A Successful Failure

A couple of years back (in 2009) I went and recorded about 70 math instructional videos and put them up on my YouTube channel.  I was very excited about how it might be a way to help my students work at home.  Our school has very poor attendance and I was pulling my hair out about how low my success rate with with senior math.  Each video was 5 minutes or less and were intended to be simple - only one concept per video.  I even organized them (in many cases with classroom notes) on my section of the school webpage.

The project was an overwhelming failure - and now it has become a different success that I am proud of.

First the failure.  My students did not use the resource.  I tried to sell them on the idea but failed.  The time, effort, and resources were wasted.  It failed for two main reasons.  One - very few of my students had high speed internet at home.  Today it is still shocking how little access my students still have.  Two - my students rarely did (or do) homework.

As time has gone on other people have been finding my videos.  Comments from students all over have been filtering in.

THIS IS AMAZING, YOU'RE A LIFESAVERR!! = )

Thank you so much! Now I get it haha. THANKS! >_<

It is obvious that the comments have been coming from students - not teachers.  People are finding my videos useful.  The hours I put into creating them have not been wasted.

Last week one of my math videos even hit 10,000 views.  I am not sure why that particular video has been viewed so many times.  (Yes I realize that you aren't anybody on YouTube until a video has hit half a million hits).  It is not one of my better ones - in fact I created it on a whim and almost didn't upload it.

This year some of my students have finally started using the resource.  Finally.  When a sub teacher comes in they prefer to watch my videos than listen to somebody else explain the concept.  They are used to the way that I teach.  It is about time.

This fall near the beginning of the school year some of the Central Office staff started getting excited about online learning resources like the Khan Academy.  One of our consultants mentioned my name and pointed out that I had already done this with my math videos.  (Thank you Donna.)  For the record I think that most of the assistant superintendents had already seen my videos but had merely forgotten about them.  Sometimes it feels good to be on the right end of the curve.

The math video project is still a failure.  The students that I am paid to teach have not really used it a lot (and my goal was to help MY students).  I can admit the failure but I am still proud of what I created and what it has accomplished.

Clickers and Questions

This year I got a set of Sentio Response clickers for my classroom.  When the Sentio's (to be referred to as the clickers from now on) were first brought out and available I thought that they were gimmicky and a symptom of bright new shiny object syndrome.  After going to Boston and Allan November's Building Learning Communities conference I really got to thinking about them.  I had a conversation with Donna Desroches (one of our division consultants), and we agreed that they were not worth the $2400 price tag.  The cellphone option of Poll Everywhere was also not possible because of my school's cellphone policy.  So I did what I do.  I found a cheaper way.  That cheaper way was to buy a used set off of eBay for about $500.  Two of the 32 were DOA but the rest worked fine (a third just decided that it did not like the number 9).

Let me start with the conversation I had with Donna.  Her fear was that the clickers were not being used effectively in other classrooms.  They were sometimes just a tool for trying to buy student engagement in review sessions at the end of a unit.  I agree that that would be almost a complete waste of money.

When I went to Boston, Dr. Eric Mazur was demoing his own version of the clickers.  I liked some of his methods and he is the one who got me thinking about using them.  To put it simply he would ask a question.  If the majority got the answer correct he would move on.  If most were wrong then he would reteach.  The magic happened when there was a variety of answers.  He would have the students pair up with somebody with a different answer.  They were to convince each other that they were right.  He said that the students almost always came back with a much higher percentage correct.  They were teaching each other.

I have been using the clickers quite heavily in my Workplace and Apprenticeship Math 10 class.  They are quite useful for formative assessment.  I actually over plan my lessons.  Before I start the actual lesson I ask one or two quick review questions to see if they have the background skills.  The software gives me a quick chart describing what percentage knows it.  If it is too low then I have to take some time to review the skills.  A couple of clicks and I can see it.  If the students get it then I skip the review section and go on to the lesson.  I have not had much luck using Dr. Mazur's method in this class.  This class has some definite gaps in ability and they are very reluctant mathematicians.  I have next to no luck getting the students to formally discuss the math questions.  I still believe in his method, it just isn't working for this class.

The clickers are have a couple of effects in my classroom.  Nobody gets left out or missed.  Every student signs in with their own ID number and I can quickly see who has not answered a question.  I can even go back and see what each student has answered for the question.  It is harder for a student to hide in the corner unnoticed.  Unfortunately it does slow down the pace of the class.  Everybody has to wait for those few students who might have simply let the class move on past them.  On the other hand I have a higher percentage of students engaged (if I don't lose them from going too slow).  Every few minutes there is a clicker question that brings them back in.  They know that I know when they are not following.  The students are not engaged because of the bright new shiny object, they are engaged because I am doing an activity that forces them to keep coming back and contributing to the lesson.

There is another function that allows them to click a button and have their name flash up on the screen showing that they have a question.  I have not used it yet but it also has some potential.

So do the clickers help me teach?  Yes.  The best teaching tool is a good question.  The clickers just help facilitate that question.

