 20 to 30 students now and understand that some (but definitely not all) of your college class rosters will contain ten times that number of people. And when you think of the average student, you think of one of your friends, the kid that sits next to you in stats class, or someone like them. In college, literally anyone of any age group can be sitting next to you. This might not seem too crazy in writing, but imagine sitting down in a lecture hall for your first college English course as a 65-year-old woman takes the seat next to you. Her name was Marianne. She admitted to taking the class, "because it’s free for senior citizens to apply" and because she "wanted to be better at arguing with her husband." Towards the end of the course, as we approached American literature in the 1950's, she was able to actually give real life examples of similar themes from her childhood.

Really weird stuff will happen to you in and out of the classroom because, simply, college is a totally different arena. Because of all the crazy and typically very new stuff happening literally everywhere, you will definitely develop a sense of self-awareness like you've never had. By the time I finally moved out of my dorm, I actually felt like a different person. It's insane how differently you look at things like your family, home, and your friends after spending almost a full year in another place. That, of course, doesn't only apply to students leaving home, either.

There is a huge sense of independence found during freshman year. You start to realize that you can actually make real decisions on your own. Like, for example, when to file your state taxes, or even whether or not your 7:30 Biology lab is really all that important to you as a graphic design major.*

Going to college is a big step in a person's life. It definitely isn't something that should be taken for granted, especially if you're going to a state school (I mean, it's like $20,000 per year at the very least) and you should definitely try to go out of your comfort zone as much as possible to experience everything it has to offer. You'll learn a ton in your lectures and labs, but college is definitely not just inside the classroom.

*Go to classes, seriously. If you want a 1-Step Plan to failing a class: Don't Show Up.

Noah Dennsion

GLHS Class of 2014

BYOD/1:1 and Differentiation

If you are thinking about or contemplating a BYOD or 1:1 initiative for your school, you should do it just for the amount of differentiation that will occur in your building and/or classroom. Teachers and students will find new & original ways to use the devices to master content. Some interesting ways that students & teachers use devices to learn content are:

1. Video & Pictures
Using video is a great way for students to demonstrate how they understand content. Students will amaze you by the number of ways they use video to demonstrate mastery. Students like to use apps such as YouTube Capture, Videolicious, and Screencast-o-matic to video projects & use as assessments to demonstrate mastery. Students also enjoy using Collaaj and ShowMe to use whiteboard functions and voice-overs. Students also use different video applications like Kahn Academy or EduCreations to watch videos to learn different material.

Students also use pictures to tell their stories. There are many apps out there that allow for collages & poster creation. One app that is a good poster app is Phoster. App allows students to create posters and save them as images. Teachers need to be flexible and allow students to demonstrate mastery in different ways than just summative assessments. Be flexible because your students are.

2. Peer-to-Peer
Following up on videos above, students love working in peer-to-peer environments and devices allow them to do this. Students can use the apps mentioned above and Google Drive to share documents with each other, edit documents at the same time, and create forms for input. There is nothing better than watching student collaboration & student discussion that creates critical thinking and growth.

3. Learning Management System (LMS)
Another great way to create differentiation is using an LMS such as Edmodo or Schoology. Students are able to express themselves on a platform that is similar to Facebook. Students can blog, ask questions, download documents, and communicate/collaborate with the teacher & other students. Students can post blogs and participate in discussions that allow them to demonstrate their knowledge of the content. Students have a voice and are members of a learning community. Collaboration can be a form a differentiation when students get support from their peers.

4. Basic Research
Sometimes students just use basic research as a form of differentiation. Students research answers or questions on the devices and find answers & explanations. Students improve their research skills & find different ways to learn content other than in the classroom.

Devices really do open doors for students. The apps I listed above are just a few that are used. Don’t get caught up in the reasons to fund or not fund or support a BYOD/1:1 initiative. If differentiation opportunities for students is important for you, then you have a great reason to go BYOD/1:1.

Instructions on how to sign up for GahannaThon Donor Drive

GahannaThon is scheduled for Saturday, January 31st starting at 6:00 pm.

