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Since the beginning of this school year, I’ve documented our struggles with my nephew’s worksheet and packet filled 3rd grade class along with the hours of homework that he has every night. I’ve been so vocal about it that the backlash within my community has been somewhat obvious. There has been a major change and had it not been for Steve Dembo and Adam Bellow, I would have surely missed it. Please allow me to explain. At the end of connected educators month, I happened to click the link leading to a CEM Cafe where Adam and Steve were speaking. I have so much respect for those two that I was certainly excited to join the conversation. At one point, Adam was asked about his son’s worksheet packets which resulted in Adam speaking briefly about many of the same experiences that we were having. Steve, being the all important voice of reason that he is, made a statement that literally haunted me over the next few days. In a nutshell, Dembo expressed that not all worksheets were bad for kids and that some were even powerful mediums to help kids practice certain skills that they needed. The statement that I connected with most was that we shouldn’t focus only on the worksheets because there are other things going on in classrooms that are great. In other words, when we focus on the negative…we will almost certainly miss out on seeing the positive. I don’t know exactly when it happened but there have been small changes in Braeden’s class. In the last month, in lieu of a day full of worksheets, Braeden and his peers have been working in teams to do problem solving activities. In addition, two days a week the "homework" is completed at school which frees Braeden up to do other things that he loves to do. These two important changes are ones that I would have missed had I been only focused on the worksheets. By focusing on the worksheets, I also didn’t think about the concepts that Braeden was learning in school and how they contributed to his creativity at home. He comes home, researches further and incorporates those ideas into his art projects.  Kelly Hines, during her DEN Fall Virtcon, closing keynote reminded me of that. It’s odd that even as I heard it at the time that Kelly spoke, it didn’t resonate with me until much later when I "heard" Dembo and stopped focusing on the worksheets. After Christmas, Braeden and his team will do something that he has never done before. They will collaboratively design a math lesson to teach to the class. The "inner pirate" in me is smiling. (Yes, I gave his teacher the book) The more that I focused on the worksheets, our home conversations changed to just being about the worksheets. When I stopped to recognize the other  learning moments that Braeden was having, I was able to see how much he was growing academically and how much his teacher was definitely trying. My biggest "connected" change was due to clicking a link passed via twitter and then reflecting on what I heard. We should all do this more often. The change that stands to happen within us is the single most important reason to be connected.

I read a tweet that took me back to my days in room C105 ‘Ignore’ those that will not change. Not worth the time & effort. Pull up your school by making policies for your best teachers. #Educon — Adam Holman (@AGHolman) January 26, 2014   I have a problem with the "ignore those that will not change" part. Ignoring something doesn’t make it different and it most certainly does not make it go away. As a matter of fact, ignoring teachers that refuse to change does nothing more than hinder growth as we will always be pulled down by our weakest links…those that will not change. On a personal note, it was extremely difficult working in a situation surrounded by teachers who were stuck in their extremely less progressive ways. I was miserable, especially during planning where not one thought or idea had anything to do with reaching students in a personal way. Ignoring the issues that were apparent within the department were exactly what led to low student performance. Ignoring those teachers created problems among those who were embedding collaboration, creativity and critical thinking. I think that Adam meant well by saying that policies needed to be made FOR great teachers in lieu of those that are not. However, I think that schools will lose great teachers by constantly ignoring those who refuse to change as it can be a truly stressful environment. I’m not saying to NOT make policies for teachers who are doing what is needed. I’m saying to address those in the building who are refusing growth. If developing those teachers is STILL not working, like any other relationship…it’s time to revisit those relationships and evaluate their usefulness.

