We're Down With HOC, Yeah You Know Me

December is a busy month, everyone thinks so. To ask teachers to try something new, something out of their comfort zone during this busy time is a border-line crazy thing for a person in my position to do. So, when I went into Pleasant View Elementary, my K-2 building, the first week of December, and asked them to entertain the idea of participating in the world-wide Hour of Code, I was a little worried about what their response would be.  I know teachers are busy covering all of the standards they have been required to cover prior to the semester break.  I know teachers are busy planning special holiday projects and events in celebration of this wonderful time of year. I know teachers are busy trying to get their own homes and families ready to celebrate the holiday. Yet, knowing all of these things, I asked them to learn to code and execute activities for the Hour of Code for which our district would participate.

As we all know, coding isn't exactly at the top of K-2 teachers' priority list. These are youngest students; still learning to walk in a line and recall sight words. So, when I began my Hour of Code PD session, I prefaced it with information about how the language of code is a literacy all children need to know. I shared that it may be the most important second language today's students can learn. I shared how as a nation, we are unable to fill jobs in the STEM areas with our own people, so we seek out employees from other countries to do so. In typical Pleasant View fashion, the teachers participated in exploring the coding apps. Some were genuinely excited to take on something like this, while others were a bit more hesitant.  I heard a couple of teachers say, "My mind doesn't work this way." but all agreed to participate in the scheduled Hour of Code for their building.

On our designated Hour of Code day, I spent my time visiting classrooms to see activities that I had planned come to life. All of the teachers worked with their children on these activities, doing exactly what I asked them to do during pour PD session the week before. During my observations, I found they all put their own style in the lessons, and some even added wonderful extras. They owned it! When I asked for feedback about the Hour of Code, the teachers were excited! All shared that they felt students learning to code was a good thing. They shared that the problem solving skills that students practiced while participating in coding activities were invaluable. But greater than that, all shared that this experience was FUN. Coding, fun? Thats right, at a time in education when teachers often feel the fun has been taken out of school, BAM! There it is. THEY WERE DOWN WITH HOC!!! During a time of year when many K-2 students spend the last days before break making Christmas gifts for their parents, singing Christmas carols, and stuffing themselves with gingerbread cookies, our PVE students are spending time coding. What's more, their teachers were asking for this type of instruction to continue in our classrooms beyond the Hour of Code event. That request may be the best "professional" gift I receive this holiday season. I am exited to continue to help teachers keep coding going with the little ones (and with our bigger kids as well), not to mention learning to advance my own coding skills. Boy, do I need some work in this area! I am excited to assist Stefanie with continuing with coding in our media centers as well. Want to see how Yorktown Community School students are exploring the world of code? Check out the Twitter feeds that are linked to this blog, as well as #ycsEDU.

 

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It Sounds Like the Hunger Games, Mom

I learn things every day by being the mother of two middle school boys. The most recent thing they have introduced me to have been the Hunger Games movies. Up until a few weeks ago, I had not seen any of the three movies. But, when my husband and I agreed to a marathon catch-up session on the first two so that we could go to the theatre to see the third with our boys, we instantly became hooked.  These are not the types of movies that I am typically drawn to, as I'm more of a comedy kind of girl. Watching dysfunctional society such as Panem can be a bit unsettling, reminding us not to take for granted the country we live in.  Perhaps that is why I was so surprised when my son, after overhearing my husband and I discuss the events of the last week's Indiana State Board of Education meeting made the statement, "It sounds like the Hunger Games, Mom." At first consideration I thought that my son had lost his mind. We were discussing a meeting that took place in Indianapolis, Indiana, not some fictional movie set.  There was no killing or no battle to feed the people back home. How was our discussion of this meeting reminding a middle school boy of the Hunger Games? 

After hearing his explanation, it was obvious that he first made this connection based on the vocabulary I was using. He heard words like "district" and "capitol", words that were used throughout the Hunger Games movies. This triggered my son, a child that knows nothing about our educational system, to make this analogy.  He explained that Dr. McCormick and I were like the tributes in the movie. We traveled to the capitol to represent our district. From our discussion he inferred that we were at risk of losing our ability to provide the citizens of our district with something we feel they need: eLearning opportunities. As a result, the children of our district were not going to get fed information when they really need it. Deep stuff for a middle school kid, huh? He went on to say that he bets even the kids in the Hunger Games can participate in eLearning days, since the movies take place "not in the old days". Ouch! 

