June 15th Deadline For MLEI

NOW is the time to register for the Middle Level Education Institute at Bowdoin College on July 29-August 1. The June 15th deadline is fast approaching and we don’t want you to miss out! No matter what challenges or opportunities your school, team, or classrooms are facing, MLEI is the perfect venue to bring a team together and work intensively and extensively over a period of three days on one or more key projects for September. In addition to large blocks of team time, and the company of enthusiastic MLEI participants, you’ll have access to internationally recognized middle level experts Nancy Doda, Mark Springer, Jill Spencer, and Chris Toy throughout the institute. We are also in touch with the folks providing training and resources for MLTI who will be on campus to support you with preparing for the fall. Teachers and principals who have attended past institutes consistently report that time together at MLEI has paid huge dividends throughout the school year and beyond. So head on over to the Middle Level Institute website and register NOW! We look forward to seeing you in July. Oh, and be sure to spread the word by sharing this information with your middle level colleagues. Thanks!

Lessons learned at the 2013 MLTI Student Conference

The annual MLTI Student Conference is an incredible learning opportunity for students and their teachers, Maine teacher educators, and the dedicated MLTI team. Every year I marvel at the enthusiasm, passion, interest, and knowledge of the middle and high school students attending. As the conference director, Jim Moulton, likes to remind us, “This will be a day dedicated to fun—to hard fun!” I certainly had fun again this year and I learned some “hard” lessons as well. Here are three of them.

#1—The best lesson: MLTI promotes amazing student learning in many ways that aren’t reflected in student test scores. Excellent workshops, outstanding mass learning, scholarship awards, but the highlights each year for me are the student speakers,  middle and high school students from Maine schools, who use technology for learning and for doing good. Their stories are powerful. In past years, Hannah Potter, Chris Jones, and others have spoken about their personal journeys through learning with technology.

This year’s speakers were outstanding as well. Izzy Labbe and Julia Bluhm, 9th graders in central Maine, spoke of their work as bloggers and activists for SPARK. Julie and Izzy led a successful campaign to encourage Seventeen Magazine to stop using Photoshopped images of young girls. Both young women are now active bloggers and speak widely about their work. Watch their excellent presentation at TEDx Women 2012 to hear their full story.

The second student speaker was Yuval Boss, Orono High School senior, a web designer who also got his start with his 7th grade MLTI laptop. Yuval took advantage of many opportunities—”play around” with Sketch-Up and other software that caught his interest, join his high school’s student technology team, attend MLTI Student Conferences, teach himself HTML and other programming languages, and perhaps most importantly of all, “…find out that kids like me are doing all of this.” It wasn’t long before Yuval interned at a local web-design firm, free-lanced for other businesses, and ultimately used his skills to give back to organizations like CISV. Watch Yuval’s presentation here.

These students are amazing. Now I would like someone to deconstruct the skills these Maine students have developed largely because they had the tools (their own MLTI computer and Internet access) and the support of parents and teachers. These young people are self-learners, they are go-getters, and they make significant contributions to their communities and society. The learning they are so passionate about has little to do with learning measured by standardized test scores. (And it certainly has nothing to do with learning to use a computer that businesses currently use or having a computer to take tests on.)

#2—The hardest lesson: The elephant in the room is sitting on my computer.  What will happen to MLTI and technology and learning in Maine? The recent decision about the next MLTI phase has caused consternation everywhere as schools struggle to determine the impact in their communities. Is this really about “choice”? Will the “level playing field”, a key component of MLTI since the beginning, endure without continuity across the state given different devices, networks, professional development opportunities, and aspirations arising from the selection made in each district? And what about everything we’ve learned about technology and learning in the last 11 years? Are we throwing that out to start over? Ultimately, the decision must be about what choice(s) provide the best opportunities for student learning and not the least expensive cost.

