Author: molersmusings

My day is never complete without a trip to Kroger or Trader Joes. On this particular day I was walking through the aisles at the Amelia Kroger to kill some time before picking up my daughter. As I perused through the vegetables and bread, one thing stood out to me:

1. Overreaction……..A LOT of of parental overreaction.

One parental overreaction stands out in my mind. I was standing at the end of an aisles out of the way trying to figure out what I needed next. Out of nowhere, I hear this voice of rage, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!! COME HERE RIGHT NOW!!! MY GOD YOU NEED TO PAY ATTENTION.” I was expecting to see some out of control 12 year old kid, Mt. Dew in hand, and causing a ruckus. Instead, I saw this quiet 9 year old kid, pushing a small cart, who got caught up in looking at wheat bread.

I just couldn’t help but think how much he is talked to in that way. Then I begin thinking about how many kids leave school and enter that lifestyle on a daily basis. It made me stop and think about how important relationships can be in building trust and solving classroom management issues throughout the year.

Sometimes kids come to school for a respectful, caring environment. It’s not all about the academics. We are better off sitting down with students having a bad day or being apathetic and discussing their interests and asking  2 simple questions, “How has your day been? What can I do to help?” This is a simple way of making “small deposits” to get bigger returns in the long run.

As we near the final days of school, it’s important to remember that it’s easy to stress out and overreact. It’s easy to send kids out into the hall or down to the office for doing nothing. But, it’s just as easy to sit down, talk it out, and make those small deposits.

While driving home after school, I was thinking to myself about how I never put together a post celebrating the great, innovative practices taking place at New Richmond Middle School along with the great people who make it all work on a daily basis. 

When I arrived at school today (Friday, May 11) we were having a staff meeting to announce teacher of the year. My colleague’s chose me as Teacher of the Year and the email below is what I sent out, and I though it would make for a great blog post. A way to stop, reflect, and celebrate all of the good things from this school year. At the end of the day, how can one person be chosen when we all work so hard?

To the Middle School Staff,

Thank you for honoring me as Teacher of the Year, but I don’t know how one person can be chosen. We all work so hard, take things home, and deal with so many unknown things on a daily basis. It’s inspiring to see so many awesome, innovative practices happening this year. Some things that come to mind:

1. The “Cruisin to the AIR Test” challenge from Nathan and Ali.

2. The BookSnaps used for Anne Frank and the Holocaust.

3. Allie’s cool survival project. 

4. Seeing Andrew’s students walking around the building snapping pictures of angles with Ipads and transferring them to a Google Slide Presentation. 

5. Seeing Tina’s blended learning stations and creating multiple ways for students to show what they know. 

6. Greg and Erin with volleyball stations using flipgrid and youtube to have students improve volleyball skills. 

7. Becky’s awesome game board project with the Industrial Revolution, slavery, and differences between North and South. 

8. Toby’s project with students recording a Renaissance newscast – they were so engaged and had fun. 

9. Tiffany setting up the Innovator’s Mindset Book Study.

10. The earthquake building project from Tina and Doug. 

11. Tracy’s biome project that students created – they loved doing that project and were proud of what they created. 

12. Beth’s project for The Giver where students created a “perfect society” – it was neat seeing what the students came up with to create a Utopia. 

13. Malissa’s awesome (and heavy looking) glass table for flexible seating. 

14. The dedication of the Special Ed Teachers to their students – Deb, Karla, Trevor, and Tony – you guys are awesome!

15. Amy’s awesome art projects – the horse in the lobby is so cool! Plus, being chosen to present on blended learning at the Art Museum is a testament to what you do on a daily basis. 

16. Court setting up a Professional development library for everyone – EduProtocols is a book you will want to get your hands on! Great, usable student centered lessons in there. 

17. Rhonda and the kitchen staff for keeping us fed – please try the sausage, egg, and cheese! The custodians for making this building clean and organized. Mindy for great mints and Tylenol. 

18. Ms. Gulley’s leadership conference and AAA incentive are great for students and help build school culture.

If I left anyone out, I’m sorry. But this is what stands out in mind from this year. Changing culture takes time, and everything listed above is what makes the middle school a wonderful place. There are many great innovative practices happening around this building, and I just wanted to highlight those things that stand out to me.

