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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.

I’m currently sitting in Room 303 reflecting on the changes that have occurred this school year. According to George Couros in the Innovator’s Mindset, a 21st century classroom should have the following 8 things to inspire innovation:

1. Voice
2. Choice
3. Time for reflection
4. Opportunities for innovation
5. Critical thinking
6. Problem solvers
7. Self-Assessment
8. Connected Learning

If you walked into Room 303, would you find all of these things? No.  But this year has been about taking more risks, engaging students, building relationships, and implementing small cultural changes. For example, learners have a voice and choice through digital portfolios, collaborative projects, and a variety of tools to show me what they know (flipgrid, legos, infographics, creative writing, blogging, etc..).  After each unit, I build in time for reflection through a digital portfolio. My newest venture is having students grade their own blogs as a way to self-assess and reflect. To my surprise,  the students graded themselves honestly. I’m encouraging critical thinking by getting rid of worksheets and creating things that can’t be Googleable.

Despite some of these small changes, I have a long way to go. When the school year started, I was focused too much on tech and blended learning. I felt lost and the learners seemed lost and bored. My focus ultimately shifted to relationships and engaging lessons. Through reading, I have discovered a new world beyond engagement – empowerment. It’s going to take small steps, and big risks, but focusing on empowerment will allow me to provide problem solving (authentic learning), more opportunities for innovation, and ways to connect my learners to share ideas with each other and the world. 

Today a former student came down to job shadow me while upperclassmen were taking the ACT. I embraced this idea as a way to give back, share ideas, and possibly inspire a future social studies teacher. However, the day started off and I felt bad for this student because I had nothing for him to do. An uninspiring start to the day. In the end, I was the one who walked away inspired.

Currently, I’m in the middle of a Middle Ages blogging project and our current quest is on the Crusades. I like to pair a mini-lesson on Islam with the Crusades. This year, I wanted to avoid the typical notes and a boring discussion. Earlier in the week, I had the idea to create a Digital Breakout. I decided to see if my former student could help me.

I asked this particular student if he ever heard of, or participated in, a digital breakout. His reply was a simple, “No.” So, I explained the idea and showed him an example. Then I shared my vision and explained that I had most of the materials/clues ready to go for my Islam Digital Breakout.

Through some discussion, planning, and an explanation on Backwards Design Theory, here is what my former student ended up doing in 2 1/2 hours (still a work in progress):

1. Designed a website – click here for the site
2. Created a Google Form for breakout passwords, hints, and embedded the form.
3. Created Google Drawings with links and embedded on the site.
4. Created a Google Doc with multiple choice questions and embedded the doc.

This was so inspiring to me as he turned my vision into a reality. In the process, he learned more about Islam, learned how to problem solve, learned how to create with Google sites and apps as a way to educate, and learned what goes into creating and planning engaging lessons.  It was inspiring for me to see him take this Breakout vision head on, get innovative, be enthusiastic, and design something to help many future students.

Why is History cast aside as a worthless subject? History has a weird way of repeating itself, yet everyone seems so surprised with the events taking place in our world today.  The leaders of this world – governmental and educational – are so consumed with Math, Science, Engineering, and Tech. Don’t get me wrong, these subjects are important, but we can’t diminish history. We need History to help us understand the social changes and national events taking place in our world today.

My inspiration for this piece are the photos of students participating in peaceful walkouts across the United States, and the comments and negativity associated with those photos. As educators we find ways for students to have a voice, encourage students to change the world, and encourage students to take risks and “put themselves out there.” These peaceful protesters weren’t being compliant and staying in class. This gets educators, and outside observers, all hot and bothered. As educators, why is it necessary to get offended ultimately sending mixed signals? This is where History can help us understand the situation.