#3—The most baffling lesson: Did you see the news coverage of this year’s MLTI Student Conference? Neither did I, nor did anyone else. Outside of one short paragraph I found in an online newspaper, I saw no TV or major newspaper coverage of this event. Evidently, 1200 students and 200 teachers in one place learning from each other is not news. (Sarcasm intended!) I’m convinced that at its core, this paucity of media coverage for such a significant event has more to do with a fundamental lack of understanding about the role of technology in learning than from obvious disinterest. This story is much more complex than students using computers to do interesting things in the classroom…and that may be the problem. But that is a story for another day! Fortunately, MLTI schools and students made and recorded their own news. See this short YouTube video from Gorham Middle School about the experiences of the 19 students and 5 teachers they sent to the conference.

Three lessons…do any of them resonate with your experience?

Photo by Brian Snelson, http://www.flickr.com/photos/exfordy/

Ready to Stretch Your Thinking?

Summer is made for days at the beach, hiking spectacular trails, and reading a good book in a hammock.  It is also the one time during the year when educators have the leisure to pause, reflect, and review their beliefs about teaching and learning. New learning in courses and institutes help stretch, clarify, and reshape the way we think about our classrooms.  For over 25 years the Middle Level Education Institute (MLEI) has provided Maine educators and those from away with ideas that are innovative and effective.  This year will be no different.

I have learned many important aspects of instructional strategies.  Of most importance is the fact that it is not about the teacher, but rather it is about the student learning that takes place.

2012 MLEI Attendee

Join us July 29-August 1 on Bowdoin College’s beautiful campus in Brunswick, Maine to continue the journey toward more powerful learning for our students. We invite you to join the quest to re-envision schooling in a bold way that systematically models as well as promotes the essential capacities students need to successfully confront the challenges of their futures and the future of our world.

In many ways it is indeed a hero or heroine’s journey to pursue powerful teaching in today’s social, political, and economic climate. We believe, however, that spirited middle level educators want to explore…

• Empowerment and engagement
• Community and collaboration
• Content with meaningful context
• Assessment for reflection and growth

Are you ready to pursue this bold vision that…

• Cultivates learning that is engaging, challenging and meaningful?
• Shifts the classroom environment from teacher-centered to learner-centered?
• Incorporates student voice and choice in a substantive way?
• May rock your vision of teaching and learning?

This Institute has given me hope and the courage to take the full journey.

2012 MLEI Attendee

The journey continues July 29 – August 1 at MLEI on the Bowdoin campus.  All of the details and registration information can be found at
http://mleimaine.net/home

Middle Level Education–21st Century Style! Empowering Students to Take Charge of Their Learning

Jack Berckemeyer

The Young Adolescent Learner

Al Miller

Creativity in the Classroom

Dr. Kevin Perks

Literacy in the Content Areas

Bea McGarvey

Customized Learning

Where Can You Meet All of These Experts in ONE Place?

Plus over 30 concurrent sessions

MAMLE Annual Conference

Point Lookout, Northport Maine

October 17 & 18, 2013

For more information email or call Dr. Wally Alexander, Executive Director of MAMLE

wallace.alexander@umit.maine.edu
207-649-1576

Techno Wizards: Students Model Good Digital Citizenship

Recently Warsaw Middle School’s Techno Wizards presented to elementary and middle school students and their parents on various aspects of digital citizenship. Eight students from Warsaw’s (WMS) new student technology team shared research, insights, advice, and tips on several critical topics—digital natives and immigrants, private and personal information online, password security, digital footprints, cyberbullying, and intellectual property. The students were professional, cool, and knowledgeable while presenting information and answering questions posed to them. But this was not their first public presentation.

The Techno Wizards have been busy since last September under the able direction of advisor and mentor, Ms. Lori Stevens, Warsaw’s technology integrator. Key functions of the Warsaw student technology team are to provide technology and learning assistance to teachers and fellow students, to assist with needed technical repairs and set-up, and perhaps most importantly of all, to serve as positive digital citizenship role models for both their school and their community. Digital citizenship refers to understanding and knowing how to navigate the digital world responsibly, safely, and ethically, obviously a set of skills that are becoming more important everyday.

