Engagement by Empowering Students

 

     I became inspired after reading an article sent to me by one of my Tech Coach partners, to write this blog that does more asking than it does telling, sharing or showing.  So many times as we are starting to plan lessons, we tend to get bogged down with the question of, “How do I engage the students?”  The topic plays on our minds constantly. 

     We look for ideas on Pinterest, in Facebook Groups, on Twitter, in blogs and in articles we find on the Internet.  We have a preconceived notion of what the engagement should look like in our classrooms.  We make sure that it fits within the parameters of how we want our students to behave or respond.  We take care to see that the rubric we have set up gives strict guidelines as to how we want our project based learning assignments to turn out.  We work ourselves silly trying to find that magic prompt or magic idea that will send our students into ecstatic and joyous modes, capable of anything…now that we have set that leaning spaceship into orbit!

     And if it doesn’t have the desired effect…we wilt under the strain of all the effort we originally put into the project or lesson, and believe me, students can tell. 

     As I have said over many years of being a teacher, coach, Tech Coach and Principal…”Find ways to work smarter, not necessarily harder.”  You don’t have to reinvent the wheel for all you do.  Share with and borrow successful ideas from colleagues.  Team up with a colleague to tackle an issue.  Group together with other teachers in your building and change up the status quo. 

     Here are some questions that may help you help students…especially in this remote and virtual environment:

1.    1.  Are students allowed to choose how they show comprehension? Allow students to make a choice over how they demonstrate mastery: writing, drawing, doing a skit, or creating a video. Everyone doesn’t shine in every area, so why not give the opportunity to work within their own gifts and confidence levels. Give them a Choice Board and let them make the call on how and when they learn the material.  

2.      2. How quick do student get results? Give quick and helpful feedback.  Grades are grades, but feedback empowers.

3.      3. Are teachers or students creating response sheets?  Have students create their own documents to respond to teacher prompts and lessons, rather than keep shoveling worksheets out there for them to regurgitate facts.

4.      4.  Do you have a central theme to focus the learning?  Missions and Vision and Goals statements are usually long and sometimes confusing, and we always support those overall statements.  But maybe bring those into focus like this...Years ago, I came up with a slogan that I used in several schools and coined it “Achievement Beyond Comprehension.” The idea was to have teachers provide opportunities for students to demonstrate to them how students solved a problem, or how they approached an issue or an assignment.  I recently changed what the “A” meant, to now read “Application Beyond Comprehension.” I want students to know what they did to solve something and be able to explain it to someone else.  Have students document their work along the way, and show evidence of their progress.

5.      5. Who sets the way we do our projects?  Get out of their way!  I was working with a teacher a year or so ago and the teacher had a great tech project idea for the students.  The rubric was concise and understandable, and gave them a choice of two different tools to use.  The question then came from a student, “Can we use something else to show our project?”  The teacher was hesitant and told the student, “I’ll give it some thought.”  The teacher asked me, and I said, “I would say, yes…and then get out of their way!”  The teacher gave permission for the students to use methods other than the original prescription…and we were extremely pleased with what many of the student created and turned in.

     All of these suggestions may not work for you, but at least I hope it will provoke thought toward new ideas.  I hope it gives you the courage to take a risk in how you want work turned in.  I hope by doing so, it models for the students that taking a risk is okay, and helps foster collaboration, creativity, initiation, and the confidence that students need to take those kinds of risks.  It also encourages students to take more responsibility for their learning. 

Teachers like to be empowered…and students like it as well.  Ramp up student engagement by empowering them to take charge of their learning.  Try it out!

Keith Brown

Instructional Tech Coach

Choice Boards for Teacher PLT's

 Choice Boards have been one of the more talked about tools as of late.  The idea is to provide your audience with choices within the realm of a particular subject, and give participants an opportunity to explore, work on, and complete things that interest them.

Some of the Choice Boards we have helped create have been for Math (concepts, formulas, terms), Science (terms, parts of a cell, the human body), ELA (reading and writing), Foreign Languages (translations, conjugations), Social Studies (maps, terms, particular battles, people in history), Art (styles, periods, artists), Music (composers, styles, instrumental), and Physical Education (game rules and playing areas, terms, lifetime activities, health). 

And don’t just limit your creation to students, find ways to use Choice Boards for Teachers.  At the beginning of our school year, we always offer Professional Development, as do most all school districts that I have ever heard of in all my many years.  This particular year was different in many ways, mainly due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.  We found that preparing our teachers after a delayed opening, and then having to start the year completely virtual, that there were things we wanted to make sure teachers were prepared to do; like using our Google Classroom as the Learning Management System, and using the different Virtual Meeting tools that were available.  “How do we…?” became a catch phrase around here. 