Take for example our Founding Fathers. We often glorify them and see them as a bunch of cool, old dudes that revolutionized this country. Not so fast…..do you know the ages of some of these revolutionaries? When the Declaration of Independence was signed July 4, 1776, here are the ages of some these founding fathers (courtesy of Business Insider):

• Andrew Jackson, 9 (at age 13 – wanted to fight for independence and was captured by the British)
• (Major) Thomas Young, 12
• Deborah Sampson, 15
• James Armistead, 15
• Sybil Ludington, 15
• Joseph Plumb Martin, 15
• Peter Salem, 16
• Peggy Shippen, 16
• Marquis de Lafayette, 18
• James Monroe, 18
• Charles Pinckney, 18
• Henry Lee III, 20
• Gilbert Stuart, 20
• John Trumbull, 20
• Aaron Burr, 20
• John Marshall, 20
• Nathan Hale, 21
• Banastre Tarleton, 21
• Alexander Hamilton, 21
• John Laurens, 21

What if someone told these guys to be compliant? Where would our country be today without the ideas of 15-21 year olds? These Founding Fathers are around the age of many student protestors who wish to change the world and make it a better place. Let students have a voice. Throw away your compliance mindset, and realize how history can help us understand the event as taking place in our world.

Today was an inspirational day. It was a day where I learned from my students. Currently, my 8th graders are in the middle of a blogging project in an effort for them to understand how decisions from our first 5 presidents affected people’s lives. Students finished blogging about John Adams, the XYZ Affair, and the Alien and Sedition Acts from the perspective of a Federalist or Democratic Republican. Today was the perfect day to take a risk and try something new.

It was the perfect day to have students reflect and self-assess. I had a discussion with my students about grading and reflecting on their own work. I created a rubric for them to follow and had them grade their blogs. At first I was nervous, but I quickly became impressed.

Not one student gave themselves a perfect score. I told them that it wasn’t my goal to make them feel as though they didn’t have quality work. Rather, my goal was to make them reflective and see learning as a constantly evolving process. Despite being impressed by their reflective abilities, what I learned today was alarming.

Today my students taught me that they have been trained that learning stops when they complete an assignment. The most common question learners asked me today was, “Am I allowed to fix my blog to make it better?” My response every time is, “Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, and Yes! That’s the whole point of of this self-assessment. Learning doesn’t stop!” It’s time to rethink education and allow students to constantly reflect, self-assess, improve, then repeat. This is not the students fault, nor is it a teacher’s fault. It’s common, as educators, to do what has always been done. We grew up learning with an old model – learn, assess, move on. This old model needs to change and led me to a new “what if” for education……

What if learning began and evolved with the learner?

Learning should not begin and end with the teacher. In an ideal setting, empowered students should begin and keep evolving their learning. Empowered learners should be creating and asking questions. Empowered learners should be involved with authentic learning experiences. I’m trying something in my room tomorrow with the Crusades. I’m going to have the students create a map showing the journeys of 4 Crusades. The mapping project gives them a little bit of information about the Crusades, but not every detail. Once the map is completed, I want the students to collaborate and create questions about the Crusades. The students will take their questions, use research skills, and blog about a Crusade they went on. My hope is this will create an experience where the learner will have a stake in their questions and own their learning.

What if teachers put themselves in their student’s shoes to create more engaging lessons.

When I sit through some educational presentations, I can’t help but think about how my students feel at times. Three surefire ways to lose my attention: 1) being unprepared, 2) presenting something that is irrelevant to me, 3) at the end of the presentation, I walk away with no more knowledge than when I started.  Maybe teachers can use situations like I’m currently in to craft more engaging lessons. How can we create better experiences in education? How can we create meaningful, individualized lessons to engage more students?

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Today was a rough day. It was the type of day I question what I do, why I do it, and if I’m in the right profession.  I read a couple of quotes that got me thinking:

1) “In some ways people have to be compliant.”

2) “I was never a perfect teacher. Not all of my students were empowered…”

In Room 303, I’m trying to put forth and teach a growth mindset. On the “compliant, engaged, empowered scale,” my class falls just to the left of engaged. I still have work to do on the engagement piece, but I’m working my way slowly to the empowered piece. In my mind, in order to create a growth mindset atmosphere, I’m trying to incorporate small changes in my room. For example, I’m having students grade and reflect on their own work. I’m having students offer peer reviews and evaluations on their work. Lastly, I’m trying to get away from simply setting due dates so I can get through material. In my mind, a due date says, “Learning ends on this specific day.” With a growth mindset, learning never ends.

