From Restaurant Table to Classroom Initiative: Personalized for Student and Teacher

Part Three: Personalized for Student and Teacher
By Michael Krill

As we continue development of menus throughout the year we are ultimately attempting to offer choice and opportunity to really establish what it is that we hope to accomplish as advanced learning outcomes, for all students. We want to focus on outcome goals and allow students to make solid decisions so that they can be more self-aware and really work on self-efficacy. With this said, the idea of using menus became very apparent as we continued to explore how to share ownership with our students. We as educators decided it was time to really observe what students are doing at all times. We were stuck with the dilemma of wanting students to work independently, in small groups, making decisions, and yet we still wanted to feel confident in the time used at any given moment. Our Goal was to have clear indication of what the students were doing during the time they spent working on many of the unique pieces offered during our Language Arts block.  

Using a menu with checklists, documented goals, agenda points, and a debriefing section all students are give real life decision making opportunities everyday.  Menu usage provided us the freedom to make sure that we understood what students were working on at all times. It also structured our week to move from what we establish on day 1 to what we showcase on day 5.  The framework we created as a means to address the procedures and learning each week falls directly in line with the use of menus as documented evidence demonstrating the steps taken by an individual.  The menus also help support the goals and processes used throughout the week to establish documented understanding and achievement goals.

The main purpose for creating MENUS was to allow kids an opportunity to make proactive choices, create a healthy plan, and showcase what they are doing at a quick glance.  We decided we wanted a way in which the students could  hold themselves accountable in a way that we could monitor. The MENUS offer a very specific snapshot of what students are working on and they also allow anyone else to look and know exactly what the student is doing any given moment.  This is a wonderful tool for conversations, tips, and collaborative opportunities. Our prototype provided space for a list of three things the student wanted to accomplish each day as they were creating a checklist to show and demonstrate what they were working on and the reasons for the decision.  We soon realized that the next step was actually to create a menu for the day which allows them to know where we are meeting, when we are meeting, why we are meeting, and for how long.  As we move forward we will attempt a matrix of menus to encapsulate a week, a month, maybe even the whole year.  With every venture, we dream, discuss, research, trial, document, tweak, and implement. We are just beginning to see the quality MENUS offer a learning environment.

Using MENUS has become very beneficial not only for the students but for the teachers as well. MENUS hold everyone accountable. MENUS inform us as to when we are meeting, where we are meeting, and everyone already knows what the expectations are even before the day even begins.   As students enter and leave the classroom due to circumstances beyond our control, the structures of the MENU allow for quick engagement due to the management system built into the procedures.  Instead of trying to get help from the teacher or interrupting another student to find out what is happening or what they missed, a student is able to quickly view the menu and continue following the scheduled agenda.  This is also very beneficial as we have other teachers that join us throughout the day to help, facilitate, teach or observe. Even teachers who stop in to aid with special needs of students both high and low can use a MENU to allow them quick glance understanding  and knowledge of exactly what we are doing, where we are doing it, and why we are doing it.  We use menus to really allow ourselves to be free within the classroom and know what we need to cover and how much we can cover in the lessons and materials in the given time and day.  Menus allow us to personalize learning for both staff and students.  

More to come from Goranson & Krill.


Tweet

From Restaurant Table to Classroom Initiative: Quality Meal Plans

The Invention of the MENU as a structure in a Self-Sustained Environment

PART 2: QUALITY MEAL PLANS

by: Michael Krill

The idea of menu was born after a visit to a restaurant with my family. I noticed that the child's menu gave many choices for main course, sides, extras, drinks, appetizers, drinks and desserts.  Each child could chose what they want and would each receive a customized meal.  Each meal was healthy, filling, fun, and different. Yet each child left the dinner "full!"  I had ordered from menus my whole life, but watching the kids order their own meal tapped into my teacher mindset and I could not stop thinking about how this could work in the classroom. I did research and found very little in regard to this concept. Therefore I just started to build and began working on sharing my ideas. Watching my wife learn code using www.code.org I realized this is exactly what menus do for students.  They give them the pathways needed to make sense of the “mazes” found in all subject areas. Thus instead of laying out the subjects in a one dimensional teacher led journey, we offer students the tools and direction they need to start at a point and enter a multi-dimensional labyrinth of choices, decisions, topics, and subject matter.   