This past weekend, I was honored to meet and hear from some amazing champions of public education attending the Network for Public Education National Conference in Austin. Just when you think you have a grasp on this life of being an educator and parent, you realize that you don’t and that’s a good thing. I’ve never felt the "Texas bubble" more than I did in those conversations because we definitely share very different experiences. Don’t get me wrong, we are FAR from perfect in Texas and the sad part is that in most cases we are not informed or even involved which begs the question…WHY? When I first stepped into a classroom amidst whatever political drama was occurring at the time, I was basically told that I needed to worry about my classroom only and not those things that I couldn’t control. I am all about maintaining focus on the things that I can change, but to think that we have no voice…no say…is why we often times just don’t know. As a parent, we do a great deal of talking in places like church but very little movement to school board meetings and state offices where our "voting" words have weight. It’s a systemic problem of "hush and stay in your place". We do that very well. In a few hours, I not only understood my place better but I also have some amazing ideas about where to start…our broken system. Like it or not, there is a test and the results of that test weigh heavily on the backs of teachers and students. The system that we live in has truly become one that relies heavily on that test. It shows itself in the grade levels where students can be retained for non-mastery, the lessons that are constructed in order to prepare kids for testing, the professional development that is 100% given as a result of the test and in our graduation rates of high school kids. We literally live for the test. Many, including myself, have been often critical of teachers when it’s not necessarily them but the system that needs major work. Until your job and future are on the line for a 4 hour limit… 65 multiple choice question test (plus 10 field questions)… you don’t get it. For a moment, I didn’t get it and I lived it. I complained about hearing, "we do tech after the test" and "We can’t use that technology because the kids can’t use it on the test". I agree that it’s a terrible way to think but I at least get where that thinking is coming from. It’s the broken system…the stigma that jobs can be lost, students can be held back and schools can lose accreditation. For many schools, this is their reality. I’m not anti-testing. I think that we do need accountability but that accountability should be more learner driven and it’s not. I love that our state cut the number of test at the high school level but more work needs to be done in minimizing it’s place in what classrooms do daily. I’ve talked to many teachers and admins over the years that focus on students very well but I wish that this was something that we could all do. We should. What I learned this weekend is that I have to do better about not only my thinking but my approach in all of my roles…parent, advocate and teacher. We allow politicians into our classrooms by adopting a "teach to the test" mentality when if we only focused on students learning what they need and want to learn, that testing part should take care of itself. The question that we must ask ourselves is this… Until we can change the system, what can we do to support & amplify learning in spite of it… While we focus on that which we CAN control, what then can we do to change that which is broken.

The new foam animatronic hand On weekends and non-school days, I wait on my nephew’s facetime calls. There is typically a new contraption of some sort that he has designed on his path to creating very intricately designed puppets. Today’s facetime was an "animatronic" hand crafted with foam, wooden sticks and wire. If only I could’ve recorded his excitement as he clicked the wooden sticks between his fingers forcing this fingers of his new foam hand to move! The "eyelid" mechanism This is the puppet that will also have eye lids that open or close as designed by Braeden too. Braeden is creating things because he is constantly on a mission to learn. Through youtube, google search and now pinterest…this kid is using his own natural yet nourished "wonder" to evolve within his own creations. School work is what he is required to do and like many kids, he hates it. He does it in order to get to the learning that he loves. I can’t think of a single test prep worksheet that can possibly give him the skills that he is learning through his own desires. No, there won’t be a puppetry academy or even a career in designing puppets but there could be a path towards engineering. There could be some benefit to understanding research and knowing how to decipher the validity of sources. There could be some benefit to his application of mathematics in terms of measurement, proportion and problem solving. There could be some usefulness to his creative use of google docs to collaborate with his cousins on script writing. His developing of videos may just also come in handy and he is intent on not only teaching the world how to make what he makes but also in entertaining kids just as he is entertained. It’s authentic learning at its finest. But… He will be assigned a solar system to create. He’ll spend a month planning, designing and building it outside of school. He’ll even be invited to showcase his work along side other student created projects. While his project is on display, many will question whether or not he did it because they don’t know him. They don’t get the facetime calls. They don’t watch him as he researches, bookmarks, plans and creates with the kind of joy that is completely indescribable. There’s not a worksheet on the planet that can capture learning in this way. It’s interesting that the creations of an inquisitive 9 year old tell us much more about who he is and what he knows than any answer that he may ever bubble in. The design plans from the rocket made for his solar system    

