I was honored to be interviewed by Chuck Cascio for his Transforming Education series.
Chuck's questions got me to reflect on my journey as a student and educator, and writing out my responses was a very helpful exercise.
Showing posts with label Teaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Teaching. Show all posts
Friday, March 25, 2022
Tuesday, April 9, 2019
Teach to One: Technology that Kills Learning Relationships
Teach to One Math is an exciting idea. What if computers could help students get a truly personalized learning experience? Their supporters include an amazing list of educational organizations for which I have great admiration and respect, including Gates, Chan Zuckerberg, New Profit, and Oak.
Hechinger Report published an interesting article a few years ago What happens when computers, not teachers, pick what students learn? that paints a picture of how Teach to One Math can look in a classroom. It's certainly innovative, and probably works for some kids and teachers, but I was skeptical.
When Open Culture published Trainwreck: The Teach to One Math Experiment in Mountain View, CA Is a Cautionary Tale About the Perils of Digital Math Education, more people took notice of the downside of Teach to One. Around the time the Open Culture article came out, I spoke with a teacher from a Teach to One school, and her comment was that she felt...
Why mention this idea that is a few years old? Artificial Intelligence (AI) is getting more powerful and so people keep coming up ways that computers can improve teaching and learning. For instance, some of TeachThought's 10 Roles For Artificial Intelligence In Education have AI-driven systems re-framing the role of the teacher. Teach to One Math should be a cautionary tale that helps us evaluate huge shifts that could harm relationships between teachers and students.
Hechinger Report published an interesting article a few years ago What happens when computers, not teachers, pick what students learn? that paints a picture of how Teach to One Math can look in a classroom. It's certainly innovative, and probably works for some kids and teachers, but I was skeptical.
When Open Culture published Trainwreck: The Teach to One Math Experiment in Mountain View, CA Is a Cautionary Tale About the Perils of Digital Math Education, more people took notice of the downside of Teach to One. Around the time the Open Culture article came out, I spoke with a teacher from a Teach to One school, and her comment was that she felt...
"... cut out of the process and overwhelmed at the same time."I'm sure that computer-driven adaptivity has its place, but when those algorithms get in the way of effective teacher-student relationships, we have a problem.
Why mention this idea that is a few years old? Artificial Intelligence (AI) is getting more powerful and so people keep coming up ways that computers can improve teaching and learning. For instance, some of TeachThought's 10 Roles For Artificial Intelligence In Education have AI-driven systems re-framing the role of the teacher. Teach to One Math should be a cautionary tale that helps us evaluate huge shifts that could harm relationships between teachers and students.
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Constant Assessment: Making Data Useful
Assessment isn't about assigning a number to determine how a kid can perform on a particular day. Assessment is about figuring out what a kid does and doesn't understand (so far).
Actually, lots of assessment is about that first thing. Educators spend lots of time, energy, and money assigning numbers to kids. What about this: We shouldn't spend most of our assessment energy on the pedagogical equivalent of autopsies. We should spend more time developing, performing, and using formative assessments that help teachers teach and students learn.
In an earlier post, I said that we should assess more and test less. Here are a couple folks who have some ideas that seem related to this idea.
Bernard Bull (on Twitter @bdean1000) has Educational Publishers & Content Providers: The Future Is About Analytics, Feedback & Assessment, which puts the idea of a constant stream of assessment data into the proper context. It isn't about testing. It isn't about bypassing teachers. It's about using data to help students learn and teachers teach more effectively.
There's also Kristen DiCerbo's (on Twitter @kristendicerbo) work including these articles: How More Data Helps Us, Why an Assessment Renaissance Means Fewer Tests, All Fun & Games? Understanding Learner Outcomes Through Educational Games, and many others. I found Dr. DiCerbo's research when I searched Google for "invisible assessment," which is the same as what I have called "sneaky assessment." Whether it's "sneaky" or "invisible," this sort of assessment is where we should be headed.
eLearning content developers (such as myself) need to do a better job of making this happen, and teachers need to a) demand data-producing interactive content, and b) commit to really using it to help students learn more effectively.
