Category Archives: News and Food for Thought

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How Teaching Has Changed Over the Years

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overhead projector

Who remembers these beauties?

For a glimpse into the evolution of teaching, we interviewed Sheila Waters, a woman who taught for 32 years, on her experience in the classroom. Sheila taught both art and first grade in New York and is now finishing her first year of retirement. Read on to learn more about how teaching has changed over the years.

Teacher pay

When Sheila started teaching in 1979 in Dolgville, New York, her starting salary was $9,800 for the year.

Teaching requirements

To be a teacher in New York, Sheila needed a bachelor’s degree and a provisional certification. In addition, within five years of getting a permanent teaching position, she was required to earn a master’s degree.

Teaching community

Sheila described the school as a real community. “I had all the little ones so I knew almost every one in the town,” she said. “It was a small town so I saw everyone at the grocery store. The 6th grade teacher always directed the play and as the art teacher, I always helped her make the decorations.”

Art now is much more academic than it used to be. “Those days,” Sheila said, “lessons were much more project-based. People would give me (wallpaper, fabric) scraps and it was much harder to find ideas. Today, people can search Pinterest or Google and find 50 different ways to make an owl out of a paper plate. Before, it was a lot more research.”

For professional development, Sheila would get together with teachers from other districts and share lesson ideas. Instead of searching Twitter for #PLN, she’d travel 10 miles to a local college for face-to-face interaction.

Classroom expectations

As the years went on, Sheila said that there were a lot more meetings. For students who needed special attention, it took a lot more work to get them the extra help they needed. “It became a much more complicated process. More people had to get involved. More reports had to be filed.”

As far as classroom instruction was concerned, school got much more measured and academic, according to Sheila. “Before, it was more units, themes, and creative—now it’s like ‘it’s not academic enough.’ There art tests, gym tests, and even music tests! Everything is analyzed and it felt like we couldn’t do anything fun.”

There was more pressure as the years progressed, but it made the students better off. “Students were learning much more in kindergarden, and came into the first grade as better readers. Instead of working on letter sounds and basic sentences, some students were leaving first grade reading 70-page books.”

Would you do it again?

“I think so,” said Sheila. “I liked it for the most part. It’s a good schedule and you have so much more time with your kids. The most important job is to be a parent.”

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Superintendent: Why Teachers Are My Heroes

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Guest post by superintendent of Revere Public Schools in Massachusetts, Dr. Paul Dakin

Teachers are our under-appreciated heroes

In my nine years as a classroom teacher and thirty-one as an administrator in both a private and a public school system, I have witnessed a revolution in our profession. Our schools were once the place where children spent a predictable part of each day in fall, winter, and spring with pencils, paper, and books, then were released for twelve or more weeks in summer. Today schools have become a multi-service organization providing year-round care for the children in our stead.

Over the years the role of the teacher has evolved from content specialist delivering information and knowledge in lectures and teacher-centered activities to classroom coach and guide, differentiating instruction to multi-lingual and multi-ability students through a curriculum that must meet the highest standards. In addition, unlike teachers fifty years ago, teachers today have to defend their every decision to parents, students, the media, and professional evaluators. Fifty years ago the teacher was considered an expert; now teachers are considered the cause of much of what is wrong with society. If students drop out, if students engage in drinking or experimenting with drugs, if students fail, if students are bullied, if students do poorly and don’t meet standards, if students withdraw and become violent (there have been over 180 deaths in schools since the year 2000), the administrators and the teachers are the first to be blamed. Few look for the real causes of these problems.

So teachers are my heroes because they keep teaching despite the lack of support from the public, lack of support from legislators who continue to pass the buck onto teachers as the cause of the problems in schools and society, and the lack of support from parents, guardians, and grandparents who blame the schools for their own shortcomings in raising their children.

Yes, teachers are my heroes and deserve to be appreciated for all they do because they don’t give up on the real and complex problems facing the real and complex children they serve, and they continue to put up with the lack of respect from a society and from people who just don’t understand all they do.

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How Does Teaching Overseas Compare to Teaching in America?

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To explore what teaching is like in other countries, I spoke to two people who spent some time teaching overseas. First was a woman named Meredith, a recent Ph. D graduate, who taught SAT, TOEFL, business, and English classes while studying Chinese in Beijing through Columbia University. She taught first and second grade, high school, as well as graduate and undergraduate students. The second is our old friend Jonathan of HSTRY who taught English in Jordan, Peru, and extensively in Belgium. He taught at both elementary school students and adult learners. Read on to learn more about their international teaching experiences.