Thank You,

Adam Moler

Taking risks has been my theme for the 2017-2018 school year. I have jumped completely out of my comfort zone with dressing up, acting out the Bill of Rights, empowerment lessons, using out of the ordinary items such as Oreos, adding a mission statement, and changing my expectations. But one risk I added and will continue to use is the digital portfolio for reflections.

I originally started a digital portfolio idea in Room 303 for three reasons. Reasons one and two: students could showcase their work and growth throughout the year. My third reason was influenced by my own observations with students. During my past years of teaching, too often students (and myself) would end a unit, move on, and completely forget what just happened. History doesn’t work like this, but a portfolio would help the students wrap up a unit with purpose.

My platform for digital portfolio was Google Sites – easy to use, but many flaws that I will not get into now. At the end of every unit, I wanted students to upload an artifact they created along with a reflection on what they learned.  When I first introduced this and provided a template………….oh my. To say it was a struggle is an understatement. I had students Googling answers to reflection questions for their own creations – how does that work? This portfolio has been a work in progress all year long.

Throughout the year, I tweaked questions, changed the amount of artifacts to upload, opened it up to the students to freely write. The digital portfolio is still a work in progress. Currently I’m reading, Learn Like a PIRATE, by Paul Solarz who discusses how he has students constantly reflecting. He uses a similar portfolio concept, but I have learned some great ideas for next year’s portfolio concept.

Here are 5 ideas I will incorporate into my portfolios for next year:

1. Go over reflections more in-depth with students – sometimes it’s hard for me to place myself in the shoes of other people. To me, a reflection is natural and simple. As a result, I see it as simple for others as well. It’s vital to not assume this, and show others how to reflect and the power of reflection. 
2. Drop Google Sites and use Blogspot or WordPress – Google Sites is easy, but sometimes things get deleted and it’s unable to be recovered. It doesn’t allow students to change fonts, or change picture sizes easily. 
3. Have students reflect at the end of every lesson within a unit – the best way to learn and grow is reflecting daily and at the end of every major lesson. 
4. Use a “Tell Me More” strategy – Every reflection question should be answered with at least 2 sentences. The second sentence has a focus of telling me more, or expanding on the learning/artifact.
5. Use reflection and synthesizing questions – examples include: 1) What was your favorite station/activity? Why? 2) Find another group that you feel explained the topic better than you did. Why did you choose this group? What did they explain well? 3) Describe how the lesson went for you. 4) What have you learned due to this experience? Interpret how the lesson went using one of sets of terms: strengths/weaknesses or successes/setbacks.

Allowing students to reflect in a timely manner can allow them to take their learning to another level. As I have found this year, it’s important to have them reflect as learning is occurring, not after a grade has been issued or at the end of a unit.

I believe in the power of reflection for improvement. For me, reflecting is a way to improve my practice, share ideas with others, and a way to think out loud about the ups and downs of Room 303. One of my biggest fears is feeling complacent with my work. The world we live in is constantly changing, and it’s my responsibility to provide the best engaged and empowered education I can possibly provide to my students. With that being said, he is my list of improvements for next year (mainly a bunch of random thoughts I’m putting down)…..

Here is a list of changes I can implement for the 2018-2019 school year:

Beginning of the year stuff:

1. Have students design my walls and bulletin boards.
2. Have students create a passion wall to share their ideas.
3. Rethink my expectations in my room (Keep my values and mission statement).
4. Incorporate Smart Starts from Eduprotocols from the beginning of the school year.
5. Use more community oriented lessons at the beginning of the year.
6. Set clearer expectations from the beginning – chromebooks, music, due dates, etc….
7. Use more words like: family, community, help each other, respect, collaborate, etc….
8. Explain Active and passive leaders (pages 47-49 in LearnLAP).
9. Explain and show what it means to effectively collaborate.
10. Use “give me five” to increase student voice.
11. Align standards to specific projects for standards based grading.
12. Design rubrics for projects.