Actually, lots of assessment is about that first thing. Educators spend lots of time, energy, and money assigning numbers to kids. What about this: We shouldn't spend most of our assessment energy on the pedagogical equivalent of autopsies. We should spend more time developing, performing, and using formative assessments that help teachers teach and students learn.
In an earlier post, I said that we should assess more and test less. Here are a couple folks who have some ideas that seem related to this idea.
Bernard Bull (on Twitter @bdean1000) has Educational Publishers & Content Providers: The Future Is About Analytics, Feedback & Assessment, which puts the idea of a constant stream of assessment data into the proper context. It isn't about testing. It isn't about bypassing teachers. It's about using data to help students learn and teachers teach more effectively.
"... each action individually and collectively becomes a new data point that can be mined and analyzed for important insights."His diagram showing how interactive content could be part of an effective part of a learning system is a call to action.
There's also Kristen DiCerbo's (on Twitter @kristendicerbo) work including these articles: How More Data Helps Us, Why an Assessment Renaissance Means Fewer Tests, All Fun & Games? Understanding Learner Outcomes Through Educational Games, and many others. I found Dr. DiCerbo's research when I searched Google for "invisible assessment," which is the same as what I have called "sneaky assessment." Whether it's "sneaky" or "invisible," this sort of assessment is where we should be headed.
eLearning content developers (such as myself) need to do a better job of making this happen, and teachers need to a) demand data-producing interactive content, and b) commit to really using it to help students learn more effectively.
Monday, January 26, 2015
Blogs Worth Reading: Math Teachers
I have found a group of math teachers who have made a really strong online community. Together, they are questioning, innovating, and making positive change happen and then sharing through blogs and tweets. It's incredibly inspiring.
Honestly, this is the best use of blogs and Twitter I have seen yet. My favorite thing about all of them is that they clearly have a growth mindset when it comes to their craft. They are growing as teachers in a collaborative, sharing way.
Anyone who is a new math or science teacher should read these blogs and follow these folks on Twitter.
That said, here is a list of some of my favorite math teacher bloggers/twitterers.
Kate Nowak (@k8nowak)
Blog: f(t)
Not only does Kate solicit ideas from the twitterverse; she actually puts the ideas into action and shares the results (regardless of how successful they were).
Sam Shah (@samjshah)
Blog: Continuous Everywhere but Differentiable Nowhere
Sam's post on the Blogotwitterversphere is great.
Fawn Nguyen (@fawnpnguyen)
Blog: Finding Ways
Great sharing, especially with the 3Acts.
Geoff Krall (@emergentmath)
Blog: emergent math
A nice mix of real-world application-driven stuff as well as insightful commentary.
Check these people out. I find them all to be informative and inspirational. I know there are others who are really good (my list of a few thought leaders who are not in the classroom will follow in a later post), but these are quite good. If you know of other great ones, please share.
Honestly, this is the best use of blogs and Twitter I have seen yet. My favorite thing about all of them is that they clearly have a growth mindset when it comes to their craft. They are growing as teachers in a collaborative, sharing way.
Anyone who is a new math or science teacher should read these blogs and follow these folks on Twitter.
That said, here is a list of some of my favorite math teacher bloggers/twitterers.
Kate Nowak (@k8nowak)
Blog: f(t)
Not only does Kate solicit ideas from the twitterverse; she actually puts the ideas into action and shares the results (regardless of how successful they were).
Sam Shah (@samjshah)
Blog: Continuous Everywhere but Differentiable Nowhere
Sam's post on the Blogotwitterversphere is great.
Fawn Nguyen (@fawnpnguyen)
Blog: Finding Ways
Great sharing, especially with the 3Acts.