I shared the idea with Emily Goranson and we began to work on this new way of approaching everything we do. We discussed the process, problems, dreams, and pacing menus can offer. Now one year later this idea has become a reality. We gave the students an opportunity to prototype some ideas concerning menus and the power of choice.  Students teamed up and began to build intentional models which could impact the current structures set in our schedule. After some collaborative discussions we streamlined the focus of the menus and created a usable model for our Language Arts block.  

The Menus we have been developing allow us to tap into the precious time that we have each day and we are able to harness every single second of that time in the classroom. However menus take it further because they allow choice and give students a personalized approach to everything they do. Menus offer many choices and they hold the teachers and students accountable since students are able to select what they are doing and when.  Teachers and students know where we are and what we are doing at any given moment. We are all able to be efficient and effective with time everyday. Because of the time constraints on a menu it limits the amount of time we can spend in certain areas and yet it allows us to really make impactful decisions and take a rigorous approach with the time that we have. No longer do we worry about time or management because it is all spelled out for us. Having a strict time management systems surprisingly allows us to maximize the amount of thing we accomplish each day.  We speak more effectively, students work more rigorously, and we transistion fluidly. Our job is to use the time and management offered in the menus and make the best of that time and follow through with the procedures that are already laid out in the pathways which have been established before we even begin.

This is an optimal approach to managing time and procedure when you think about it because of the efficiency and management the menus offer. Teachers are able to see what students are working on.  Students are able to hold teachers accountable and therefore we all work together in a very trustworthy way. No longer are we racing the clock, in fact time is now on our side and it also allows us to pay close attention to what is important and what is not. This leads to a self-sustaining classroom where everyone is able to work alongside one another in a very cohesive and collaborative way. Just like in a restaurant, we all grab a menu and select a healthy meal plan, so to do we have the same choices everyday in our classroom.

Tweet

From Restaurant Table to Classroom Initiative

The Invention of the MENU as a structure in a Self-Sustained Environment

PART 1: PORTION CONTROL

by: Michael Krill

When we think of menus our minds quickly take us to a restaurant.  What if you could think of a classroom instead?  As Emily Goranson and Michael Krill have been continuing to Innovate and increase the Adaptive Design in their classroom setting, this idea of menus and the way they personalize a learning environment has set a precedent for what classrooms in the future will look like.  As we consider the trends of gamification, personalized instruction, social justice, and accountability, the idea of menus begins to emerge as the way to offer ALL a plan for action in and out of the classroom. What is even more evident is the role the teacher plays as a member as well.


Let us consider the power and convenience of a menu. When we are handed a menu we have a chance to peruse what is offered and we can make choices as to what we want within the context of the restaurant we are dining at.  Imagine if you had a plan to visit a very fancy restaurant set up just for you and you could select any meal you wanted without worrying about the cost. This is the a basic principle behind the design of menus developed in our classroom.  We want to offer the best “meal plans” we can at the best price possible.  We want to consider the wholesomeness and sustainability of what we serve.  As each child selects their items for the day, we are confident in knowing they are being enriched and filled with the proper amount of vitamins, nutrients, minerals, etc.  Stepping aside from the analogies, we offer students District selected curriculum and Common Core Standards built into the pathways students are offered in the menu.  As we approach the design of the menu and it’s structure, we consider the value of educational material and the results we expect to see daily.  Proactive design and well developed infrastructure based on the standards found in the common core as well as the specific objectives and strands found in each core subject allow the “Menu Makers” (Us) a confidence in planning and delivery. We are pushing the structures of the classroom by beginning the task of developing menus to allow for pathways in learning. This is brand new territory and we continue to research effective models and concepts to help drive our innovations and adaptive design in the classroom. Most of these menu designs are cutting edge.  We have shared them with a few colleagues and teachers in neighboring districts due to a strong interest. We are paving the way for the future in personalized learning and beyond. Just as a computer programmer would embed code in order to command programs to respond in certain ways and make decisions based on statements or options of logic, so too can students use the menus to make similar decisions and achieve desired outcomes. Thus menus are organic and authentic Code for organic and authentic learners.