6 weeks of school left + Statewide testing = lots of headaches and negative thoughts. Name one person who like statewide testing. Name one person who has something positive to say about statewide testing. It’s hard to stay positive when this test creates a negative feel in the air.

A testing day on Tuesday created a 2 hour delay schedule and a 30 minute class period for me. It was a perfect day to practice empathy. My 8th grade class went outside and we walked around campus as I did a walking lecture on the Trail of Tears. It was great as the experience (cold weather) added authenticity to the conversation. Before this lesson we just wrapped up a lesson on Andrew Jackson.

Wednesday rolls around after our Trail of Tears lesson, and we analyzed 3 perspectives on why people supported the Indian Removal Policy. Before we read each perspective, I had the students make a prediction. Our first perspective was Andrew Jackson, and I asked, “What do you predict Jackson will say about indian removal?”…………………..crickets and blank stares followed. I was livid.

I’ll admit, I blew up. Looking back I should have changed my tone. After all, it is testing week and their brains are done after that test. As always I stepped back and reminded myself of 3 positives from this week:

1. I wrapped up a loooooooong Middle Ages blogging project. I had the students reflect and give me feedback. Some of the feedback was constructive and great. Overall, the students had fun with the project and enjoyed the different lessons I put together. They especially enjoyed the simulations with the Crusades, the Black Death, and the my dress up days.
2. I have a student that isn’t getting much out of my class. I did what most teachers would not – I threw out the standards and typical lessons and I asked him, “What do you want to learn? I know you like cars and engines, what sounds good to you?” We talked for a bit, and I asked him to tell me how an engine worked………..I still don’t know how it works. He even called me out on that (that’s when I realized that this is probably how he feels when I discuss history topics). Finally,  I suggested he learn about the impact of the steam engine. He ran with it, and I have never been more impressed. On his own, he created a steam engine out of lego’s, he’s using Flipgrid to discuss how it works, and he’s creating a poster on the impact of the steam engine. Trust students, find out their passions, and give them a voice!
3. I started a new project with 7th graders on the Renaissance. I asked them a question, “Who is the most important person of the Renaissance?” They got into groups of 2 or 3 and I told them this project is completely driven by them. They started looking at the Renaissance, people in the Renaissance, and came up with a person. I had several groups go out of their way to find people not on my “suggested” list of Renaissance people. For example, one group found a Renaissance woman who was considered the first feminist. I love this creative, empowered thinking!

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BAM!!! Dead silence turned into gasps, head turns, and laughter after a chromebook hit the floor. Students woke up and became inspired. It’s state testing day. Before the the chromebook incident, looks of boredom, sleepiness, and ‘why’ could be seen throughout Room 303.

I just can’t help but wonder myself – why? Even a student asked me, “Why do we have to take this test?” I’m of the belief that if a student asks me why we do something in history class, I should be able to justify the “why” passionately and truthfully from the heart. However, my response to the student about testing was the typical, beat-around-the-bush response. He saw right through me. I can’t sell it.

What meaning does this state test have for the students? There is no voice or choice. No authenticity or authentic audience. No creativity. I remember a five years ago with a team I was coaching, my players told me tales of how they got creative on the state test. The prompt was, “Explain a life changing moment….” I can’t remember the rest. But, these students found their own creativity in mocking the test. Some told me of how they wrote about when their wife gave birth to their first child and made up a whole life story. Some even wrote about how taking a state test changed their lives for the better; sarcastically of course.

For those who say testing reflects what students know and are able to do, refer back to the above paragraph. Furthermore, I can use my own experience with testing to say this is a garbage response. I remember in 2000, I got my ACT scores back. I got a big 15. Yes, a 15. According to these results, I would do terrible in college; no way I would be successful. I took the ACT again. The scores came back…….and I got an 18!!! Wooooooooo!!! Again, with these results, success in college was not likely. If the ACT was a reflection of me, then I shouldn’t have graduated as a collegiate-athlete with a 4.0 GPA.

Students know, and understand, this testing has no authenticity. So, how can we create meaning with testing? I feel testing is never going away, but something has to change. Perhaps the people who make this stuff up could visit schools and see the creativity and critical thinking taking place and become inspired. Leaders could get on Twitter for 5 minutes a day and see all the good stuff happening in classrooms across the country.