We started by talking with and surveying teachers as to what things they thought they’d like to see tutorials for, and pretty quick. Next, we took advantage of the tools provided by YouTube to create a channel where we could create and house “How-To” videos for our teachers.  Step three, we gathered the 10 most requested Google Tools, and the 10 most requested general tools that would help teachers be better prepared to launch the school year virtually. Once we created the videos, we added the videos, with a short description to a Google Choice Board, and to a General Choice Board.

Because it was so critical to gather and talk through the plans, schedules and some other assessment tools that were newly acquired, there wasn’t time for the Tech Coaches to conduct all of the sessions that were going to play such a pivotal role in the start of school. So we gave it to our teachers in the form of the Choice Boards. 

We gave teachers a time frame in which to complete the assignments.  They had to watch at least two of the Choice Board Activities for each Board, and then had to record in a Google Form, which ones they watched and how they were planning to apply them in their instruction. They could watch as many as they wanted, but were only responsible for recording two per Board.  This not only helped us to help them, but gave us a good foothold on their status as far as tech proficiency.

Here are links for our two Choice Boards if you care to see them:

Also, feel free to watch any of the (at this point), 127 “How-To” videos on our YouTube Channel.

 

Keith Brown, Instructional Technology Coach, Georgetown County School District, Georgetown, SC, USA.

Why Use Book Creator?

 Book Creator is a Free Tool that allows students to create eBooks as a part of their teacher's library.  The Books can stand alone of be combined with others from the class.  This is a great way to use student devices to integrate technology in a meaningful platform.  Using Book Creator stresses the important aspects of writing, creativity, design, communication and collaboration, It has students use a variety of digital skills to construct projects as outlined in the ISTE Standards: the Knowledge Constructor.

The Book creator teaches acclimates students to the art of presentation.

When students work together, they enrich learning experiences by collaborating with other in their own schools and outside the walls of their classrooms. Therefore becoming better Global Communicators.

We are a G Suite school district, and I love the way in syncs seamlessly with the tools we are already using.

 Teachers in all grade levels and across the entire curriculum, can use Book Creator:  ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies, in the Fine Arts, Physical Education, in Special Education and in the Media Center.  It is limited only by your imagination and creativity.

Creating portfolios, notebooks, chapter by chapter books and other assignments, and exercising the literacy skills, the keyboard and mouse skills, Book Creator becomes a great tool for engaging students in worthwhile endeavors that enhance their learning in all areas.

I have introduced and used Book Creator to my Middle School Teachers in Georgetown County as a part of my role as an Instructional Technology Coach.  I have created and share my Book Creator Projects to teachers in my district.  I model student lesson and teach both teachers and students how to use Book Creator.  Two of my favorites were:  My How-To Book for Using Google Drawing, and My Book About FitnessGram.  I used text, pictures, voice inserts and videos in my presentations. I have introduced teachers to…and asked them to join Book Creator as a part of the Graduate Level Class I teach (EDPD 818-A60) for the Georgetown County School District in SC…via The College of Charleston in Charleston, SC.  The Book Creator was part of the assignments that our students (Teachers) had to utilize for a presentation/assignment. I have approximately 30 books in My Library for the Graduate Class alone.  

Check it out:  www.bookcreator.com

Keith

The 2020 Tech Fair

It is an exciting time for the students and staff in the Georgetown County School District, as we begin to engage in our Technology Fair preparation.  In 2011, we started the tech fair with the intent to allow students to showcase projects that they were doing for classes.  Nobody is real sure of the number of projects at the first Tech Fair, but estimates from those around at that time say there were about 60 projects.

 

The Tech Fair, like technology itself, has evolved rapidly over the last ten years.  Wow…did I say ten years?  In 2011, students were presenting projects using the traditional folding “project boards” that propped behind their computers.  On their computer screens, they were showing power points or Word documents of class projects they had researched. 

Fast forward to 2020:  The folding presentation boards are thing of the past.  Students are creating digital portfolios using Google Slides, Google Drawing, Google Forms, Google Docs, Websites, robotics, programmable cars, drones, and even 3-D printers.  Students and staff have the opportunity to choose from several categories:  Creativity, Communication & Collaboration, Decision Making & Problem Solving, Innovation and Educator based projects. 

In 2011, Judges were scoring projects using pen and paper.  Now two judges score student projects using iPads on a Google Form, with an Array code that scores and separates the categories by age groups.

What started as an initiative to boost technology, has become THE premier event in the district…involving over 600 students in 2019, 62 Judges, 68 teachers, and some 500 community members and parents.

This year, our projects will be better, our Fair will be better, and the different technologies are exponentially growing.  April 9, 2020 is the date.  The location is 320 Wildcat Way at Waccamaw Intermediate School…Pawleys Island, SC  29585.  Come and be a part of the excitement as we invest in our young people.

To sign up to help Judge, click and visit the link below.  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd99NiG3QPAN6VCGkLqeg6QIvHb_M01pRMTC-kz7TcH52riIQ/viewform