Practice Makes Perfect, Right?

Originally published on November 3, 2016.

Playing handbells has me thinking about practice. We played a particularly challenging song on Monday night, note that "challenging" is relative here. I was horrible. I had to stop playing and just listen because I lost my place, couldn't read my notes, and in general gave up on the song. I need a lot more practice.

Many of our students need a lot more practice. But is all practice equal? Is merely trying to master the concept or skill over and over again effective? Much research says no, it isn't. Hence the term "deliberate practice." Here's a good general description of deliberate practice: The Role of Deliberate Practice in Education

There are strategies we can use to help learners practice. Going back to my handbell music, it's pretty useless if I just play it once a week during our dedicated "practice" time. I know myself, and I know I really won't get much better for week to week, at least not enough to figure out this song. So I found the sheet music online, and now I can practice on my own, but that's still not enough. The following are practice strategies:

• Chunk the task into smaller tasks for mastery. With sheet music, that may literally mean only practicing a few measures at time. In problem solving or a task, it's mastering one step at a time: addition first, then multiplication; writing an opinion, then forming a sentence, then creating a developed claim statement.
• Go slower; fewer beats per second. In some cases, students might need more time. Others might need help slowing down so they can think about what they're doing and why they're doing it.
• Use decoding strategies. In my case, colored highlighters for each note and big, flashing words when I need to change from a sharp to a natural bell or English translations of the Italian musical terms. Students need help using the language of the discipline.
• Give practice tasks at the appropriate level. There's a section of the music that has more notes than I can count in beats, so I can't practice these measures. They're currently too difficult. If I practice them, I'll practice them wrong, over and over. Practice that's too hard or too easy, doesn't take learners toward the mastery goal.

Yet there are times when practicing on your own just doesn't cut it. At home, I have no handbells to play, so I pretend-ring pens. I also don't get feedback like I do during rehearsals; there I can immediately hear if I've played the wrong note because it clashes with everyone else's. Being at home, away from resources like other students and the teacher creates a difficult situation for some students because they need feedback. Some students might even lack proper materials, like I lack handbells, but there might be calculators or highlighters or even a quiet space to work. So students need a low-stakes way to practice in the classroom as well, with peers and on their own, and with feedback.

Like many students, I hope that when I go back to "class" next week and play the song again, my peers or my instructor will make note of my improvement. A little encouragement that all of the practice is paying off goes a long way.

Becoming a Learner

Originally Published October 24, 2016

I stumbled across this blog post through the portal of a podcast and YouTube video. http://myteachingnotebook.com/index.php/2015/08/29/my-journey-to-the-joy-of-learning/ And what I read and saw and heard from Michael Wesch was a reminder, that if I'm going to be a teacher, then I need to remember what it's like to be a learner. I can't remember what it's like to learn to write an essay for the first time or go online to find resources for my research, so really the only way to remember what it's like to learn is to LEARN.

So this thought stuck with me for a while. I'm really good at intending to learn things, HTML, watercolor, knitting, but I'm not really good at actually following through with those things. I still intend to learn to knit and code and paint awesome pictures, but my intention isn't helping me to experience learning.

Then I realized that even before I read that blog post, I actually was learning something new, or mostly new. For the past two months, I've been playing handbells. I learned basic music growing up. I know the different notes and how to read a measure and where to find my two notes on the treble clef, but I haven't read or played music in nearly 15 years, so I consider myself a novice. I'm having to learn how to count beats and play on time, what words like forte and martellato mean, and how to ring a bell and turn a page almost simultaneously. I'm learning to play handbells, and I'm enjoying it.

Chiu, N. (2009) Handbells. Flickr.

I want this blog to be a reflection on my learning journey. I don't want it to be about my intention to learn, but rather written memories on what it's like to be the student. My teachers may come in person like the music director or they may come in the form of internet tutorials, online courses, or self exploration and failure. I need to push myself to learn a outside of my comfort zone because the courses I'll be teaching, while housed in the department of English, will consist of very few English majors who self-elected to spend their college careers reading and writing, and so the content might be a little (or a lot) outside of their comfort zones.

I also know that if I'm asking my students to write, then I should also be writing, so sometimes I'll be doing what I've already learned to do, but as with every field, you can always learn to do it better. It's just that I'll never get to go back to the first time I wrote my own research paper (it was on the dying out of frogs in our ecosystems) or the day I discovered the writing of Ernest Hemingway.