What if state leaders became inspired by more school visits, and browsing Twitter for 5 minutes a day, to change state testing? Maybe they would see creativity happening. Maybe they would see that 5 paragraph essay isn’t the only way to show what you know. Maybe they would see empowerment and students owning their learning. Maybe they would see students who aren’t bored, sleepy, and asking, “Why do we have to do this?”

At the end of the day, it shouldn’t take a Chromebook hitting the floor to wake up and inspire 18 students during a state test.

My 7th grade class recently wrapped up the Crusades Quest with a mini-simulation and a blog post. I started this Quest by dressing up as a King, reading Pope Urban’s message, and leading the learners on a Crusade. Next they researched how many miles their home was from Jerusalem, researched a Crusade, and finally chose their fate out of a bag. This was a new twist on learning the Crusades and the learners were engaged through the process. Usually, when the Crusades lesson finishes, I like to wrap everything up with a mini-lesson on Islam.

I racked my brain for an idea on how to teach my mini-lesson on Islam. This year I ditched my textbook, I’m avoiding using worksheets, and avoiding guided notes with lectures. Recently, I discovered digital breakouts and thought this would be a great opportunity to use one.

At first, digital breakouts looked confusing. The Google Form where you type the code, the links to different sources, the hints for codes – this looked like too much. So, I tried my first digital breakout at home one evening. (I tried out this great breakout on the War of 1812) All I needed to do was roll my sleeves up and get involved with the process.

Back to my mini-lesson Islam……..a former students and myself designed the first digital breakout for Islam. This is how we designed my Islamic Breakout……

Start with the end in mind: What do you want the learners to know by the end of the breakout? For me, at the end of the day, I wanted the students to learn some basic facts about Islam (as it is one of the misunderstood religions in the world).

The other part to this is adding materials to the breakout – puzzles, videos, sources, etc. I wanted to provide a variety of sources to my students. In my breakout, I started with a video about the beginnings of Islam. Next I added a primary source that learners had to analyze how Islam spread. Then, my former student created a puzzle with basic questions about Islam. Students had to research, and answer questions correctly to discover a clue. Lastly, I created a puzzle game about the 5 pillars of Islam that learners had to research as a group. Variety is key to keep engagement and critical thinking consistent throughout the breakout. 

Create a story for your breakout: I decided a great story for my breakout would be one that connected to the Crusades. Here is the story I came up with: “The Crusades are over! However, it was a big failure and you never reclaimed the Holy Land of Jerusalem. If anything good came of this long Crusade effort, it was the fact that you came into contact with Muslims. The Muslims shared many new ideas with you – new foods (cinnamon, coffee), new technologies, new maps, new clothes, etc. You cannot wait to get back home to Europe to share your new findings with your family. But, before you leave Jerusalem, you must learn about Islam. Visit the 4 stops to learn more about Islam and figure out the 4 codes – you have 45 minutes!” For me, this story worked as it connected the content to a past lesson and created some intrigue among the learners.

Create Codes: Once I had an end in mind, a variety of sources, and a story to peak interest, it was time to create codes. Codes were set up in a Google Form (as you will see here). I wanted find a balance between easy and tricky codes so students could work through the breakout in a timely manner. For each code, I added a hint to help the students. Plus, I created codes that forced the students to focus on the sources. To add a new element to my breakout, a lockbox was added. When the learners solved all codes, the Google Form would switch to a new section and tell the code to the lockbox. 

In the end, Reflect, Reflect, Reflect: When a breakout finishes, it’s essential to reflect. Find out what the students know and/or don’t know. This could easily be done with Quizlet Live, Quizizz, creating a “3 takeaways” question on Google Classroom, one word note card, etc.. Reflecting is essential for learners to thinking about their learning and creating a culture of growth mindset. Finally, reflecting is a great way to help teachers drive their teaching.

My takeaways and reflection: I was completely impressed by the engagement and excitement from the learners during my first breakout. It was something new to learn about Islam. There was no lecture, no worksheet, or no textbook. If anything, I took what would have been a lecture or worksheet and “gamified” it. Here is the example the Islamic Breakout – click here.