In a classroom time is precious. In fact time is essential to getting things done, learning new concepts and creating products. However we often fight for time and complain we do not have enough. Management (knowing exactly what every child is doing) is also a major factor. We want to manage ourselves, students, grades, subjects,etc. Often we are working to justify growth, organizing our lesson plans, and helping students to make it through each subject.

Time and management both work together very well, yet we can lose a lot of our managing skills and time if we have poor transitions or we are not paying close attention to what it is that we're teaching in the lesson each day. Even further beyond that piece we must create a system that is authentic and allows us to foster grow in student SELF -EFFICACY.  We no longer want students who are dependent learners, especially in this current time, we want seekers of knowledge.  This mindset can foster growth towards self-awareness, self-advocacy, resourceful thinking, peer coaching, and finally ownership. Therefore PORTION CONTROL is essential in how we build our menu options.  We focus on optimizing use of time and procedures in order to prioritize our approach.

...Stay tuned for PART 2 next week: Quality Meal Plans

-Mike

Tweet

Five Tips for Becoming More Digitally Literate in the Classroom

In this digital age it is the responsibility of a teacher to move away from being a Digital Immigrant, and become a Digital Native ("Digital Literacy | Websites For Teachers | DigitalLiteracy.US," n.d.).  Teachers must understand that in order to teach students to become Digital Citizens, they themselves must be Digitally Literate, Digital Natives.  The following are strategies for teachers to develop necessary information literacy skills. 

1.        Teachers must embrace change.

The very first thing a teacher must do if he/she wants to digitally literate is to let go of everything they know about teaching in the past, and embrace a new way of teaching that uses technology, critical thinking, web tools, “apps,” video enhancement, etc.  I’m not recommending that teachers forget everything they know and have learned about teaching, but too often teachers have a really difficult time letting go of traditional methods and it hinders their ability to embrace change.  “Becoming truly literate means embracing a new framework of learning that layers core content into a world rich in digital and media literacies that will help students become future ready graduates in a globally collaborative world.” ("Digital Literacy | Websites For Teachers | DigitalLiteracy.US," n.d.)

2.        Teachers must accept the fact that they will fail at this, in front of their students, and it is okay!

A quote from Success Magazine promotes failure as a stepping stone to success, “Society doesn't reward defeat, and you won’t find many failures documented in history books. The exceptions are those failures that become steppingstones to later success.” ("Why Failure Is Good for Success," n.d.) If a teacher doesn’t accept the fact that there is failure involved in becoming digitally literate, he she will not ever have a place in the classroom to try new things.  No one is perfect, nor does a teacher have the resources to make every lesson 100% perfect every time he or she teaches something.  In fact, sometimes the moments in which students learn the most are those “on the fly” teachable moments.  So how on earth would a teacher be able to have ALL of the answers ALL of the time when it comes to something brand new like offering a project in which students can use video enhancement for example.  They can’t!  And that is okay.  If you’ve built a rapport with your students they understand that you are human and you won’t have all of the answers.  They appreciate your effort more than you know!

3.        Teachers must empower students.

Building on from strategy 2, teachers must also understand that their students can become their teachers in this digital age.  A personal example that comes to mind is recently my students created a website as a showcase of their knowledge in mathematics.  I’ve done this before, and I’ve asked students to do this, but the difference this time was that I didn’t ask them to do it, my teacher partner and I simply made it an option as a showcase for learning.  Without me setting rules and boundaries and making an elaborate rubric, students had the freedom to try new things, and ultimately design a very effective website demonstrating their knowledge of the subject area.  Not only were they highly successful, but they taught me a little bit more about embedding videos into the website, and they taught many of their very impressed classmates these skills as well.  Now they are building website for each of our content areas and keeping the world up-to-date with what goes on in our classroom!  If we eliminate the power struggle, we can empower students to design, create, and teach.