Learning to play handbells has already taught me some about what it's like to be a learner. I experienced not understanding the lingo of a particular field. At one rehearsal, the music director said to me as least 5 times, "play the take." My stand partner circled a note for me and said, "You play that one too." And on about the 6th time through, it finally dawned on me exactly what it meant to play the take, and I played my note. But the language was a total barrier to my understanding, even with all the cues I was given. And so now I know it's important to consider how you phrase feedback or directions to novice learners.

Playing handbells truly is a challenge for me. I have yet to play a song to perfection, nor do I ever think I will. While playing a song I will inevitably either miss a note, play the wrong bell, lose count, forget to take the repeat, play out of turn, or any combination of the above. But I'm okay with making those mistakes because I'm not made to feel like a failure of a musician when I do those things; we just keep practicing until we make fewer of them. The music director believes that anyone can play handbells, but that some just take more time and practice than others.

Isn't that how we should look at all of our learners? All of them can learn; some might take more time and practice, and some might make fewer or more mistakes than others. But if they ever feel like they can't or that they just weren't born with the natural talent to be a writer or a musician or a scientist or a whatever, then they're defeated before they even get started. So what can educators do for learners? We can believe in them, and we can empathize with them. We can create a space for them to make mistakes, to practice, and to perform, and sometimes all three might be happening at the same time. 

I'll hope you'll join in learning with me. Here's to a wonderful journey for us all.

Consolidating Blog Entries

For some reason, I have two blogs. Neither have been updated in ages. I stumbled across this one while trying to make the last push for my National Board Renewal- will blog about that later. So, the next few posts over the next few days are actually old ones. I'll post their original publication date with the entry. I'm going to delete the other blog and move forward with this one.

Navigating in Canvas

Designing for Daily Use

One of the first and most important elements of online course design for face-to-face, blended, or fully online courses is choosing and designing how students will navigate the course. But before you do that, you need to consider HOW you intend your end-users, students, to use the course, and how much support they'll have access to. Making these decisions early on will help you to create consistency in your course design so that navigation is not a barrier to student success.

Canvas offers a variety of homepage configurations from the announcements feed, to the modules list, to the syllabus page with automatically updating links to assignments and events. You can also design a home page with images, links, and other embedded HTML content. It's important to remember that the keys to instructional design are to make the navigation simple and predictable. 

For the purposes of course design, let's assume that you're building a Canvas course for daily use in the classroom. In this case, students in a 1:1 environment would login everyday to access agendas, assignments, quizzes, resources, etc. The following sections will give you some ideas about how to begin to organize your course and make decisions about design,

Practice Predictability 

It is really easy to get lost in the digital world, especially using an LMS like Canvas where instructors have the ability to make individual design and layout decisions. Students make be confused about the best way to find assignments and due dates or course resources. So, once you make a decision about how they will access these things and navigate from assignment to assignment or module to module, keep using that same established pattern.

For example, you may want to set up your Canvas page so that students use the course syllabus to access daily assignments. This works really well in Canvas since the course syllabus automatically populates based on assignment due dates and includes a "Jump to Today" feature. Students, whether present or absent, will know where to go to check what was due. You may also add items to the course Calendar such as a daily agenda, which will also auto-populate on the syllabus page, further helping  students keep track of daily activities. You may even edit the top of the page to include links to unit or general resources including tutorials, review videos, or class notes.

Sample Navigation Buttons on a Canvas Page

Perhaps you're using Canvas to house self-paced modules for student practice during the class period or for homework. In this case, students need access to more than just assignments and agendas. You may want to create a home page that includes images as links to unit module pages. Even though Canvas includes previous and next buttons at the bottom of each module page, students may need to go other places within the course or the module. It would be good practice, if you create a series of pages within a module, to give students a way to quickly return to the first page, home page, required readings, helpful resources, or series of assignments.  Once you've established a flow, use this in every module.