What do I like about Breakouts?

1. They have learners collaborate.
2. They have learners communicate.
3. The have learners take on leadership roles.
4. They have the learners think critically.
5. They help create a growth mindset as students work through tough situations. 
6. Breakouts can be adapted in so many ways for every subject! Here is a link to a great site featuring digital breakouts, featuring multiple subjects.

I just completed my first #IMMOOC, and discovered another world beyond engagement. Through this 6 week process, one quote keeps coming to mind again, “You can engage students with a conversation on how to change the world, but why not make them want to go out and change the world by empowering them.” I say again, because this quote was a source of inspiration for the blog post found here.

Reflecting on my past 3 years teaching history, I’m not going to lie, it was bad. My planning focused on compliance, using a textbook, worksheets, and projects where I graded the same damn product 130 times. I kept going with it, but in the back of my mind, I knew it wasn’t right. It didn’t feel right. My problem was, I didn’t know how to get out of the rut.

I started this year by reading 2 books, Ditch That Textbook and Teach Like a Pirate. Both of these books inspired me to change my classroom to create a better experience for my students. Let’s face it, social studies gets a bad name because the content is “boring” or students can’t connect with it. But it doesn’t have to be boring. These books showed me how to get out of the compliance rut to create a more engaging experience for learners in Room 303.

From the beginning of the year, I committed to not following the structure of the textbook. Our book has some good hands on lessons, but textbooks are boring. So, I took some of these lessons and curated sites, sources, and added my own “hooks” to them to create engagement. These hooks involve mystery bags, costumes, props, music, food, etc…  (pictures below) For me, it’s not just a once a week thing, it’s an everyday thing. My biggest takeaway from Teach Like a Pirate was I can’t give a good appetizer but give a bad main course and an awful dessert. The hooks and engagement can’t stop. Does it work all the time? No. Are all learners engaged? No. But are more students engaged and excited about history than ever before? Yes.

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These books have helped me tremendously, but it’s the book Innovator’s Mindset that helped me see another world beyond engagement. This world was empowerment. Having students solve problems, connect with each other, and giving students a voice and choice. This was my biggest takeaway from #IMMOOC, but what’s next? How can I keep progressing?

Read More – On my list next: reading the books Empowered and LAUNCH (Design Thinking). I want to explore the idea of not only engaging my students, but empowering my students! How can I create history learning experiences where they choose and create? Project based learning and design thinking are 2 topics that have interested me, but I don’t know where to start. It’s time to start now.

Taking More Risks – I didn’t ditch my textbook and dress up in costumes without taking risks. Empowering my students involves taking risks as well. I need to keep building a culture of risk taking, transparency, and trust. I don’t know much about empowerment, but there’s no doubt in my mind that these ideas play into this concept. I look forward to learning more so I can implement this strategy into 303.

This experience reminded me that no matter how long you have been teaching or how engaged your students might be, education is constantly changing. It’s up to us to realize how fast education and the world is changing so we can adapt and grow along with it. Learning doesn’t stop. Learning should not stop. For me, engagement was great, but I quickly realized that it’s not enough.

I’m beginning to think I should make this a regular reflection – focusing on the positives going on in Room 303 rather than the negative. You guessed it…….another one of those days! When I really think about it, it’s 8% of my students causing this grief (yes, I actually did the math and came up with 7.6%). I get so consumed by it because I feel like I haven’t reached them or built a relationship with them, despite my efforts. It baffles me, provides a challenge to me, and beats me down all at the same time. With these challenges, I’m always trying to find a way.

The tennis player in me doesn’t quit until I find a way to get it done. Growing up playing competitive tennis has shaped me considerably as a person. It’s the type of sport where the player playing is the coach. (Yes, you get coached during high school season or college season.) However, the coach doesn’t always make it the fence on changeovers. USTA tournaments don’t allow coaching. Therefore, it’s up to the player to think outside the box and figure out how to win. This is how I grew up, and part of why I think the way I do.