4.        Teachers must increase their questioning skills.

Sometimes the best way to engage students is to ask a powerful question.  So what is a good question?  A good question is one that doesn’t have a “yes” or “no” answer, or a simple answer at all.  A good question has more than one answer, it allows for different perspectives to be considered.  A good question is a challenge that offers students the opportunity to use multiple intelligences to seek answers.  A really amazing question brings about even more questions.  Teachers need to “up their game” when it comes to offering inquiry in the classroom.  A powerful text that teachers can read to help in this area is Teaching for Critical Thinking: Tools and Techniques to Help Students Question Their Assumptions by Steven D. Brookfield. 

5.        Teachers must develop a PLN.

In order to become digitally literate teachers must participate in a Personal Learning Network (PLN).  As a teacher myself, I always find that my biggest challenge is time.  I always had so many ideas and so many things I wanted to try.  Little time was left over for my own professional development…that is until I discovered Twitter.  Now I participate in Tweet Chats weekly, and I share information with other professionals that are going through the same thing I am.  We share articles, blogs, links, videos, and inspiration.  I have learned more from Twitter as a teacher than anything else.  The ability to access information from experienced professionals that have “been there, done that” or that are struggling through some of the same things I am is very powerful.  Twitter works for me because it is very timely, meaning I can look on my own time.  Information is provided in short snippets and if I want to research further I can, when I have the time.  In order to become digitally literate, teachers need to participate with a PLN.  I never knew how many ideas were out there, and how easy some of them could be to implement in my classroom, until I met some of the wonderful people in my PLN.

Becoming digitally literate doesn't happen in the snap of a finger.  It is a process that will probably be forever changing, but as teachers, we have the responsibility to take on these challenges.  Our students deserve our best and at times it can be daunting, but good teachers will do their very best.

-Emily 

Tweet

References

Digital Literacy | Websites For Teachers | DigitalLiteracy.US. (n.d.). Digital Literacy | Websites For Teachers | DigitalLiteracy.US. Retrieved from http://digitalliteracy.us/

November, A. C. (2008). Web literacy for educators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Stripling, B. (n.d.). Teaching Students to Think in the Digital Environment: Digital Literacy and Digital Inquiry. School Library Monthly. Retrieved January 25, 2014, from http://schoollibrarymonthly.com/

Why Failure Is Good for Success. (n.d.). SUCCESS. Retrieved from http://www.success.com/article/why-failure-is-good-for-success 

New Years "Evaluation"

As a teacher, parent, adult and citizen I often want to make sure I can articulate new ideas and and better ideas to students and fellow educators to help push best practice along. With this said I really started thinking about the new year, 2014.  I want so much to offer not just good, but extraordinary advice to everyone who is willing to read. Therefore parents, teachers, and students alike I would like to share my thoughts on The New Year's Resolution:

Every year, we speak so much about the "resolution."  "What is your New Years Resolution?" we ask everyone from Dec. 28th to about Jan.13th because we all have been taught it is time to consider change and a renewing of the life we live. Let us consider a different approach.  I call it the New Years Evaluation. Pause for a moment and consider what you have been doing, and what your goals have been for the last few months or year.  

So often we are in a race to change or recreate ourselves in some attempt to do better than we have in the past year.  Why?  What if the possibility of viewing yourself as a well developed person is the better way of looking at the end/ start of the year?

Make a New Years Evaluation.  Determine what you are doing well, what you could improve upon, and what you hope to improve on.  It is not time to change everything you love and do, just so you can declare January is the month of the new you.  Really reflect on your strengths and current involvements and see how you can continue to build the loves and interests you established over the last 12 months.  See New Years as a time to streamline your life, goals, ambitions, and loves, verses a clean slate where we declare something new and ultimately may fail because we soon fall back on the life we were working on in the first place.

Embrace this new year with an "evaluation" and continue doing the wonderful things you have already started and put into motion.  Consider avoiding a New Years resolution which ultimately may fail due to the lack of personal interest you have invested until now. Do not get me wrong, a resolution is a wonderful way to achieve the new you, but at what cost and with how much focus and potential failure?