Establish Clear Expectations

When student complete classwork in class in a face-to-face setting, they tend to have to turn work in at the end of class or the beginning of class the next day. However, when students have the ability to turn in work online, they don't need to actually see you the teacher to do this, so what will your policy be? Will student work be due at midnight? Since you won't actually be up at midnight grading what they turn in (hopefully), will they be able to turn it in up until class begins? Does it really matter when they turn it in as long as it's before you grade it? Discussion boards also require expectations. Students may be required to post a certain number of times, but what's the quality of those posts? do they need to spread their posts out over a time period?

The questions above are examples of expectations that need to be established in an online learning environment. The more students know upfront about expectations makes conversations with students about grades and participation easier down the road. If students begin to slack off, like in any scenario in class, they may need a reminder of these expectations. You may be flexible and change your expectations after conversations with your students or in response to their needs.

The online environment also gives student the sense that you're available all the hours your course is available, but will you really be up answering their emails at 11:00pm for their assignment that's due at midnight? If students understand that you're done checking emails at 8:00pm and they're on their own after that, then this helps to limit all of your frustrations.

You may also want to establish expectations for yourself. How much will you participate in the online portion of the course? Alternately, since this is a blended environment, you may choose to show students you're participating by responding to their online work in class when you're face-to-face. Either way, students will respond well to your active participation in discussions and feedback on their assignments. They'll feel that you really are reading what they've spent time posting and creating.

Sample Course Home Page with Simple Design

Consider Visual Appeal

Though we are teachers and not graphic designers, understanding some basic elements of design is important to designing the online environment. As mentioned above, Canvas is highly customizable, and can be intimidating to those who are not familiar with HTML or webpage creation. However, simply using tables and images and hyperlinks can transform a blank Canvas page into a visually appealing, easily navigable online course.

Check out these resources to help you get started thinking about your course design:

• Elements of Web Design Infographic
• Choosing a Layout in Canvas (video)
• Pixabay (for free images!)

The Technology First Problem

The Thrill of New Technology 
I really enjoy new things, especially when they're technology-based. The old thing became a dinosaur with a thirty minute battery life and programs that would no longer update. I almost convinced myself to purchase a new computer because of this.  But, I was incredibly proud of myself for replacing my computer's memory and hard drive, and gave myself the feeling of having purchased a new computer for a fraction of the cost. As consumers, we sometimes talk ourselves into buying new computers, cell phones, and tablets, because the newer ones are faster, sleeker, and more fashionable. Many times these decisions to make large purchases aren't driven by the question "Do I really need a new ________? Why?" but instead we're lured by trends.

Technology in Schools
Sometimes schools and school systems are lured by trends in technology as well: 1:1 programs, BYOD, online testing, interactive whiteboards, games in education, cloud-based systems, digital content, etc. The technology, whether it be tablets, e-readers, laptops, or netbooks, can end up driving the decision-making from how money is spent and allocated to how curriculum is delivered to students. But should technology be the driver? Does it make sense to start somewhere else? Having technology in the classroom for technology's sake isn't guaranteed to making a lasting or cost-efficient impact on students, teachers, and learning.

Importance of Goal Setting 
The most important place to start in considering technology in education is with the problem you're trying to solve. Chapter 3 of Blended by Horn and Staker,"Start with the Rallying Cry" introduces the idea of a rallying cry as a focused, planned, researched solution to an educational problem or problems that others can get behind and support. It's important to know how technology will be a part of the solution rather than just a fancy product in the classroom:

"The most successful blended-learning programs are much more deliberate and generally share a common starting point: they begin by identifying the problem to solve or goal to achieve. They start with the rallying cry" (Horn & Staker, 2015, p.98).

When you begin this way, you're able to identify key needs, create a timeline of progress, understand resources needed, see how others will view the chosen solution, choose ways to support those affected, and find ways to measure success. Schools have a multitude of needs such as supporting remedial students, providing enrichment opportunities or real-world applications, increasing student test scores, etc. For these needs, technology may or may not be part of the solution, but until they are assessed and evaluated, it's difficult to know what will work. Throwing technology at a problem doesn't ensure

Creating SMART Goals
It's easy to set goals, but it's harder to set good goals that will produce results. The SMART acronym is really useful in helping to set they types of goals that will result in some positive outcome. So when thinking about the problems that need to be addressed in your classroom, school, or district, think SMART.

Naugle, Paula. "SMART." Flickr. Yahoo!, 1 Jan. 2013. 

