joemacchia.com

29 Ways to Stay Creative

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:52:44 -0600

A nice collection of ideas to keep us creative and on our toes!

~from the Fast Company Design Blog

The instructional leadership team at Neuqua has made it priority...

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 22:41:00 -0600

The instructional leadership team at Neuqua has made it priority this year to clearly post class objectives for the day in the classroom. This project is still in its infancy, I want to add the ability for teachers to save their goals/messages and upload their own custom frames.

Some staff members use powerpoint, some use the whiteboard/chalkboard. However, I wanted to create a quick tool accessible from our intranet page to simplify the process, and make use of the mounted projectors in some classrooms. Teachers can simply type directly on our splash page and get back a full-framed powerpoint like slide to display at the beginning of class. It beats the heck out of Times New Roman 64pt in a Word document or for that matter Comic Sans. Added bonus, with the collection of this data, we get to see how clear our collective instructional objectives really are!

Thanks to Dr. Lance Fuhrer our AP for curriculum and instruction for his design prowess.

This year we have modified the original academic advisory...

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:45:00 -0600

Entering students as they enter resource

Getting the data

Overall data for usage of resource

This year we have modified the original academic advisory attendance system I created using increased access to data that fosters self-advocacy among students that enter our building each and everyday.

Our approach is three-fold: communicate via e-mail with parents on a daily basis about their specific students, provide educational leaders in the building the up-to-the minute data necessary to shape the stream of students using academic resource centers, and allow classroom teachers the ability to seamlessly recommend students to an academic advisory center for additional help outside the classroom. These tasks can be difficult without the use of technology.

Academic advisory is an important part of what we do at Neuqua Valley. During student free periods, department specific rooms with subject area teachers are available for students to seek additional assistance with their classes. Through the use of an in-house, custom-built web application, academic advisory teachers scan the barcodes on student id’s, which triggers a series of events to notify parents about their child’s attendance. This email is sent out daily and commends the student for making a good choice to seek additional help.

The collection and subsequent communication of this data point has shown to be powerful in helping students make good choices. Parents have been extremely grateful for the positive communication. In addition, the data provides them the tools and information to partner with the school while encouraging students to seek the help they need.

In addition, building leaders have real-time access to a data dashboard to parse the information and data gathered from student usage of the academic advisory centers. The access includes data that combines student standardized test scores, GPA, usage by time of day and day of week, and the course that a student is seeking help with. This information has proved extremely valuable in targeting smaller groups of students by encouraging them to seek additional help.

Finally, classroom teachers have the opportunity to recommend students to the academic resource centers when they feel a student requires additional help. This event also triggers a series of events that include automated parent communication regarding the teacher’s recommendation, as well as, whether the student has attended as recommended.

Neuqua Valley is a school of 4100 students, custom web applications built specifically to collect and analyze data have been a part of how we educate. Many collection points both traditional in manner and newly created have changed the way we look at data. Data at Neuqua Valley is not just a series of passive collection points about student achievement. Everything we gather enlightens how we teach and informs us about those who we are teaching. There is that Template Again :(

I have created a few web applications that address some of the...

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:36:00 -0600

Students enter a tag and their text

Viewing the collective word cloud

Teachers can create a Wordle

Drilldownfor individual student response

I have created a few web applications that address some of the common teaching and learning themes prevalent at Neuqua Valley. NVHSclouds is one that came from some discussions with fellow teachers, I built it in a night and we used it shortly thereafter for some staff development as well as in classrooms within Neuqua.

NVHSclouds is simple. Word clouds became really popular last year, so I created a way for teachers to leverage the power and “coolness” factor to a collaborative learning activity. NVHSclouds allows a class to enter words or a statement on a topic or discussion question, the application counts common words to see where the class sentiment lies, and what words are used more than others. It has served as an informal, formative assessment tool and has shaped the path for discussions in quite a few classes. In addition it uses the open interface of WORDLE to create more visually appealing word clouds.