Teacher pay

In Belgium teachers can make between $2,200 and $3,000 a month (1600 to 2200 euros) depending on experience and grade level. In China, foreign teachers were paid much better than native teachers.

Respect for teachers

When asked how much the communities respected their teachers on a 1-to-5 scale (5 being the most respected), Jonathan said 2. “Teachers in Belgium aren’t that respected compared to other countries I’ve been in.” he said. “They’re seen as people who are always on holiday.” Meredith answered 5. “The Chinese people have so much respect for foreigners who are living in China and teaching English,” she explained. “They really feel that learning English is crucial to China’s success so they really respect the English teachers.” Teachers native to China enjoyed the same respect of the community, except their pay was much lower.

Teaching requirements

To teach English in China, Meredith felt that her interview was more of a formality than anything else. She attributes this to  China’s desperation for English-speaking teachers. For Jonathan, the CELTA teaching certificate he obtained in Ireland was not enough to teach secondary education in Belgium. To teach at a secondary level, Belgium teachers are required to have five years of university study plus a special teaching certificate.

Differences in education overseas

To Jonathan, the most striking difference between US education and Belgium education was the emphasis on testing. In Belgium, students are only given two exams in each subject every year—like our semester finals. Not passing the exam doesn’t mean you fail, as students can “can catch up by having good grades throughout the year.” At the end of high school, all students who wish to go to college gain acceptance. “In the US, testing like the SATs have left me with an impression that you absolutely have to pass them,” said Jonathan, “otherwise you are a failure. It’s an ‘all or nothing approach’.”

For Meredith, the entire Chinese education system was much different than ours. “The bottom line,” she explained, “the Chinese students are not taught to think. They are taught to listen to the teacher, memorize the information, and spit it out on a test. The students can’t ask questions and they can’t give opinions.” For her, it was much harder than teaching in the US because the students were only interested in the right answer. “The students are so afraid of being wrong that the classroom is just them staring at the teacher”

Would you teach again?

“Only from time to time.” said the HSTRY editor. “I prefer what I’m doing now!”

“The only reason that I would do it again would be if I don’t find a job here in America soon,” said Meredith. “The money I could make in China is too good.”

Teachers, what do you think? Would you ever teach overseas? Why or why not? International teachers, did we get it right? Did you teach in another country and have something to add? Email me at bon@gradeable.com! 

For more stories from our Teacher Appreciation Month, click here.

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Teachers, the Education Technology Industry Needs Your Help

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TEACHERS TECHNOLOGY

In March, EdSurge published an article about their experience at the SXSW conference in Texas. Educational technology (edtech) entrepreneurs came from far and wide to discuss the latest in edtech, but if you check the advisory board, only a handful identify themselves as K-12 educators. The SXSW competition for new companies, LAUNCHedu, was geared toward “visionaries” in education. However, to qualify, applicants must have an existing company in the education market. How many teachers do you know have enough time to launch a company?

Now, enter the billions of dollars being pumped into edtech. As the sector continues to swell, we have a growing disconnect in education technology: too many techies, not enough teachers.

Only recently has the high level of sophisticated engineering been applied to the education sector. And engineers—god love them—are a pragmatic bunch. They are working to get from point A to point B as efficiently as possible, and they’re the best at it. However, teaching is a highly emotional undertaking, so while the product that engineers designed may work flawlessly, it may not be the user experience that teachers are looking for. The classroom is not a vacuum.

To compound the situation, teachers aren’t usually the ones doing the large scale buying. They’re not the ones choosing. They’re not the ones making the final call. Recently, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation published a report called Teachers Know Best. Surveying more than 3 thousand teachers, the foundation came to a statistically-backed conclusion that teachers must have a voice in education. Their most notable discovery was that when teachers were given the opportunity to select their digital classroom tools, they reported them as much more effective. When teachers are the ones choosing, they are finding the tools are more effective than the ones they aren’t choosing.

For any undertaking to go well, the key is communication. The Gates Foundation made a good move to make this information available, but it’s just information. Maybe edtech companies can use it to pivot their product, or maybe it will fuel a new feature for an existing tool, but what this report should really be is a wakeup call to the entire industry.

We must incorporate teachers into the development of edtech, and not just as beta testers. Ask them what they need. Find out what functionality works for them. Because what seems ideal on the developer’s end can make no sense on the user end.  And while user experience isn’t a priority unique to education technology, education is unique in that a teacher’s first priority is educating the students in his/her classroom, not ensuring that the next edtech startup is getting it right.

Our solution at Gradeable is to build a team around teachers. That way, we have the voice of classroom warriors at each turn. But that’s still not enough. We are constantly asking for feedback, looking for ways to make a teacher’s job less painful. We’ve still got a long way to go, and we need teachers. Our company was created for the sole reason to better education, and we’re not alone. So teachers, on behalf of everyone in edtech, we need your help.