Fourteen students applied for and eventually joined the Techno Wizards because they enjoy learning about and using technology; they also take seriously “giving back” to their school. It shouldn’t be a surprise that they are emerging student leaders at WMS. The Techno Wizards don’t get paid and they don’t receive academic credit for their work. Those types of external awards aren’t what motivate them! They do meet with Ms. Stevens every Tuesday morning at 7:20 a.m. to prepare for their next presentation, learn about applications of software to learning,  or how to assist their own teachers in using an app or software more effectively.

What else do the Techno Wizards do? Early in the school year they learned about Google Sites, a tool that every student at WMS will use to build his/her own digital portfolio. (A digital portfolio is a “purposeful collection” of a student’s best work in an electronic format, required by more colleges and workplaces.) Techno Wizards learned how to operate Google Sites first so that they could assist their teachers and eventually fellow students. I attended one of the professional development sessions and loved seeing the interesting role reversal as teachers learned from students!

Each week several students assist Ms. Stevens as she instructs fourth  grade students at the elementary school across the street. Every Techno Wizard also offers daily assistance to teachers and students in their classes. This ranges from trouble-shooting computer problems, to showing how to save, find, or send information to others, how to print, or how to use new tools as they are introduced. In short, the 14 Techno Wizards become 14 additional teachers for WMS.

But make no mistake…this is not simply a modern-day “AV Club” focused on computers, tablets, and projectors. Today’s student technology teams, like the Techno Wizards at Warsaw Middle School, use student expertise, leadership, enthusiasm, and an uncanny ability to work with a variety of people to strengthen the learning missions of their schools.

How do students assist with technology and learning in your school?

THERE’S STILL TIME . . . to attend the NELMS Annual Conference

It’s a sure sign that Spring is right around the corner.  “Meeting the Multi-Faceted Needs of the Middle Level Learner” convenes next week, April 4 & 5, in Providence, Rhode Island, where there will be green grass and blooming flowers(I hope!).  Don’t miss two days of inspiring, invigorating, relevant professional development.  If you need help or ideas on how to fund this incredible opportunity, contact the NELMS office, and check out the full Annual Conference program.

Inspiring Keynote speakers:

Tom Burton on “Magic, Motivation & Our ‘Sparkling’ Middle Level Students”

Carol Ann Tomlinson on “The Demographics, Research & Ethics Of Differentiation”.

Engaging ticketed luncheons and targeted full and half day sessions (a sampling includes):

“It’s More Than A Name” – Tom Burton

“Listen To What The Students Say: Student Profiles That Invite Differentiation”  – Carol Ann Tomlinson

Student Success Plans + “Cutting Edge, New” Advisory = Student Success – Earle Bidwell

Digital Tools for Project Based Learning – Jill Spencer

How Can We Use Strategies and Assessments to Prepare for the Transition to Common Core State Standards? – Deb Scarpelli

Exploring and Applying Web 2.0 Tools and Resources in the Middle – Chris Toy

Courageous and Collaborative Leadership in the Middle – Lyn Ward Healy

Differentiation and the Brain: How Neuroscience Supports the Learner Friendly Classroom – Carol Ann Tomlinson

Timely and relevant concurrent workshop sessions based on the concepts contained in Turning Points 2000 and This We Believe

500 Middle School Students

March 14 – 26th Expanding your horizons conference

Looks like today, Friday, will be an exciting day at the UMaine campus when 500 middle school girls converge from all over the state for an opportunity to attend a conference learning more about science and math.

The event is cosponsored by UMaine Women’s Resource Center, University of Maine Cooperative Extension, Maine EPSCoR at the University of Maine, College of Engineering, University Bookstore, the Provost’s Office and Maine Girls Collaborative Project.