Considering our Audience

Sat, 21 May 2011 22:05:30 -0500

Do you consider your audience when using social media? Personal/Professional differences?

End of Year Projects

Thu, 19 May 2011 09:53:00 -0500

Why are high school projects left to the end of the year? More on this later…

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/argonne/4422658469/sizes/o/in/photostream/

I really need to switch up the HTML template I am using for many...

Sat, 14 May 2011 00:00:00 -0500

I really need to switch up the HTML template I am using for many of these projects.

This is the Neuqua Early Warning System. It allows administrators, department chairs, and teachers the ability to view research-based indicators of high school success in 8th graders. From a series of data points, a “40” score is developed. This composite score allows us to the chance to intervene in a students path before they reach official RTI status. The data is fluid, as we hope to continue to update quarterly points of reference. This will show growth and give us the opportunity to see a possible speed bump before it flattens our tires.

What Evidence do you need?

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 20:36:00 -0500

The blog post written by American entrepreneur Seth Godin titled The limits of evidence based marketing, got me thinking.

He writes,

We present facts and proof and expect a rational consumer/voter/follower/peer to make an intelligent decision on what’s better. That’s how science works. Thesis, test, evidence, conclusion. All testable and rational.

Is this how we expect to change practices inside the classroom? The best professional development I have ever experienced was not in some all day seminar, but inside of a classroom. Observing a teacher. A great teacher. However, the merits of professional development is for another post.

Let’s continue to dive into what Seth is saying. He goes on to write about how Apple Computer in the 1980’s tried to persuade large corporations to switch to Apple computers. They used ad after ad and study after study to no avail, but it was not until they realized,

It was only the gentle persistence of storytelling and the elevation of evangelists that turned the tide.

You can find example after example of this idea in many of the “new” non-fiction business books.

It is clear, in at least the media and powerful lobbyists want us to think, that our education system is failing and needs change. I don’t necessarily agree with everything out there, but at a minimum I believe we do need to take into consideration the changing learner.

Classrooms at the secondary level are traditionally teacher-led. There is a ton of research out there that says, this is not how students learn best. So we need to shift the focus in the classroom from the teacher to the learner.

How can we help push us to consider the learner above all else? Mr. Godin writes:

What would change the mind of many people resistant to evidence is a series of eager testimonials from other tribe members who have changed their minds. When people who are respected in a social or professional circle clearly and loudly proclaim that they’ve changed their minds, a ripple effect starts. First, peer pressure tries to repress these flip-flopping outliers. But if they persist in their new mindset, over time others may come along. Soon, the majority flips. It’s not easy or fast, but it happens.

Flip the hardest one to flip, the one you think won’t change, don’t use statistics just show them how other teachers are embracing the paradigm shift. Who knows they may end up being your biggest supporter!

The Symphony of Science gave me goosebumps while watching, and...

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 17:35:24 -0500

The Symphony of Science gave me goosebumps while watching, and thinking about learning…

An entire site dedicated to educating about science concepts utilizing a pop culture phenomenon (Auto-tune) while embracing the remix culture…

This is educational technology like I have never seen before…

Producing/creating something CAN be proof of knowledge.

"A pattern describes a problem that occurs over and over again in our environment; and then describes..."

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 15:07:42 -0500

“A pattern describes a problem that occurs over and over again in our environment; and then describes the core of the solution in such a way that you can use the solution a million times over without ever doing it the same way twice.”

When a mini-van viral marketing campaign makes you want to buy a...

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 11:15:00 -0500

When a mini-van viral marketing campaign makes you want to buy a mini-van, you know you have reached true adulthood!

It’s old but funny!

One of my students is running for student council president. How...

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 00:28:00 -0500

One of my students is running for student council president. How can he give himself a leg up against his competition? Make a video. Use media to inform, entertain, and spread his message, or at least in this example his humor.

Collaborative Creation Tools

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 23:16:00 -0500

As we continue to discuss the creation of a 21st classroom space at NVHS, I reflect on what I believe is an essential piece of technology in this space.