We are constantly improving our product to suit the needs to teachers. Find out more at www.gradeable.com.

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We Asked Students, ‘What Makes a Good Teacher?’ Here’s What They Said

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student engagement and good teacher As our student engagement month comes to a close, we asked students what they thought made a good teacher. The answers we got confirmed what we thought: a good teacher is enthusiastic, passionate, and able to connect with different types of students. Here are some more thoughts students had on teachers and school:

Who is your favorite teacher? Why?

Professor Siegel (law professor) because he’s very enthusiastic, passionate, and applies practical skills to law. — Ed, New England Law School (Massachusetts)

Mr. Pumphrey (world geography) because he was nice, very engaging, challenged us, had interesting activities, and knew my name. — Molly, Clark High School (Texas)

Mr. Grossman (social studies) because he made school more enjoyable. He catered the curriculum to individual students and went out of the way to connect with students. — Dave, Scarsdale Middle School (New York)

What makes a good teacher?

Making connections with students and a personal and educational level. — Joanne, Plymouth South High School (Massachusetts)

Someone who has a sense of humor but can also be serious when he/she has to be. — Keith, Von Tobel Middle School (Las Vegas) 

They are teaching because they are extremely passionate about a subject. They are focused on their core expertise and it’s infused with an uncontainable passion. They are good listeners and can relate. — Joshua, University of New Mexico (New Mexico)

Someone who knows what specific students need to learn in a profession sense, not just lessons and text. — Zach, Bay State College (Massachusetts)

What the most important thing you learned in school?

Respect. — Giovanni, Lieutenant Peter Hansen Elementary School (Massachusetts) Not taking stuff for granted, asking questions. — Yoran,  European School of Brussels (Brussels)

The ability to form an opinion, research it, articulate it, and convincing others. — Dave (New York)

Not to bully. — Gün, Oak Hill Middle School (Massachusetts)

Teachers, thanks to you for continuing to expand our makes and make us better people. We can’t wait for Teacher Appreciation Week! Students, what do you think? Is this pretty much what makes a good teacher, or is it something else?

Feedback and formative assessment are two of the most effective ways of upping student engagement. Learn more about the tool we’ve built to make that easier for you at www.gradeable.com. 

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Daniel Pink and the Truth About What Motivates Students

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daniel pink student engagement

For those of you who haven’t read Daniel Pink’s Drive, it’s an eye-opener that debunks the belief that the best way to motivate ourselves is through external rewards like money (or straight As, in our case). Rather, the secret to true, sustained motivation and satisfaction is a internal human need to control their own lives, to get better, and to contribute to the world around us.

Drive in education

As I read through the book looking for ideas to conclude our student engagement month, I found that Pink’s research lined up pretty well to the concepts we talk about on this blog. While his focus is on business and how they operate under the belief that “the way to improve performance, increase productivity, and encourage excellence is to reward the good and punish the bad,” it’s not that far from how traditional school worked. Students who fared well on tests got As and students who didn’t do well got Fs, and everything in between. We’ve traditionally motivated students with their grades.

But we know that tests simply don’t say everything about how a student is learning—it measures his/her ability to select the right answer at that moment in time. As educators and learners ourselves, we know there is cramming, memorizing, and even cheating. There are ways to ace a test without mastering the material. You’ll achieve desired results in the short term, but it’s pretty detrimental in the long run.

It’s far better to tap into an internal, or intrinsic, motivation than it is to rely on external motivators to achieve. In Drive, Pink breaks down intrinsic motivation to three key factors: Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose. Here at Higher Order Teaching, we break that down for the classroom.

Autonomy

Autonomy in the classroom means that students have control of their own learning. It does not mean that students are free to learn and do whatever they please whenever they please. For example, our friend Mr. Rowe, a high school teacher, gives homework as practice for the lesson. Instead of grading homework, students use traditional homework as practice and a basis for discussion in class. This way, students are doing their homework for the sake of learning, and not scrambling to get homework done for the sake of getting a check mark.

Pink argues that curiosity and self-direction are hard-wired into human nature. “Have you ever seen a six-month-old or a three-year old whos not curious and self-directed?” The curiosity is our “default setting.” The inertia and reluctance we find is a result of the prodding and rewarding as motivation. Pink says management (in our case teaching) isn’t about responding to this assumed natural state of inertia, but rather it’s about producing an environment for us to get back to that curious and self-directed state.