Is there a place for them in every classroom?  No.  I don't use them with every class or every period.  I only use them when they fit.  In my WA 10 math class they get used most classes.  I have never used them in Math A30.  Different classes, different students, different needs.  In a smaller class it is better to walk around and look at each individual students work.  In a large class clickers are quicker.  I miss less.

Wasting Money of Whiteboards? Maybe a bit.

Donna just linked a post by Bill Ferriter (a principal) titled Wasting Money on Whiteboards.  In it Bill talks about how interactive white boards (IWB's) don't really change student learning.  They just allow teachers to do a better job of teaching they way they always have.  An IWB usually does not lead to a pedagogical change en education.  He is probably right (and his rant takes a familiar tone.)  One of my favorite comments talk about how the IWB is a great PR tool that a teacher can use without every really having to move their teaching out of traditional methods.

Here is the comment I posted there (I just felt like sharing it.)

I have used both a DIY interactive whiteboard and a genuine SMARTboard. While I love using both of them I would hesitate to call to use the word interactive for either of them. My students really don't use them any differently than they would a traditional chalkboard. The hardest lesson I had to learn was to hand off the pen to the students.

That being said was the IWB a waste of money for my classroom? No I don't think so. It has not fundamentally changed the way that I teach. It HAS changed how students can access what I have taught. I now record and publish (to the internet) much of what I teach. Take a look at my section of our school website athttp://www.cando.lskysd.ca/node/69 . The IWB allows me to capture the lessons and make them available to our chronically absent students. The IWB allows me to create content that I could not easily do otherwise. It allows me to do a better job of a traditional method of teaching. (Yes I know traditional methods are not always the best).

That being said, I moved classrooms this year and my SMARTboard took over a month to follow me. Really, my teaching style never changed with or without it. I just was unable to record more content.

7 Things Meme

Donna DesRoches invited me to join in on the 7 Things Meme. Here are 7 things you may or may not know about me.

1. Before going into Education I spent 3 years in the College of Engineering at the U of S. I finally decided that I wanted to spend more time working with people. It probably explains my fascination with technology. I don't regret any of the time or money I spent in Engineering.

2. I used to be quite involved in 4H. I did woodworking and electrical projects (which have really helped me with my current tinkering). I was even involved with the alumni through university. 4H is a very good organization. I think that once my son is old enough I will get involved again.

3. I took accordion lessons when I was a kid. I never really liked it.

4. I used to play the trumpet in high school. I did like the trumpet. Unfortunately during my grade 12 year I developed a spontaneous pneumothorax after a band festival (essentially I blew a hole in my lung). I spent 2 weeks in the hospital with some of that time in the intensive care ward. Never really played again.

5. I enjoy camping and the outdoors. My last four years of university were paid for through treeplanting. Even after spending all day out in the sun for 3 months at a time I never ever got a noticable tan.

6. My mom and dad were both born at the same hospital two days apart. My paternal grandmother (holding my dad) and my maternal grandfather (holding my mom) met in the lobby and both joked about trading babies. My grandmother already had a boy and my grandfather wanted boys. For the record neither got what they wanted until my parents got married.

7. Last of all I am afraid of heights. I took a job roofing for a couple of months just to try and get over it. I was the guy who got to clean out the gutters on the four story appartment buildings. I can now deal with heights but I am still not comfortable. That is actually how I try to deal with lots of my fears. Anybody want to help me out with my fear of having way too much money?

Plausible Deniability

Well Donna has been talking about memes. Yes Donna I will probably get around to responding to your challenge - eventually. But in the meantime here is a meme challenge of my own. The rules? Quite simple. It must involve an administrator (preferably a higher up one) - and they can't be a willing participant. The goal - plausible deniability. Who do I challenge? I am definately not getting my name associated with anything. Remember - plausible deniability.

We Think

Here is a video I just came across from CharlesLeadBeater. (Thanks to Scott McLeod for posting up this video).

In the past we were what we owned, now we are what we share.

That is one of my favorite quotes from the video.

This video once again touches on what I think is the most important thing about the internet today. The internet is NOT AN ENCYCLOPEDIA! It is a communication tool. It is a way for us to communicate with each other. We create a web of contacts. Donna Desroches put it quite well.

One of the most interesting questions that came from the audience after my
presentation was, “can you give a specific example of how information literacy
has changed”? My response was to share how little I now use a search engine
since the growth of my personal learning network - my twitter friends, my del.icio.us network and the
blogs that I read via my bloglines account. Information can now come to me - and I need
the skills to be able to create the PLN that will bring me the information I
need and the ability to filter the information.

PLN - Personal Learning Network. We also need to remember that we should give back. A network implies a give and take. Information and ideas flow both ways - especially with Web 2.0. Don't just be a leech. Share. Give back to the community and your peers. Dean Shareski talked about sharing in this well written post.

Gestalt - The whole is more and different than the sum of its parts. Gestalt describes Web 2.0 quite well. Our network is more than my part plus your part plus the next persons part. It grows and becomes something bigger when we all join together as a PLN. The mathemetition in me has a real problem with this idea but it is true. We are something more when we truely collaborate.

P.S. This video is awesome because it make reference to World of Warcraft. I will write about it in an upcoming post. We could really learn about using Web 2.0 from WarCrack players.