Specific goals are what follows in the rest of the acronym: measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. It's important that they're measurable so that there's some way to indicate their level of success or evaluate over time to make adjustments and improvements. An attainable goal is one that's realistic for the people involved and the resources available. Goals that are relevant are ones that are likely to gain support and are actually worth investing in. And making a goal time-bound means that there is a date at which this should be accomplished, and perhaps also times along the way to check in and test the effectiveness of the plan.

And if, once you've written out a SMART goal, you've realized that blended learning is a way to reach this goal, then you can start asking questions that include, what technology do we need to help us accomplish this? But the question goes well with others such as, How do we support teachers with professional development? Do we need to redesign learning spaces, curriculum paths, or students schedules? What other support or resources do we need? What have others schools and districts done and how can we learn from them? How will we make this initiative sustainable? 

When you're ready to solve the technology first problem, start by goal-setting.

Source: Horn, M. B. & Staker, H. (2015). Blended: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools. San Fransisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Models of Blended Learning

4 Models of Blended Learning

The different types of blended learning can be divided into four models, though these don't have to be taken as clear-cut descriptions or types. The four models are a good way to create a framework for what is being done and can be done in a blended learning environment. I want to take a look at each of these and think through how I'm currently seeing them used and questions and ideas to think about for implementing each models. The four models are 1) rotation 2) flex 3) a la carte 4) enriched virtual

from the Clayton Christensen Institute

1. Rotation Model
The rotation model is probably the most familiar to teachers, especially those who have used any sort of rotation in the classroom such as stations or a workshop model, even without the use of technology. In this model, teachers are in control of the amount or time for each rotation. There are four subtypes of the rotation model:

A. Station Rotation
In this model, students rotate between learning stations that may involve self-paced online learning, group-learning, whole class learning, small groups learning with the teacher, etc.

Reflection: This, to me, is probably one of the easiest ways to implement blended learning in a single classroom. Teachers who already use independent, online learning in the classroom or programs such as IXL or Compass Learning may consider why all students need to work on the computer at the same time, when in actuality students could be rotating through groups, assigned tasks based on their needs, and have time to work in small groups with the teacher.

B. Lab Rotation
This model is very similar to the station rotation model except that when students are completing online work, hey move into a computer lab with a learning coach or teaching assistant. This frees up space in the classroom and allows teachers to work more directly with smaller groups of students.

Reflection: This model involves more space than most teachers might typical have. It also involves another person to supervise. These could both be mitigated by partnering with another teacher; one supervises computer time with a large group while the other rotates students through small groups and vice versa. However, I think to do this well would mean more than just one or two teachers at a school implementing this model.

C. Flipped Classroom
This model is pretty popular in ed tech talk these days, but it's a bit more than having students watch lectures at home. Simply, in this model, students complete the learning they would traditionally do in class at home, and would put the learning into practice, what they would traditionally do at home, in class. The teachers can use formative assessments and quick checks to gauge students' learning.

Reflection: I know a few teachers who have tried the flipped classroom model, and maybe you have too. I know some of the problems teachers had with it was the students weren't doing their homework. So this could be tricky, especially if students don't have a good home environment for learning. I also think that students need to be held accountable for learning the material in ways other than quizzes, and preferably in ways that would motivate them to learn. Teachers can team up to create flipped lesson materials or curate from resources already available. I also think the flipped content needs to be a bit more engaging then a traditional classroom lecture.

D. Individual Rotation
In this model, students have a customized schedule of each day's learning activities based on their previous day's performance. This schedule can be set by a computer algorithm or by a teacher. This is different from the other models because students may not visit all stations in a day, and each student has a specialized "playlist" of activities. It is a rotation model since the teacher or program sets the amount of time at each learning activity.

Reflection: This is the most innovate of the rotation models. It definitely takes whole school change and a complete redefinition of the teachers' role. In many ways this is like the flex model, but here the control is still in the hands of the teacher or computer algorithm and not the student about what to learn and when or how.

2. Flex Model
In the flex model, the core learning happens online. Students are in a school building and teachers are there to support students, provide small-group instruction, facilitate group projects, etc. This model might involve larger workspaces with specialiazed areas for labs, individual work, small group work, etc. Students move about the different work spaces at their own pace and based on their proficiency and mastery in the online work.