The day begins at 9:00 AM with a keynote provided by a representative from Hardy Girls Healthy Women in Waterville. Students will select hands-on workshops being held throughout the Orono campus.

Among the selections are:

• Experimenting with the Natural Flora of Bacteria on Our Hands, led byundergraduate student Jordan Myerowitz, 10 AM, noon and 1 PM, 180 Hitchner Hall.
• Critter Clues: Studying Marine Animals, led by graduate student Skylar Bayer, 11 AM, noon and 1 PM, 201 Shibles Hall.
• Colorful, Cold Chemistry, led by professor Alice Bruce, 10 AM and 11 AM , 227 and 228 Aubert Hall.
• Tidal Energy, led by graduate student Colleen Swanger, noon and 1PM, Aquaculture Research Center.
• Sustainability Solutions — Working Together, led by staff member Elizabeth England, noon and 1 PM, Mitchell Center, Smith Hall.

Teachers will have the opportunity to attend sessions as well including a Maine Girls Collaborative Project panel discussion about working with girls with disabilities in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. During the afternoon they will attend a workshop to explore strategies for encouraging Native American girls to pursue STEM subjects in school.

Sounds like a great opportunity for all participants. If you attend, please share your experience with Bright Futures blog readers!

Girls and Science

I'm working on an interesting project that is looking to create a “greengineering” magnet school in a mid-sized city. One aspect of that project is getting girls interested in STEM. I was surprised, when we looked at the research, just how clear it is that girls are still underrepresented in STEM:

• Lower enrollments in STEM-related coursework
• Lower participation in STEM workforce
• Greater disparity for girls of color & ELL
• Gendering of educational trajectories remains a problem
• Implicit bias is a problem
• Women with graduate and post-graduate STEM degrees more likely to work part-time

This made me look back at the Bright Futures Core Practices. These 3 popped out at me as relating to the issue.

Core Practice 1. Students have access to curriculum that is relevant, challenging, integrative, and exploratory and is organized and executed to maximize accessibility for all students. – Are we creating enough opportunities for girls to explore science in ways that are relevant and challenging?

Core Practice 3. Teachers in all content areas use teaching and learning practices that are anchored in 21st century literacies. – STEM is certainly a literacy for modern times. How can we better include girls in not just mastering STEM but becoming engaged by it?

Core Practice 5. All middle level students experience learning opportunities that emphasize creativity and innovation. – STEM is one way we can involve youth in creativity and innovation. How can we better involve girls in this?

Of course, we shouldn't worry about only getting girls involved with science and engineering. Schools have a responsibility to help all its students (regardless of gender) to become more interested and passionate about STEM. But researching girls and science made me think of another recommendation from the Bright Futures report: Core Practice 2. Teachers use research-based instructional practices in their classrooms that are effective in increasing the learning and achievement of young adolescents.

Looking at that research showed me that, If we fall into the trap of focusing on STEM in the traditional ways, we run the risk of loosing half our population's interest in STEM through attrition as they progress through middle school and into high school and on to college. The strategies for interesting girls in science are not the same strategies that we have been using, nor are they the strategies the work for boys. According to the National Science Foundation, these six strategies are key to engaging girls:

• Mentoring
• Experiential learning
• STEM career perceptions
• Importance of 21st century skills
• Fostering persistence
• Creating a culture of high expectations

Further, according to Girlstart, a nonprofit dedicated to providing after-school and enrichment programs to get girls interested in the sciences, these strategies help girls:

• Start young
• Explore with your kids
• Look for enrichment programs that make science fun
• Encourage girls to stick with the sciences
• Show your daughters how science can be applied to solve real-world problems

And a recent study, published in the British Journal of Educational Psychology, showed that girls are more interested in studying subjects such as physics or IT if they are presented in a female-friendly way. Teaching girls about the use of lasers in cosmetic surgery or how to order clothes online encourages them to study science, the research suggests. In the report, Dr Sylvie Kerger, of the University of Luxembourg, said: “There was clear evidence that applying female friendly topics increased girls’ interest in these scientific disciplines… Girls were more interested in social and real contexts such as decline of forests whereas boys clearly found mechanics and technology more compelling.”