Mastery

In Pink’s book, mastery is “the desire to get better and better at something that matters.” In education, we call it grit. The idea of grit and mastery in education is to learn something to better yourself. For example, Parul’s high school math teacher taught her class math at a very high level—a level much more challenging than anything her class would see on the SATs—because that was the level of math he expected out of them. “His basic philosophy was that if we understood the fundamentals and prepared at an extremely rigorous level, we didn’t have anything to worry about when it came to standardized assessments,” she writes.

As we all know, math has infinite applications that extend far beyond any single test. Teaching to a test like the SATs is affirming to the students that the test is what the students’ end game is. While grades, like money, are necessary motivators, they are not sustainable incentives. It’s the difference between getting an A in French class and learning to speak French fluently, says Pink. While both goals lead to achievement, only the second one leads to mastery.

Purpose

According to Pink, purpose is contributing to something bigger than ourselves. It deals with relevance and playing a part in the world around us. Did you get into teaching because of the paycheck? Or because you have dedicated yourself to making tomorrow a better place? My guess is that those who answered “paycheck” are constantly checking the time and looking forward to the end-of-the-day bell ringing more than any student. For those of you who dedicated themselves to shaping young minds for our future, my guess is that you’ve worked countless extra hours without a peep—because it means something to you.

For our students, purpose comes in the form of relevance. I’ll be the first to admit I moaned and groaned anytime I was assigned a paper in high school. Luckily, teachers have figured this out. To give students a “purpose” for learning how to write, teachers are now asking their students to look up job postings, college applications, apartment leases that all require writing. This way, students know that they’re learning something that is necessary for their future. Show me how something matters to my life and I’m in.

Conclusion

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is in charge of other people. It’s the scientific explanation why micromanagement isn’t good for anything; why cramming and cheating and learning for the test is bad for the long term, and why we all want to contribute to something bigger than ourselves. So, are you trying to fill a bucket or light a fire?

Animated summary of the book.

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Friday Bulletin Board

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Red was overwhelmed by the test talk...

Red was overwhelmed by the test talk…

The new SAT

The College Board announced major changes to the SAT, and most notably, changes to the writing portion. Some of the most prominent changes:

The writing test will be optional. Currently, even though many colleges ignore writing test scores, all students must take the writing portion of the test.

Vocabulary words will eliminate “sometimes obscure” language that has been dominant and will be replaced by words “that are widely used” in college and the work place. In testing of words, the College Board will stress those for which meaning depends on context.

Print and digital versions of the SAT will be offered; currently the test is paper only.

A successful assessment discussion

We had our Gradeable Social all about assessments. Our three panelists (Alexis Rosenblatt of ANET, Jennifer Spencer of Match Charter High School, and Jonathan Ketchell of Hstry) fielded questions all about high-stakes, low-stakes, and alternative assessments. Here are some highlights:

LL Cool J’s still got it

In 2010, an amazing thing happened on YouTube, and that is, theelectriccompany uploaded a music video of LL Cool J rapping about punctuation. Because when you see a punctuation mark, you have to know what to do! You’re welcome.

Have a great weekend, folks!

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Harvard’s Askwith Forum on Common Core Implementation

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https://twitter.com/sheriann13/status/440625032847298561

On Monday night, Sheri attended an Askwith forum at Harvard Graduate School of Education with guests John King Jr. and Mitchell Chester, commissioners of education in New York and Massachusetts, respectively. The topic of discussion was the implementation of the Common Core—not the merits or criticisms of the standards, but the implementation. Here are some highlights from the discussion:

Timeline (awkward transitional period)

A big point of pain is the speed of the roll out of the standards and the corresponding tests that go with them. Some parents are upset that the new tests are effectively being tested on their children. In reply to that, John King told a story about how he visited a school in upstate New York. When asked about the standards, a teacher told him that she thought they were great, but she had the Regents exam, the NY state test, to worry about first so she couldn’t worry about the Common Core standards. “The reality is that people do what’s measured.” Without accountability from testing, teachers won’t have incentive to teach to the standards.

We can’t “put [kids’] education on hold until the education system figures out how to deliver a better education system,” Mitchell Chester said. We can’t wait for all the stars to align before rolling out an innovation.

“There’s always going to be a year 1 and all the anxiety and challenge that comes with it.” said King.

What how who

John King described the New York State implementation as having a “what-how-who” problem.

What do you teach? Do you teach the same curriculum, and does that curriculum hit the standards? Do educators have the right materials to meet these standards? We can’t rely textbooks with the “CCSS approved” stickers. Teachers still have to align their instruction to the standards.

How are you going to change your teaching? Do educators know how to execute these standards? Do they understand concepts well enough to help students achieve a deep level of understanding prescribe by the standards? If not, then the how problem becomes a time problem. Do you have the time and resources to get teachers to the level they need to be at?