I don’t think that I have ever met an educator or student who loves high stakes testing. Regardless, many will return to school post-spring break with a date in mind…the day of the test. For months, struggling kids have been pulled from electives for reinforcement in efforts to help them pass because passing can be the difference between moving the the next grade or even graduating. That collective score can be the difference between a school remaining open or closed. I have friends working in schools that are at that level where the state takes over and it’s not fun. The pressure of testing is real. While the stakes are high, we do have the power to refrain from ridiculousness. Below are a couple of terrible mistakes of high stakes test prep that I have unfortunate first hand experience with. 1. Mandated Tutorials for Everyone My nephew, a 3rd grader, is in the grade where testing determines his advancement to 4th grade. I’ve written on many occasions about the test prep environment of his school. He’s even required to attend mandatory after school tutorials along with every other student in his grade level, regardless of ability. He’s even been told that if he does not attend, he will not be allowed to go on the 3rd grade field trip and will stay at school to do more worksheets instead. Their hour long after school tutorials are nothing more than istation and think through math, two computer based free state provided resources. To add insult to injury, he is also pulled twice a week to go do more prep in another room on the days that he does not have after school tutoring. (I literally just learned about the mandated in-school tutoring and to say that I am mad is an understatement. Every student doesn’t go to in -school tutoring and he doesn’t need it. Why is he being pulled???  The only reason that I can even think of is that he fits a targeted sub-group and that annoys the heck out of me even more!!!)  2. Blended Learning Gone Bad  Last year, we had an idea to have students create an entire site of resources by standard. In after school enrichment, they were developing videos, interactive content and even a blog where they were sharing their learning. We called it ibluemath.com and kids were excited about it. It was their baby and unfortunately was cut short due to an administrative mandate. In efforts to reach every student, our idea was not only scratched but changed so much that it was a completely different project. Basically, the student created resource library that we were building was hijacked to be a teacher generated resource for all students to view during the school day.  Students were free to "learn" based on their needed standard with an assessment being their ticket to mastery. To be clear, this was every student…all 700+ of them watching videos instead of learning through active experiences. While this method did allow students to have access to instruction that they were not getting in their classroom, it was painful to watch because it went against everything that I know about student learning. This one still hurts big time and I’ve disabled the site since.   3. See it in Class but Do it During Enrichment I literally watched the most amazing inquiry based science lesson that I’ve ever seen take place on a Saturday during enrichment. I asked the teacher if kids were able to do this in class and her response was that they were not. She went on to add that they had no time and that’s how they got more students to come to school on a Saturday. I could not believe my ears and all that I kept thinking was how much those students could have been impacted if they were allowed to experience the lesson during class in the first place. I talked to a few other teachers at other schools and the conversations were no different. They planned "enrichment time" to be hands-on, active and technology filled but chose to give direct instruction in class only. Even typing this sounds ridiculous! Why would you do this???? It’s After Spring Break…Now What First of all, don’t use any of the above ideas that I’ve listed and if those were your plans, please rethink them. As you consider how you might review, I would suggest that you make it as student driven as possible. Turn the teaching over to students and let them do it. This is especially effective if students are researching to teach in areas of weakness. Let them create a board game of their own problems and play. You’d be surprised how well they incorporate real experiences into their process. You don’t have to do "test formatted" questions. Students will have a better chance at success the more that they know and are able to think. Don’t discount the power of that. Whatever you do, keep it active and give kids options that suit their individual needs. If the learning isn’t student driven, they aren’t learning…period.  

I’m writing this post with a good friend in mind who is an unbelievable classroom teacher and an even more amazing teacher trainer. This is the time of the year that districts across the country are creating or filling jobs of all types…especially in edtech. When you love what you do in the classroom along with loving the "bonus time" given to training teachers…taking the leap can be a difficult step and that’s okay. Leaving the classroom that you love isn’t easy and quite frankly, it shouldn’t be…if you’re doing it for the right reasons. I loved every single moment with my students and I am a better me because of them. The experiences that I had reaching such diverse learners carries me to this day. When the time came for me to take the leap out of my classroom, I didn’t think that I was ready. I knew in my heart that my time in C105 was over, but my mind wasn’t ready to change. I remember running into a former student and recent HS graduate…chatting about her path of pursuing her goals and dreams. It was odd that even as I gave her advice, it was as if I were talking into a mirror. As word got around that I was considering a move from the classroom, she sent me an email and I kept it. She wrote… "Ms. D., you were the best teacher that a lot of us ever had but we saw you as you helped other teachers too. Your face lit up just as much as when you worked with us. You had something that they needed and it’s time for you to go because in your heart, you know that you need to do it."  It was at that moment that my journey to where I am now began. I didn’t become a tech specialist because I loved technology.  I became a tech specialist because I love learning and I deeply feel that technology should be a natural part of that process. I also know that I have a gift in working with learners who struggle and sometimes that includes teachers. As my good friend ponders her next move and goes in and out of her head questioning her abilities, I have this to say… If you feel that you want to stay in the classroom, stay there.  If you want to work with teachers, don’t let your fears hold you back from doing it. Own your goals. Whatever you do, don’t sit there and allow yourself to talk yourself out of your dreams. If this is what you want…prepare, apply and go after it with a vengeance.