Geoff Krall (@emergentmath)
Blog: emergent math
A nice mix of real-world application-driven stuff as well as insightful commentary.
Check these people out. I find them all to be informative and inspirational. I know there are others who are really good (my list of a few thought leaders who are not in the classroom will follow in a later post), but these are quite good. If you know of other great ones, please share.
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Driven by Data: Paul Bambrick-Santoyo's Model
In his books Driven by Data and Leverage Leadership, Paul Bambrick-Santoyo describes a model for facilitating effective teaching and using a focus on data-driven instruction to build effective schools.
Bambrick-Santoyo has a remarkable track record of turning around poor schools. His strategies don't require any fancy technology (though I think technology could help), but they do require that teachers and administrators break from some old ways of thinking.
At its core, Data-Driven Instruction (DDI) relies on believing that assessments are worthy goals. Many educators who hate these tests spit out the phrase "teaching to the test" as if it were an epithet. The negative attitude towards standardized tests is understandable. For many schools, end-of-year assessments are painful autopsies that expose their students' and teachers' deficiencies when measured by a meter stick that has little to do with what went on all year.
It doesn't have to be this way.
1) State standards for K-12 are getting better. I don't want to wade too far into the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) battles, but what I think many educators can agree on is that most states have created better standards over the past couple decades. Coherent curricula matter, and CCSS has made people pay attention to this. The standards are not a curriculum, but when standards are focused and well-organized, they can help schools develop coherent curricula.
2) More states are adopting end-of-year assessments that don't suck. This is critical. As states adopt higher-quality assessments to measure how students do against their better standards, teaching to the test isn't such a bad thing. Teaching to the sort of assessment I took in school (nothing but multiple choice questions with low cognitive demand) would be criminal. As assessments become much more sophisticated and include constructed response, technology-enhanced items, and even performance tasks, teaching to these new assessments shouldn't be so repugnant. According to a RAND study, these new assessments can lead to better instruction, but only if (among other things):
It's a self-fulfilling prophecy either way: Teachers who fight the test will have students who struggle on the autopsy. Teachers and schools who find ways to improve the instructional processes with the assessments in mind have a better chance of reaping great rewards for their students.
Bambrick-Santoyo has a remarkable track record of turning around poor schools. His strategies don't require any fancy technology (though I think technology could help), but they do require that teachers and administrators break from some old ways of thinking.
At its core, Data-Driven Instruction (DDI) relies on believing that assessments are worthy goals. Many educators who hate these tests spit out the phrase "teaching to the test" as if it were an epithet. The negative attitude towards standardized tests is understandable. For many schools, end-of-year assessments are painful autopsies that expose their students' and teachers' deficiencies when measured by a meter stick that has little to do with what went on all year.
It doesn't have to be this way.
1) State standards for K-12 are getting better. I don't want to wade too far into the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) battles, but what I think many educators can agree on is that most states have created better standards over the past couple decades. Coherent curricula matter, and CCSS has made people pay attention to this. The standards are not a curriculum, but when standards are focused and well-organized, they can help schools develop coherent curricula.
2) More states are adopting end-of-year assessments that don't suck. This is critical. As states adopt higher-quality assessments to measure how students do against their better standards, teaching to the test isn't such a bad thing. Teaching to the sort of assessment I took in school (nothing but multiple choice questions with low cognitive demand) would be criminal. As assessments become much more sophisticated and include constructed response, technology-enhanced items, and even performance tasks, teaching to these new assessments shouldn't be so repugnant. According to a RAND study, these new assessments can lead to better instruction, but only if (among other things):
- they are part of an integrated assessment system that includes formative and summative components and
- the new assessments are a component of a broader systemic reform effort.
It's a self-fulfilling prophecy either way: Teachers who fight the test will have students who struggle on the autopsy. Teachers and schools who find ways to improve the instructional processes with the assessments in mind have a better chance of reaping great rewards for their students.
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