Who are we teaching? We have students who are struggling with the current standards, and now we are asking them to master even more rigorous standards. Again, do we have the resources to support struggling students? In the middle of a national financial crisis, do we have the resources to handle these students?

Resources

Like schools, vendors are aligning their materials to the Common Core. But as we mentioned, the “Common Core approved” sticker isn’t, by itself, a solution to rolling out the Common Core. New York, RI, and Massachusetts have developed a rubric to help teachers evaluate their materials, to determine if they’re Common Core ready.

How do you deal with the Common Core rollout in your classroom? What are your pain points? Which strategies work have worked? 

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#LearnLaunch14: Boston is the Hub of EdTech

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Over the weekend, we were at the LearnLaunch Conference at Harvard which hosted educators, entrepreneurs, and edtech advocates from around the country. Boston, home to leaders in technology, education, medicine, (and sports of course!), seems to be bringing all that together in their move forward in edtech. In the midst of a packed house of intellectuals, movers, and shakers, here’s what we learned from the LearnLaunch Conference of 2014.

Boston Public Schools makes moves

On Saturday morning, Marty Walsh’s chief of staff Daniel Arrigg Koh surprised conference goers with the announcement that Boston Public Schools is buying 10,000 Chromebooks for their schools. In addition, they announced a pilot with Learn Launch to get new technologies into classrooms. As you may remember, we had the pleasure of meeting Mayor Walsh earlier this month where he announced his ambitions to move Boston forward with technology in education.

Super-connected superintendents

https://twitter.com/parulia/status/439797172549476353

The superintendent hot seat panel on Saturday featured the superintendent from Revere, Burlington, and Natick along with Boston Public School Chief of Staff Melissa Dodd. The first thing Parul and I noticed was that each of them had a Twitter handle, the first symptom of twenty-first century connectivity. Our suspicions were confirmed as the session went on:

Dr. Eric Conti, Burlington: The people of my district are much more tech savvy than I am. My job is to stay out of their way.
It was encouraging to hear the leader of a district speak so humbly and simultaneously exude such forward thinking.

Dr. Peter Sanchioni, Natick: Technology can be a $1,000 pencil if the teachers can’t use it.
This speaks to one of our favorite battle cries that teachers matter, not just the technology. Unless  teachers are on board, technology isn’t going to get off the ground, no matter how powerful or well-designed it is. Mr. Sanchioni spoke about the importance of professional development and teacher buy-in when rolling out technology.

Dr. Paul Dakin, Revere: Focus on internet access.
In the district of Revere, more than ¾ of students come from low-income families and 11% are English Language Learners. So while most districts are working on which tablets to buy, Dr. Dakin is extended school days so students can have access to the necessary resources like internet. Even more, Dr. Dakin is working with broadband internet companies to bring affordable internet to the homes of students, so that they have access to online resources and lessons at home.

A bright future

At one of the last panels of the day, high school students shared their view of technology in their classrooms. Overall, these students were well-aware of the role technology plays in their education. From the ability to collaborate with others, to better feedback from teachers, to new ways to express and prove their learning, the high school students told us that they were learning the skills that would greet them when they stepped into the real world.

At the end of the day, Parul pitched Gradeable to the conference as one of the finalists in the pitch competition. We ended up losing to our friends at EdTrips, but it was a great to hear from the convention goers and receive their support. Overall, the LearnLaunch Conference was a well-planned event and a reminder of the big things on the edtech horizon in Boston.

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Friday Bulletin Board

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sleeping student

Prezi and Adobe join Obama’s ConnectED initiative

Prezi, the cloud-based presentation software, and Adobe are the latest technology companies to join President Barack Obama’s ConnectED Initiative to help the US education system better prepare students for technology-centered world. Prezi’s commitment will provide $100 million in Edu Pro licenses to hundreds of thousands of high schools and educators. Adobe is making over $300 million worth of free software available to teachers and students. ConnectED hopes to connect 99% of students to next-generation broadband and wireless technology within five years.

Evergreen State College’s alternative approach to assessments

The public liberal arts college in Washington has only one graduation requirement: “to think and write, over and over again throughout their college careers, about what they’ve learned.” The final iteration becomes the student’s resume, or context to their resume for future employers. The idea is to encourage students to take a good, hard look at why they’ve made the choices they have in their education, and assess what it all amounts to.

Teacher pranks sleeping student

Who hasn’t fallen asleep in class before? While most teacher would ignore the student or wake the student up, this teacher makes his case in a very viral way.

Have a great weekend, folks! Here’s to going viral!