This piece stems from an #IAedchat side conversation… I need to start by saying that there is a big difference between an ineffective teacher and one that refuses to adhere to the vision of the campus community. When one absolutely refuses to do what is right for kids, that is so much more than an ineffective teacher alone. That is an ineffective teacher coupled with a slew of other issues including belligerence. I also believe that a teacher can be "ineffective" but also want to change but skill, belief and even motivation can get in the way. All of those factors can and should be addressed…but not through mandates for all which is where the following quote comes into play… "We need to make every decision based on our best people. Every one" - Todd Whitaker I fully support the above statement but I also know that in SOME schools…not most, not ALL…but SOME….campus admins twist the "Whitaker words" to mean that they only address the needs of the great and ignore "ineffectiveness" entirely. I even know one that says he does not even speak to the ineffective teachers. He has no time for them at all. Because…yeah ignoring a problem fixes it… Then there’s this…"Take action when the best teachers have had enough". To be clear, when dealing with an "ineffective + other issues" teacher, your good teachers had enough before the school year even started. As a matter of fact, when they got the letter in the mail saying that they would be forced to sit in a room with the "destroyer of all ideas", they cringed…cried…complained and also secretly plotted their exits from the environment. Most great teachers won’t complain to their principal about "the destroyer of all ideas" until they have reached their breaking point and should we really be waiting for that to happen??? (NO!) From an instructional coach… "Ineffective teachers need more support than I can give." (That depends on which type of ineffective teacher. One that is willing to listen deserves your support. One that is not willing to listen most definitely needs an admin on your side) As an IC last year, it was tough working with both types of ineffective teachers. We had PLC everyday and I was often the person that helped keep ideas alive because if not…the team would’ve been required to come to a consensus on lessons…ineffective ones at best. (Clearly this line from "Shift the Monkey" was missed because a mandate was made that all teachers teach the exact same lesson…at the exact same time…to every class. That decision had to have been made on the basis of dealing with "ineffectiveness" because otherwise it’s just a really bad decision for kids. Hello differentiation!) I spent a great deal of my time co-planning, co-teaching, modeling and co-reflecting. The known "stubborn" came around eventually because they were gaining something that had been missed…Investment. Relationships matter a great deal and you have to be willing to build. What I saw happen was a combination of engagement and compliance. I’m not naive enough to think that all were engaged, but the "refusals to change" did at least make a visible attempt and that was HUGE. I fully agree with the Whitaker statement and pretty much every book that he writes. I don’t believe that we ignore the problems because at best, you need a history of defiance in order to make massive necessary change on behalf of students. At some point, those "I refuse to do what is right for students" teachers need to understand that they will be asked to get off the bus…and better yet, not even be given a ticket for the next year. (To be clear, putting 140-165 kids in a class of a known ineffective teacher and ignoring that class entirely is wrong on so many levels. Creating a "recovery class" for those kids to retake the course coupled with 5 different sections of summer school courses that parents have to pay for is down right insane.) Trust me…I lived it.