As a mom, I was impressed that a child would come up with this. As an educator, I was saddened. Even a middle school student can see that there is something wrong with a system that is fighting over proper learning environments for students, rather than letting them be made by the people who know the students best, namely their teachers and administrators. Even a middle school student recognizes that districts should be trusted to decide if they are capable of providing this type of learning for their students. District leaders know and acknowledge our limits. We have to, as we work within them every day, whether folks in the capitol are choosing to pay attention or not. After all, it is the districts that are ultimately accountable for making sure the students learn, and that learning is evident on the standardized tests that they are required to take on predetermined dates. An eLearning option is the best way for Yorktown schools to provide this to our students, if circumstances arise that do not allow us to be in school all of the days we are supposed to prior to these test dates. 

The two tributes from Yorktown had to leave last week's ISBOE meeting and head back to our district before I was able to speak about the system we have for providing eLearning opportunities for students kindergarten through 12th grade, and how our teachers and students create and access digital content CONSISTENTLY both in class and at home. The two tributes from Yorktown had to leave last week's ISBOE meeting and head back to our district before Dr. McCormick could share the greater impact eLearning has on our district other than on snow make-up days, and how there is much at stake if we lose the ability to provide these services in a digital format. Rather, the two tributes from Yorktown listened to the proceedings on the ride home. Sickened by the fact that so many teachers, administrators and parents weren't even aware of the dysfunction of the system they entrust to make decisions on behalf of what is best for Indiana students. Instead, those involved seemed to be dealing one another Nightlock berries, as President Snow did to Seneca Cane. You Hunger Games fans understand what that means.  

So now we wait on those who are making decisions from the capitol, just like the members of the districts in the movie. We wait to see if we will be allowed to run our district educational system based on what is the best for our learners and our community. We wait to see if those of us who have be recognized at the national level for being Future Ready districts, are allowed to develop and execute innovative practice. We hope that our students do not continue to equate the educational system that is responsible for preparing them for the future to a movie about a dysfunctional society.  

While we wait, we sing...

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"PDG" PD

Thanksgiving is over, and it's back to the daily grind. It's the busiest time of year, when all educators try to cram as much as we can into the three weeks leading up to Christmas. For me, it is attempting to fit all of the PD sessions in that I need to in a short month. The part of my job that I enjoy the most is providing professional development for our YCS teachers. I guess I enjoy it because I get to put aside the paper work assignments that try to monopolize my time, and be a teacher again. Sure, the players in the game have changed. Instead of planning activities for folks in the kindergarten crowd, I now tailor my lessons to those who are a little more advanced in years. The most interesting thing about the shift in my instruction is, it really isn't different at all.  As a primary teacher, I had the privilege of exposing my young students to the ways of school. The content was NEW to them, the procedures were NEW to them, and the possibilities for learning were NEW to them. The professional development that I provide for my teachers is no different. I am introducing them to the NEW ways of school; NEW tools, NEW techniques, NEW expectations. Things have changed, and we are no longer teaching in the same format we did just a few years ago. I do my best to keep in mind that all of this "NEW" can be overwhelming to my audience. Teachers have experienced so much change and uncertainly in recent years. It is my hope that when my teachers come into a session with me, they forget the stress of all the "NEW" that is being introduced, and focus more on the fun of broadening their understanding and skill set.

As a teacher you often wonder if your students learn from and enjoy your lessons, as much as you had hoped. You anxiously await feedback that will reassure you that you are doing a good job, or even help you to do a better job with the next session. Every great once in a while a teacher gives you a little something that you hold onto for those times you need reassurance the most. My all time favorite feedback on a session came from one of our teachers who is less than enthusiastic about having to attend regular sessions with me. "Hey, Holly", he said. "That was pretty damn good." Those words were music to my ears, and ones that I remember with a smile each time I think about it. These words, all be them a bit gruff, let me know that this teacher, a teacher that doesn't typically buy in, appreciated what I was sharing. In these words I heard, that this teacher's time with me was well spent; he benefitted. As teachers, that is what we all want to know. Are our learners satisfied with their learning experience? Are our learners walking away from us with the ability to apply what they have learned? And perhaps most important of all, are our learners walking away from us with the desire to take what they have learned to the next level? This is the true test that our instruction and method for sharing has been effective.

So as I am planning my PD sessions for December,  I'm referring back to my time in the classroom, and remembering how those kindergarten learners were in the same situation as my teachers. Both crowds like to be engaged (especially this time of year). Both crowds like to walk away from our time together eager to have the tools and skills to apply what they have learned. And something they never let me forget. Both crowds like a little candy sprinkled on the table to nibble on when they are learning. That, my friends makes for "pretty damn good" PD. I'll let you know how December sessions go!

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