Below are the instructions on how to sign up for Donor Drive for GahannaThon:

- Go to helpmakemiracles.org
- Click on “Find an Event”

- Scroll down until you find “GahannaThon” and click on it
- Click on “Register Now”
- Fill out information required and start fundraising!

Remember you need to raise $15 in order to get into the dance!!

6 Steps for Effective Blended Learning

Our educational system requires a different form of instruction than when I was in school.  One of the methods of instruction that had been a topic of conversations between staff, students, and parents is Blended learning instruction.  In order to have an effective blended learning environment, there are some areas that you need to address before you begin the process.  Always remember the goal behind instruction: student growth.  As a teacher, you try to use different methods of instruction to reach that main goal.  When it comes to blended instruction, follow the steps below to make the transitions and methods have the greatest impact for your students and parents:

1. Stop calling a "flipped" classroom, a "flipped" classroom
Sometimes the name of something can mean everything.  I'm sure every person working in marketing will tell you that.  Simply the way something is stated or what it is called can create the perception of it. I believe this is true with the flipped classroom.  

Why do we call it "flipped" anyway? I understand that in a flipped classroom the homework for the class period is done in class with the presence of the teacher while the instruction (whatever method is used, usually via videos) takes place after the normal class period.  Thus the term "flipped"; it flips the traditional classroom model of doing homework at home and instruction in the class during the school day.  Again, I get all that.

Classroom instruction needs to be more than though to be effective.  We need to offer differentiation and other forms of instruction to our students (which we will discuss below) to address all student learning styles.  What we need to do is blend our classes.  A flipped classroom is a form of blended learning.  Let's just stick with calling our classrooms "blended" classrooms because that is what we are doing, we are blending our instruction to meet all different learning styles.

2. Communication to the students and parents
Communicate to students and parents what type of instruction and methods will take place at the beginning of the school year.  Utilize your most effective means of communication with parents (emails, website, Remind, etc.) to get the message delivered.  Explain how the class instruction will work during the year.  Offer links and articles for your parents to read to become more knowledgeable on the methods.  Most importantly, explain why you will be using the instructional methods.  We are the experts, so we need to explain why this form of instructional will help our students grow.

3. Short videos
If you choose to create videos for a method of class instruction, make sure the videos are not longer than 8 minutes.  Short videos are important when it comes to holding the students' attention.  Create multiple videos and have them in a library of videos grouped accordingly for easy access.  Don't attempt to pack too much instruction into single videos.  Give students and parents clarity on what each video includes and what you want the students to take away from the video.  Utilize learning targets with the videos.

4. Workshops shared in class (direct instruction)
Break down your classes into mini-workshops.  Offer direct instruction in small segments to students who may not have comprehended material from the videos.  Offer students a different form of instruction that allows them to ask questions and maybe see the material in a different way.  Others in the class can continue to work at their own pace over the topic at hand.  Creating mini-workshops allows you to set up your classes in tiered environment where students can get the required assistance needed and also work at their own pace and personalize their learning.

5. Create peer-to-peer support system
A great method to use with a tiered classroom is a peer-to-peer support system.  Students who understand and comprehend the material can assist other students with the material.  Students are able to learn from each other; research illustrates that students comprehend more material when learned from classmates.  The peers instructors are able to stretch themselves by teaching and helping other students.  This allows the instructors to look at the material deeper and show them where others may be unclear.  It also provides a support system to the teacher who is offering mini-workshops and support to the other students in the class.

6. Use student created videos if possible
Create a project where students make videos over topics so the videos can be added to the video library.  Students could use the videos to demonstrate mastery to their teachers.  They could also use the videos to help students who miss class.  It feeds back to the peer-to-peer support system, students enjoy learning from each other and can relate to other students.  This will also help students with other classes as well.  They will learn how to use editing software or other movie making apps that will allow them to use videos they create to demonstrate mastery in other classes.

Blended learning methods are valuable in offering our students and parents another means of instruction.  Try to use some of the tips above to guide your classes towards the ultimate goal of student growth.