So maybe we should be working to insure that our middle grades programs feature hands-on science and technology activities, field trips, role models, and female-friendly contexts for learning content. And maybe Maine's middle schools should also pursue successful, evidence-based curricula that have demonstrated their ability to deliver positive outcomes and success in stimulating girls’ interest in STEM subjects and instilling self-confidence in their abilities, such as those from Girlstart, Great Science for Girls, and the Maine Girls Collaborative Project.

 

RESOURCES

• Top 5 Myths About Girls, Math and Science
• Girlstart
• Give Girls a Chance: Building a Bridge to Science and Technology
• Science: It's a girl thing! – European Commission
• Lessons in cosmetic surgery and ordering clothes online 'will help turn girls to science'
• Great Science for Girls and their curriculum options
• National Girls Collaborative Project and the Maine Girls Collaborative Project
• National Girls Collaborative Project Webcast “Effective Strategies for Working with Girls in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math”
• Encouraging Girls to Pursue Math and Science

 

Posted with Blogsy

Finding our way through the curriculum maze

The other day I plumped up my pillow, grabbed my favorite fleece, and settled in to read yet another article/commentary/opinion piece about the Common Core. I was asleep by the third paragraph. But, 45 minutes later, my newly recharged brain was swirling with visions of curriculum that are creative, exciting, engaging, and meaningful! (Modest, aren’t I?)

These unit ideas are all based on current issues or problems that local or global communities are facing or will face in the not too distant future. Issues and problems that engage our middle level students because they are about real life issues, offering our students opportunities to both find and solve problems. Real life, real learning. (And yes, I am serious about these ideas. But they are only examples. You can come up with your own ideas from your own community.)

Unit #1—On Thin Ice. I’ve always lived in northern states with lots of snow and ice. For the last 30 years I’ve watched and marveled at Mainer’s who insist on taking their cars and trucks on (supposedly) frozen lakes and rivers.  Honestly, I don’t understand why anyone would drive a $25,000 truck on lake ice if there was the remotest possibility of it plunging through!  And that isn’t even considering the safety issue of humans getting dunked or worse. This happens in hundreds of small towns in the U.S., maybe beyond. And there are dozens of questions to answer. Are there different kinds of ice? Do different bodies of water freeze differently? What are the conditions that inhibit ice formation? What about the insulating factor of snow on ice? How thick does ice have to be to support a truck, snowmobile, ice shack, or a person? Lots of other issues as well—What are the social aspects of ice fishing? What are the economic implications of ice fishing in northern climates (say Maine, Minnesota, and Michigan)? How has climate change influenced the number of days of safe ice for on-ice activities? What are the predictions for such in 2028? (For warmer states, this unit could also be a cultural study of this unique behavior.) Doesn’t this sound like the beginning of an interesting unit of study?

Unit #2—And You Think You Have Trash! The March 2011 Japanese Tsunami, as devastating as it was to Japan, has had global implications. For example, a 185 ton pier (65 feet long by 20 feet wide by 7.5 feet high) that washed up in Olympic National Park in Washington state in December 2012 is particularly troublesome, not only for the pollution that the pier is causing as it breaks up and releases its styrofoam core. More importantly, are the potentially invasive species that are attached to the pier and threaten the fragile ecosystem where it landed. The intertidal area of the Olympic Coast is home to the most diverse ecosystem of marine invertebrates and seaweeds on the west coast of North America; this is being threatened by the many species attached to the pier. Here are some potential questions—What currents and weather allowed this gigantic pier to move from Japan to the Washington coast? What species are unique to the Olympic Coast and what species are attached to the pier? How will each set of species interact? What responsibility does the Japanese government have for any potential Tsunami-caused damage in the U.S. or other countries? What types of debris from Japan has found its way to other locations in the world and what have been the implications? On a larger scale, what do scientists know and what are they doing about the massive amounts of trash floating in the world’s oceans…and how could that affect humans?