When I left the classroom two years ago, I did it knowing that I was doing what I was purposed to do. That’s what I told myself anyway. I wanted to work with teachers so that I could impact instruction on a grander scale. For two years, I’ve proudly walked the road of math specialist and then technology specialist…never looking back. Until now…while reading José Vilson’s This is Not A Test You can feel how much José loves teaching his kids as the words caress your spirit from the page. It’s that deep. I found myself nodding in approval, smiling, laughing aloud and even crying as his words led me on a journey through his classroom…and in essence my own. I found myself looking back at the empty room of C105 and feeling each emotion that my students left behind. I was there as my José told me that he was quitting school while handing me the papers that I had to sign. I thought of Emilio, a hip hop aficionado/weekend drug peddler who begged to leave my room for a teacher who cared less…but then demanded to stay because he needed one that cared more. I thought of Porsche, who was and is a brilliant young black student…silenced by her peers that invalidated her thoughts. I thought of Jasmine, whose own mother told her that she would be worth nothing more than laying on her back. I thought of my privileged kids, whose parents questioned my abilities but learned quick that their kids were in great hands. I thought of my 12 ELL students who came to me speaking zero English but left me understanding Algebra. I thought of Koolaid, caring/misunderstood…now a high school graduate…that no one believed in…except the two of us. In 150 pages, I was reminded of why I wanted to teach. I didn’t have José’s upbringing per se, but I do have my own story…my struggles…my abuse…my upbringing. We are not the same yet our philosophies are similar. I knew the world that my students were facing and I didn’t live their lives either but I understood it and we shared a mutual respect for each other and what we needed to accomplish. We were a family because the relationship was priority #1. I loved José’s description of his "this can’t be life" days. It took me back to my first semester as a classroom teacher in a room full of students that had habitually failed math. I took over for a teacher who required absolutely nothing of them. It was a tough first few days. I’ll leave it at that. Even with those days…I LOVED being a classroom teacher. I LOVED my students. I LOVE my community. I’ve never missed my former life more than I do right now. So…why did I leave? Don’t get me wrong, I love my job but it’s not in the classroom. Being in and out of classrooms isn’t the same as having my own. I enjoyed forming relationships with my students. I loved adopting children year after year. They’re still mine…to this day. What I did not like was the other stuff that happened in schools. I didn’t like the back end politics and side talk about students. I wanted to change that and being in the classroom gave me less power in doing so. However, if I could help a teacher reach his/her students or even have some influence over policy…that’s what I wanted. If I could help a parent navigate the waters of public school and fight for their kid in my community, I needed to do that. That’s why I left. No, this isn’t really a review of This is Not A Test. This is a deep reflection of my own experience based on how the book made me feel. That, in my opinion, is why you need to be reading it too. You’ll feel something…question yourself and maybe understand a thing or two about kids in the process.

Last night, I happened to run across a retweet by Jose Vilson… This. All of this. —>> RT @ideaguy42: If we spend the hour ignoring #ferguson during #moedchat not sure we are doing our work for kids. — Jose Vilson (@TheJLV) August 15, 2014 I checked the hashtag and then I became what I will only describe as frustrated. While I do not think that Ferguson is a "Missouri Only" issue, it is IN MO and in my mind, if educators need to talk about anything at all..it’s Mike Brown…Race…Ferguson…especially those in MO. Because…Ferguson, MISSOURI. In every chat that I have ever participated in, there is a schedule. We stick to the schedule. When life intervenes, regardless of what that is, we stick to the schedule. All week long, chat after chat, day after day, I watched my connected community talk about everything except Mike Brown’s murder and Ferguson. It was Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis all over again. Because why? …We have a schedule. Are these things more important than the murder of unarmed black kids? All of these things are more important than a country still plagued by racial divisiveness? Ipads Chromebooks Google Classroom Ipad apps Chrome Apps Backchannels Flipped classrooms Gamification I get that school is starting but when an earth shattering event happens, we stop and we talk about it. I taught high school and you better believe that my high school kids would be disturbed to walk into class Monday and NOT discuss what’s going on in the world. I remember when one of my students was a part of a trio from our local gang that murdered the owner of a store, a father of a student in our school. We received an email to stay on curriculum. Don’t talk about it. Keep kids on curriculum. I taught kids from within that gang and kids who were friends of the girl who lost her father. We couldn’t NOT talk about it. So, I closed my door and somewhere between "solving for X" and identifying the "sin of angle A", my kids had a platform to speak. They needed that because it was real. It was happening. It was their reality. To ignore it would have been dishonoring their needs as students. So, yes…I changed my plans that day. If I were teaching in a class on Monday, I would do it again in a heartbeat. To be clear… Rich discussions are not necessarily born from pre-planned questions. Rich discussions happen when we let go of our personal constraints and just talk. We ask more questions that we don’t have the answers to. We reflect together and maybe we ask more questions. This is how we grow. This is how change happens. We do not grow if we only have the same scheduled conversations. We’re talking into the wind. This is noise. Change…Noise…not the same There is a difference. I will no longer contribute to noise. If you aren’t about change, we have nothing to discuss. If you’re wondering how to start the conversation…You can try with just starting like Jenna Shaw Also, this  and this one by Chris Lehmann because we have to talk. We just have to. RIP Mike Brown RIP Trayvon Martin RIP Jordan Davis  