At the end of the day, I shouldn’t let these challenges beat me up. I need to constantly remind myself of what going right in Room 303. It’s funny, though, how 8% overshadows the other 92% and the great things happening. So here it is, 3 positives from this week:

1. Instead of blogging from his character’s perspective about going on the Crusades to Jerusalem, a student wanted to use Google MyMaps. He added markers to his stops with pictures. He described the challenges created by geography (mountains, desert, rivers, etc..) Finally, he used a feature I never knew about – the directions feature using walking distance from his castle in France to Jerusalem.
2. An 8th grader is maintaining a blog from the perspective of a Federalist living through the new republic. His character’s name is Johnald Stump. This is the funniest blog I have ever read! He truly has a gift for creative writing, and humor. It’s amazing how many subtle Trump jokes he can fit into his writing as he analyzes decisions made by Washington, Adams, and Jefferson. Check it out the excerpts – worth a read!
3. I told my 7th graders we were going to a digital breakout. This was followed by mass looks of confusion. I explained the digital breakout, the rules, and the goals behind it. Their faces lit up and excitement ensued. Sometimes I question what I do, but a student made a point to say, “Mr. Moler, you make history fun. We do so many different things in here.” That simple statement reminded me that maybe I’m doing good things in Room 303. Here is the digital breakout site (still a work in progress).
   

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I recently read a quote from Innovator’s Mindset that has stuck with me the past 2 days. The quote reads, “Schools should not be where answers go to die, but where questions come to life.” When I read this quote, I couldn’t help but think about it in the context of Room 303. During my recent blogging quest, 8th grade learners are maintaining blogs from the perspective of a Federalist or Democratic-Republican. They learn about decisions that President George Washington made, or President Thomas Jefferson made and blog about their feelings. Each quest has a mini-lesson built in that varies. Examples include: a hyperdoc (I love hyperdocs btw), a simulation, a digital story book, a “guest speaker” comes in, or retelling stories with legos.

So far, I have provided the questions to the students throughout each blogging quest. As a result, my questions are getting answered, but the answers quickly die (and fall off the face of the Earth). Before the learners begin blogging, I feel two issues are being created from this situation:

1. The learners are having trouble relating the content to the blog posts. There posts are coming out as regurgitated, informational essays.
2. The learners are not connecting with their character’s perspective.

In the most recent quest with James Madison and the War of 1812, I decided to try something new. I gave the learners a choice board. This particular choice board has 2 rules: 1) you must do the middle square 2) you must go in a tic-tac-toe format. Other than this, anything goes.

When I first introduced this, looks of confusion ensued. A mutiny was in the works. The first question came soon after, “Where do you want me to start? Where do I find this information?” This led me into having a quick class discussion that went something like this……

“Let me explain the meaning behind this choice board. Too often you go through school and you are provided questions through worksheets, tests, forms, etc. You might ask a question based on something I said you need to learn. You’ll come up with the answer, but are you remembering that answer? Or thinking about why that was the answer? Ultimately, when do you create your own questions about the things you want to learn? When do you find the answers to your own questions? So, this board allows you to explore the War of 1812 in your own way. Yes, The middle square is needed to provide background information. However, from there, you can explore battles, the Star Spangled banner, the burning of Washington DC, famous general that became presidents, or statistics about the war. This gives you guys a choice, and a voice, to form your own knowledge and opinions about the War of 1812.”

It was only the first day, but I already see creative thinking in the works. For example, the middle square said make a visual time showing causes of war,  Battle of Tippecanoe, burning of Washington, Battle of New Orleans, and the Treaty of Ghent. A particular student pointed out that it was difficult to show causes on a chronological timeline. I responded with, “What can you creatively think of to make this work?” I checked back in 5 minutes later and she figured it out – she put the causes in a textbox next to a timeline with the battles, the burning, and the treaty. Another example of creativity that impressed (for you history people, this is not some War of 1812 pun – click the link if you don’t know what I mean) me – the amount of visual timelines on paper, google drawings, and other forms of tech that students are familiar with. I’m not getting the same, monotonous thing over and over. 

Granted, this was my first day, but I was impressed.  Will this lead to better blogs and more connection to the perspective of the character? Time will tell. But one day in, I already see questions coming to life.