With my lack of due dates, some students take advantage of this. Today was one of those days. With the risks and changes I’m taking and making this year, problems will happen. I’ll admit it, I can be inconsistent. But, I’m trying new things, and new things can be messy. At times, I feel that I’m taking the non-compliance and growth mindset too literally. As I was reading today, I read the quote, “In some ways people have to be compliant.” I liked this quote because it serves as a reminder that people need to follow due dates from time to time. However, learning should not stop after the due date.

This entire year has been about taking risks and changing the culture and experience in my classroom. I need to remind myself this is a messy process. There will be ups and downs, but I need to focus on what’s going well. The pictures below represent the positives that took place from my rough day.

What went well today?

1. Students helped me come up with a bracket for History Madness and reflected on a lot of past information they learned.
2. A student who hates typing his blog, said he would give it one more try – and did an awesome job today.
3. Finally, I’m still taking risks everyday. Add all of this up, and you have my “What ifs” for education.

What if all teachers took risks?

What if all teachers took risks? What would be the harm? On a daily basis, we ask students to take risks and put themselves out there. However, most teachers do not hold themselves to the same expectations. Perhaps we should modeling, and expecting, these same behaviors. Maybe learners would be willing to take more risks with critical thinking and creativity. Students would be filling to fail and learn from mistakes. I shared a thought today on Twitter: “failure = learning stops, failing = more learning is needed and will continue.”  Overall, teachers taking more risks with everyday lesson can have a huge impact on student growth and learning.

What if school were fun?

I have heard others say that school is not all fun and games. Why not? Teachers and students alike should want to be at school.Teachers should love coming to school. Students should want to be in your classrooms. Learning should be fun. When someone enjoys something, or has a passion for something, more learning and engagement takes place. What if teachers created more of these fun experiences?

Overall, it was a rough day. With my focus on engagement with hopes of providing empowerment, I need to remind myself, “I’m not the perfect teacher. Not all of my students were empowered”…….or engaged for that matter. I need to focus on the small wins that are taking place on a daily basis. It’s too easy to throw in the towel and do it the way it has always been done.

In 2016, my district rolled out a plan to incorporate blended learning strategies, and models, into classes. This was a new idea to most of us, and the reasonings behind it made sense. I love new ideas, new ways of thinking, and incorporating different strategies to reach all of my students. As I tried different models, something seemed off.

It seemed to me that student engagement was off. These blended models looked great, the technology looked great, and freed me up to work with all students (one on one or small group). Blended learning seemed like the student engagement “cure-all”. Informal assessment told me otherwise. Looking back on the last year, the students seemed lost in a Chromebook; their eyes in a daze as they were having information overload. I’ve been in that state before – the best way to explain it is a feeling of anxiety building and building until you want to lose your mind. When I reach this state, I simply shut the chromebook and go for a walk. It occurred to me, if I’m feeling this way, students are feeling the same way during their 400 minute school day.

Last year, it became evident to me that blended learning models with tech were not the student engagement cure-all. This year I dedicated to improving student engagement through “out of the box” ideas and building relationships. Students need more than tech. They need a teacher that cares. They need a teacher that goes above and beyond to hook them into a lesson.

Different hooks I incorporated this year include: dressing up as a french agent, using props, music, having students create skits, piecing technology into my lessons, legos, food, mystery bags, student choice, and the list goes on (see examples). Student engagement this year has increased significantly (less discipline, more quality responses and creations). I realized that building relationships, using hooks, connecting students to one another, pieced around blended learning models would increase student engagement. However, I read an interesting quote in Innovator’s Mindset that stated, “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.”

This quote has been on my mind all day, and the main reason  I’m writing this post. Engagement is is great, but empowerment is better. However, in my case I needed to understand the engagement piece first. The next step for me is to learn how to empower students. Some interesting topics have been on my mind lately: design thinking, genius hours, and project based learning. These are the items I would like to learn more about, and incorporate into my class in the coming years. These are the items that can empower students to solving problems.

Looking back on 2016, along with the introduction of blended learning, we should have been discussing ways to build relationships, ideas to engage students, ideas to connect students to one another to solve problems. Technology alone will not solve engagement issues. Understanding strategies for engagement is necessary to use blended learning. In the end, however, your students must be engaged to empower them to change the world.