Take some time to evaluate what you have and what you want to do.  It is a new year but it is not a new you.  Do not forget who you are just because one number changes on the calendar.  I challenge you this year to evaluate and continue forward. Leave the resolutions to the gyms, banks, and clothing stores.  Truly they are the one benefiting from the traditions.  Be who you are and move forward wisely and in the direction you are already headed!

Really consider making a better you, not a new you.

-Mike

Tweet

iSolve: The Mathematics Revolution

At the SLATE Conference in Wisconsin Dells

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of teaching and learning!  We presented our approach to mathematics at two conferences here in the Midwest, the SLATE Conference in Wisconsin Dells, and the TIES Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  SLATE is the largest educational and technology integration convention in the state of Wisconsin and TIES is the largest educational and technology integration convention in the entire Midwest Region.  There were over 20 states represented at the TIES conference and nearly 4,000 educators present.  Needless to say we were honored to present and share information at these two conferences!

Getting ready to present at TIES

Educators from around the state view a video explaining iSolve

So, what is our approach?

We specialize in innovation and adaptive design.  We call our approach to the Everyday Math Curriculum "iSolve."  In this approach we have taken the current curriculum and enhanced it by developing and using learning menus and video enhancement to create a culture of learning that is self sustained.  Our goal in developing this approach was to develop a community of collaborators and problem solvers.  In this approach, students take a pre-assessment to set the stage for their learning needs for the unit.  Then they are given a learning menu that guides them with dates and times of specific mini lessons that teach specific topics and skills.  Students are also given the opportunity to self-pace through the unit at a pace that makes sense for them individually.  They can complete the unit quickly and "Level Up" to different real-life application projects within the unit like creating a gallery of their learning.  Some students have even created videos and websites!

A day in the life of a sixth grader in our class looks like this:  Students begin every day with a call to action video.  We call this our Daily Starter Video.  During this time students actively watch the video that walks them through the steps that begin their day in mathematics.  They review their learning menu so that they have an understanding of which mini lesson to attend, or if they even need to attend a lesson that day.  They set goals, decide on C.O.R.E. (Collaborate Often, Review Daily) Group Members to meet with, and make decisions about their needs for the day.  Next they transition into work time.  This is time for mini lessons, small group collaborations, questions, inquiry, watching video tutorials, and anything else students need to be successful in mathematics.  After this time we meet again for our Daily Wrap Up video, which walks students through a debrief and reflection of their day in mathematics.  In this video students create a Statement of Accomplishment and participate in a celebration for those students have have Leveled Up.

Watch this video that gives a glimpse into our classroom during mathematics time!

iSolve takes the traditional approach to mathematics and enhances it with real-life applications, routine and ritual videos, bonus videos, teaching tutorial videos, and live interaction between teachers and students, and peers.  Students have opportunities to watch videos to enhance their understanding of concepts and to interact with the teachers each and every day in school, and outside of school time students are encouraged to communicate with peers, teachers, and video through the use of Edmodo.

If you'd like a more in depth view of iSolve, follow the link below to an article written by Mike Krill that was published on the Association of Wisconsin School Administrator's Website.

Revolutionize Math Instruction With iSolve: Restructuring Authentic Learning for Authentic Learners

If you'd like to try iSolve, or talk about options for reshaping the way you think about mathematics, or any subject, please contact us for more information!  We'd love to share with you and show you what we know works!


Mike & Emily

Tweet

The Power of Peers

                         

Today students did some of the most exciting work I've seen them do all year long!  We've been working hard on our argument pieces, and students have developed their claims.  We are almost ready to begin drafting.  In my experience some of the most powerful work that students do is when they converse and challenge one another.

Today, students took their claims and placed them on a continuum to uncover what work is yet to be done to enhance their ideas.  It was amazing to watch ideas float around between peers.  They had respectful, constructive conversations.  After the activity, 100% of students said that they got advice from a peer that will change how they go about revising their claim.  It was great work!

Enjoy a clip of some of the outstanding conversations that our students had!