Reflection: This model isn't really too out of reach based on how I've seen online learning already being implemented. It does however involve using learning spaces a lot differently, and the traditional school with small classrooms and lots of individual student desks presents a challenge to create a space conducive to this model. However, this could mean that teachers have the ability to create the curriculum together, tutor students based on their strengths, group and regroup students, and implement project-based learning. I really like the flexibility this model provides.

3. A La Carte Model
The a la carte model offers students choice in the courses they take both online and in class in a school building. In this model, as part of their school day, students take an online course. This model caters to students who need remedial courses or advanced or unpopular courses because it allows them to take the course even if a teacher at the school is not teaching it.

Reflection: Although this isn't really that old of a concept, it seems the most traditional to me since it's just a blend of the students' day and not their individual classes. I do like that this allows students to take classes they aren't offered in the tradition setting such as certain AP courses, recovery credits, or foreign languages.

4. Enriched Virtual Model
The enriched virtual model began with online schools noticing that students were more successful when they had in-person support. The majority of a student's education comes from online, which can be completed any-time, anywhere, but the part of this model that makes it blended is that students also go to a learning space to get extra help, work on projects, or collaborate. They do not attend these spaces as often as a student at a traditional school would.

Reflection: This is the most innovative of all the models. It really rethinks education. I don't think this is a model for all students, but it reminds me of an early college type model. Some students really benefit from the social aspects of school such as clubs, sports, lunch, and the routine schedule. But I have also had plenty of students who would have preferred flexibility in their schedule and more choice in the courses they had to take.

Overall Reflection
All of these models have benefits for students, and really start to drive student-centered learning and give students agency and choice in what and how they learn. Also, the blended learning model you're using might not fit specifically into one category or the other, but these models really help to provide a framework of what blended learning is and what it might look like.

To learn more about the models of blended learning and to see examples, visit Khan Academy's Introduction to Blended Learning.

Source: Horn, M. B. & Staker, H. (2015). Blended: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools. San Fransisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Book Study Introduction

A few of my colleagues and I are participating in an optional professional book study, and we've decided to blog about it. I'm going to challenge myself to blog about each section of the book. We're reading Blended: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools by Michael B. Horn & Heather Staker.

I've read the introduction, and so far this book is a brain-stretcher. I've heard the term disruptive technologies, but I've never quite understood what that meant. To me, disruptive meant something like what the other night's storm did to my ability to watch the US women's soccer game by making the signal go in and out. But what I'm gathering is that disruptive really means putting pressure on the market by creating a product that's cheaper, accessible, and just as efficient if not more efficient than the traditional method or business model. This book really centers itself around technology that provides students with online access to education and how a blended model, traditional and online teaching, can improve schools.

A piece of what's driving this improvement is student-centered learning that enables students to have power over their education and become life-long learners: "[Student-centered learning] translates into an ability to become a lifelong learner, which is necessary in today's rapidly changing world, in which knowledge and skills become outdated quickly" (Horn & Staker, 2015, p.10). The last part of that sentence is critical. If students stop learning the minute they receive their high school diplomas, then they are like the latest technology model that's outdated once it hits the shelves. They have to be curious, self-seekers, that are willing to not only learn about new technologies, grow themselves professionally and gain new job skills, but also adapt to different environments and teams.

Another critical effect of blended learning is personalized education that provides support for under-performing students and provides enrichment for advanced students. This helps to break the factory model of education that treats all students in the classroom as if they learn at the same rate. Blended learning provides students with self-paced learning modules and intelligent tutoring systems for support, while also providing them in-face learning experiences with teachers and peers.

With a well-blended model, the teacher is free to be a lot more things: "It can free up teachers to become learning designers, mentors, facilitators, tutors, evaluators, and counselors... " (Horn & Staker, 2015, p.11). The most striking of those is "learning designer." By using online experiences to help track students and provide feedback, teachers can design more personalized learning experiences that are engaging, have real-world applications, and reach students at their level.

I'm excited to keep reading this book and learning about how a truly blended learning environment can help me to reach the teachers I serve, and in that way the students they teach. I'm also looking forward to good conversations with my colleagues. Be sure to check out their blogs too in the sidebar, and pick up your copy of Blended.

Horn, M. B. & Staker, H. (2015). Blended: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools. San Fransisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.