And several other ideas for developing DIY units—Google Art Project (visit the most famous art galleries in the world); Snapshot Serengeti (visit this site for dozens of web-based Citizen Science projects); Discovering Lance Armstrong (Why did Lance Armstrong dope, why did he lie about it, and what are the implications for what he has done? Lots of opportunities here from studying the history of Armstrong’s racing career, the geography of the racing venues, the science of racing and inevitably the science of doping, and the ethical issues of the doping and Armstrong’s actions then and now).

Please note that my questions have only scratched the surface. Lots of other questions to ask and answer. Collectively, each “unit” will include critical thinking, problem finding and solving, creative and critical thinking. Oh yeah, and massive amounts of content and skills from math, art, science, foreign language, social studies, language arts, and so much more. The magic window into these types of units of study for those of us lucky to live in Maine with one-to-one programs in every middle level school is of course, Internet access. And that adds another level of complexity…and opportunity.

No doubt that I need to learn more about the Common Core and how it can help improve curriculum for all students. Will the Common Core solidify even more “test prep” or will it move us in the direction of more student-generated, project-based, and real world learning that it promises?

But for now, I’m headed back to the couch for er…some more thinking time about this vexing issue!

My challenge for you…what type of unit could you and your students develop around a locally engaging or globally relevant topic? Please respond in the comments section below.

Photo cc licensed (BY) flickr photo shared by Fatboo

Cross-Curricular Teaching

Edutopia

In this weeks edition, January 16 of Edutopia the focus is on “deeper learning”. Those of us who have been around for some time as middle level educators are saying HOORAY! At some point (Ed Brazee I am sure can name the time period) there was a shift to a more intentional focus on the curriculum. The developmental needs intersecting with the learning needs.

Much of what I read in the Edutopia article called Deeper Learning: Why Cross-Curricular Teaching is Essential” the author, education consultant, and blogger Ben Johnson says: “Deep learning implies that students will follow a particular stream of inquiry to the headwaters, rather than simply sampling all the possible streams.” Ben didn’t mention any one particular grade level or age of student. He points out that it is time to create possibilities for students to reach their potential.

Ben claims that teachers and administrators need to “understand and accept” the following:

1. Deep learning engages the whole student (and teacher) — heart, mind and body
2. It requires enthusiastic partners
3. It requires intensive preparation
4.  Assessment must mirror learning
5.  Collaboration is necessary

This doesn’t sound like anything new but I do sense in the articles that I have read recently an urgency that I haven’t in the past. An urgency for educators to get it right.

As Edutopia authors do so well there are great examples including a blog by a Language Arts teacher who has a TED talk unit. In the blog post she discusses the changes to her TED talk unit aligning it with ELA Common Core – specifically on “argument”.

The teacher makes a connection to the “21st Century four Cs”. She aims for each lesson to correlate to at least one of the four important skills: Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking, and Creativity. You can read the details of the work by clicking here. I suggest you go to the article and read the other examples provided as well.

Mr. Johnson stresses the importance of breaking down the walls between content and the value of collaboration. Working with students to help them go deeper in their learning. In many cases they have not been challenged in their thinking for their elementary years so getting them to go deeper is a challenge for teachers. Mr. Johnson ended the article with this statement:

“Students and teacher teams focusing on learning deeply have the force to achieve learning beyond the traditional education dam and shoot out over the spillway to not only understand the torrent of available knowledge, but to also add to it in phenomenal ways.”

I know middle level educators are up to the task of educating students in a 21st century classroom. With ongoing communications with students, parents, and colleagues we can create the opportunity for deeper learning for all students.