There is this myth that change in education comes as we place more devices into the hands of kids. This statement is one that is both a truth and a lie. We talk often about learning not being about a device. It isn’t. However, access to technology is definitely imperative. Why? Simple… Access provides opportunities for kids to reach information. In the last few months, we’ve definitely seen why such access is critical as lack of access is blinding. That’s what it’s like for anyone without it…especially kids. Tools, as important as they are, play a small part when it comes to change. The rest? YOU, the educator YOU, the admins YOU, the parents YOU, kids The moment that we accept that we are no longer the key holders to all of the information and that kids bring valuable experiences to the table is the moment that change can truly happen in education because this requires a thought shift on one of the toughest mountains…mindset. I don’t know about you but I didn’t teach any brainless drones. Every single one of my kids came in with their own perceptions and perspectives of the world that they lived in. My job? To help them question…think…process…develop… Create…innovate The room numbers outside of our classroom doors are just that…numbers Learning is everywhere. All of us? Learners

It’s sad to me that some teachers still see technology as some "additional thing" that has to be done in addition to the important stuff of learning…you know, the "testable things". It’s also tough to hear "techies" refer to the apps and tools as the "end all, be all" to learning. At the same token, I live a life where the technology is integral and important and not to me, but to the children around me…the ones in my home who reap the benefits of my technological knowledge while living their own edu life of tech disconnectedness. Sometimes I feel that I live on this "middle plane" in between the dire need of technology access and all of the other things of education. We talk about being "content driven" and while I do agree to that, I also know that there is value in learning outside of content. We talk about not using tech for the sake of tech but there is value in knowing how certain technologies work. It’s not about the tech…but then again, it is. The other day, I sat with my 9 year old nephew coding the "dancing yeti" via Google’s Made with Code. He’s always shown great interest in all sorts of creative pursuits but NOT coding…until now. His thinking process was not just about coding in order to see the yeti dance but learning this new idea and wondering how he could apply it in other ways. His questions… Can I save this picture and do other things with it? How can I download this video if it doesn’t give me a button to download? How can I use this Yeti in my other projects? What else can I do with coding? Those questions were the reason that I created the TACKK below and also why last night happened. Coding Beyond the Yeti Last night, Braeden went through last year’s hour of code lessons for the first time and was completely enthralled in not only the application of learning but in something that I often hear described by Dean Shareski…JOY! Each completed task brought excitement that is typically reserved for puppets. It was as if each task unlocked another window of opportunity and it was beautiful to watch and experience. I was even reminded that when he was 4, we bought him a "Barney" that plugged into a computer. He gleefully said… "Auntie…I was coding back when I was 4 because I had to program Barney to say what I wanted him to say just like I’m doing with these Angry Birds. I’ve experienced this before and even more so in minecraft. When I make machines with red-stone and levers, it’s just like this!! So Awesome!!" That connection was made while talking about "If then" and "If else" statements, which he’ll come to learn as conditionals in geometry and I imagine that he’ll make some connection then as well. It was at this moment that I made my own connection…that sometimes technology supports the content but sometimes it is so much more than that. Sometimes, it’s simply for fun or "just because" and when that happens, technology becomes a catalyst for wonder. It’s this act of blatant "disrespect" of content where some of the most curiosity driven innovations were born. I wonder if I can find a way to edit this video in a way that hasn’t been done. I wonder if I edit this picture to be something else. I wonder if I can learn advanced math or discover a new way. I wonder if I can learn about this disease and stop it. I wonder if I can publish my own book. I wonder if I can write and publish my own music. I wonder if I can start my own company. I wonder if I can design and print a prosthetic limb for my friend. I wonder if I can create something that will change the educational experience for kids like me who didn’t quite fit into the "standardized box" of education. I wonder… In case you missed it…Technology, at its core, provides opportunities to extend, dig deeper, create and wonder. Every kids deserves this…every single one. PS: GTAATX folks…this is my essence…THIS