I believe it is essential to have a set of devices in a classroom that can foster student-centered creation in addition to a device that facilitates gathering student input and feedback.

Students are already creating content constantly: they create YouTube videos, and make photos they post to Flickr, they doodle and draw in class, they journal in 140 character Twitter/Facebook updates. In addition to interacting and engaging digitally with their peers, why not try to engage them with the content we love, while utilizing the skills and capacities they’ve already built?

Students have a passion for sharing, sometimes, yes, even over-sharing. They want their peers to know what is happening in their life; they digitally reveal their thoughts, and subsequently comment or discuss about acquired information. They question, investigate and then construct a social knowledgebase about their world, and how they perceive themselves inside that world.

Why can’t we embrace these skills students already come equipped to use? I am a proponent of an environment where peer critique, commenting, sharing, and refactoring information about our content can become a ubiquitous and essential part of the learning process.

So much of what we do as adults is not about the capacities we’ve built or the knowledge we have acquired, but the synthesis and subsequent communication of that knowledge. We produce stuff; we live in a world of stuff. The process of turning knowledge into stuff is so important (Look at this post). What are our students producing? Is it valuable to them? Is it valuable to us?

A student-response system provides students a voice in class; a way for them to influence the instructional direction they want or wish the teacher would take. It informs instruction in such a way that support and encouragement can be provided before, during and after a learning hiccup or success. It engages students because they can finally not be drowned out, and make the contributions we all know they want to make. I get it, it is necessary, it is helpful, and it will change teaching and learning, as we know it.

I am all about a device in every student’s hand, but the immediate formative feedback we desire can be gathered in both a very analog way, as well as, with technology at a relatively small cost with a full-text dedicated student response system. I am not ready for 1:1 student tablets/computers/etc. What is possible is not always what is attainable, 1:1 tablets will only end up as glorified student-response devices.

I don’t know maybe this is all too flower-ee. Am I just a not so young naïve educator for thinking this way?

The Answer Sheet - Why schools should try things not "research-based"

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 08:38:00 -0600

The Answer Sheet - Why schools should try things not "research-based":

Best Practices vs Next Practices…

Interesting. If we only spent 10%, and not the prescribed 30% we would be in good shape!

Saturday morning cereal and cartoons … http://campl.us/EGB

Sat, 05 Mar 2011 22:09:24 -0600

Saturday morning cereal and cartoons … http://campl.us/EGB

What I believe about technology and learning in education...

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 20:53:00 -0600

The following is a working list of some beliefs regarding technology and learning in education:

An active student is an engaged student.
Students should be given the opportunity define their own lines of inquiry.
We must promote collaboration in our classrooms.
We must allow students to create…something.
Giving the students a voice and involving them in active discussions leads to deeper capacities.

"Imagination is the antithesis of tradition."

Sat, 26 Feb 2011 23:40:00 -0600

““Imagination is the antithesis of tradition.””

- Jay Walker

RT @9swords: The Muppets Rock Out to LCD Soundsystem // http://on.mash.to/gTWtCj

Sat, 26 Feb 2011 21:24:49 -0600

RT @9swords: The Muppets Rock Out to LCD Soundsystem // http://on.mash.to/gTWtCj

I need to write more…

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:34:38 -0600

I need to write more…

What's the Point?

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 00:20:00 -0600

I have many questions and thoughts, that lead to more questions and thoughts, that lead to more questions and thoughts.

You get the point.

I claim to be a lifelong learner, and that is something that I take great pride in. I am thirsty for knowledge. Knowledge to inform my career, my hobbies, my parenting, and so on. I need a place to reflect on this information. I hope to use this little place on the web as my digital journal. All this in addition to the fact that I have been wanting to write more, has lead to the creation of this digital space and joemacchia.com

It’s simple. Just write. Just reflect. Just think.

That’s my goal, hope it’s not to boring!