TRANSFORMING LEARNINGStories From The Field

Successful transformative learning experiences from the Ohio ARRA Title II-D Round 2 Competitive Grant Recipients. These lesson examples and perspectives were compiled during cohort meetings held at the Ohio Resource Center,

Columbus, OH and reflect 21st century skills and elements of project based learning for creating and sustaining engaging learning.

April 2011

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cohort 8: Last Will & Testament

Cohort 7: Educational Engagement

Cohort 9: Engaged

Cohort 10: Can There Be a “Rectangular” Trapezoid?

Cohort 11: Newsletter

Cohort 12: Mountaintop Coal Removal

Educational Engagement Spring 2011 Volume 2, Issue 3

Uninterrupted Learning at Several Local Schools

Despite Classroom Absence

Ravenna School District seems to have institu-ted a wonderfully inno-vative idea in order to alleviate the problem many districts are facing these days: student absence in the classroom—because of a plethora of reasons including illness, tru-ancy, or even in-school suspension.

Through the use of online Dropbox, Handout folders, and Student Shared folders, students are able to access lessons that would otherwise have been only available via paper explanations. This use of technology brings authentic class-room instruction to students who might otherwise miss labs and hands-on learning.

Akron Public Schools has even reported using iPad 2s so that students can be present in the classroom des-pite the fact that they could be on home instruction. In this way, school culture is being redefined as anywhere/anytime. Skyping could even be used to include stu-ents as a “member” in classroom discussions and instructions even though they physically might not be present. Akron is even looking into the possibility of absences supplemented by iPad instruction not being counted as a school absence.

It’s very obvious through these examples of “out-of-the-

box” thinking about education that we’re not in Kansas anymore.

See next page for an example lesson sent to absent students from her team science teacher

Coventry Local School Current Events Include

“Phone A Friend”

Kelly Kendricks reports that her U.S.

Studies teacher has adopted a unique

bellwork activity that involves a tool that

students use everyday of their lives—

their cell phones! It also integrates a

couple popular TV show formats from

WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLION-

AIRE and CASH CAB!

Each day she places a current event

question on the board for students to

read upon entry into her classroom.

They are encouraged to “phone a friend”

(or family member) to help them answer

the question.

Sounds like a good way to keep parents

and friends on their toes, establish

communication with others, and still

have them meet her standards! Great

idea! R-r-r-ing!

At Perkins Middle School, Talking Tom is just one iPad app that has allowed Spanish students to develop their fluency in speaking the language they are learning in class. As one of the many stations students rotate through, this enjoyable app records students’ voices so they can hear themselves speaking in Spanish. Wonder how to say “meow” in Spanish?

“MEDIEVAL JIGSAWING” USING

TECHNOLOGY AT KENMORE HIGH SCHOOL MAKES EVERYONE AN

EXPERT A technological twist on the tried-and-true pedagogical strategy of jigsawing in a Language Arts class at Kenmore has engaged students in learning about the various roles of people during medieval times. After researching just one of the citizen’s roles in a medieval village (i.e., baker, knight, serf, etc.), students then created a video with their Flip Cams showing the remainder of the students what the role entailed. In the end, everyone learned from an “expert” what it was like to be one of these individuals and how relationships and interactions with others many, many years ago happened. It’s rather interesting to imagine how students 500 years from now will jigsaw us, isn’t it?

 

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Borders and

Shading on the Formatting Palette.

On subsequent pages, the columns are of equal width. You can quickly set up columns of equal width by clicking Columns and dragging across the number of columns you

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Last Will and Testament of the 20th Century Educator

Of: Mr. Teacher-Centered Instructor

Date: April, 13, 2011

I, Mr. Teacher-Centered Instructor, a resident of the 20th century, being of sound

mind and memory and at least eighteen years of age, do hereby make, publish

and declare this to be my Last Will and Testament, hereby revoking all prior Wills

and Codicils at any time heretofore made by me.

Article I

Personal Representative

I hereby name, constitute and appoint educators willing to accept a new

transformative approach to education as “executor” to administer my estate.

Article II

Instruction Concerning Personal Property

I hereby expressly authorize my executor to give rows of

desks to my old principal who believed that a good

classroom was a quiet classroom.

I hereby expressly authorize my executor to give my

overhead projector to teachers who refuse to trust or respect

their students.

I hereby expressly authorize my executor to provide my stack

of worksheet to Rumpke recycling.

I hereby expressly authorize my executor to give my closed-classroom to the

Class of 1938.

I hereby expressly authorize my executor to give my bell system to Pavlov or the

fire department, which ever can be reached at time of death.

I hereby expressly authorize my executor to give

my heavy textbooks to the participants of the

Arnold Classic.

I hereby expressly authorize my executor to give

my attitude of “sage on the stage” to Rogers and

Hammerstein to be used in their next Broadway

production.

Article III

Residuary Trust

After payment of all debts, expenses and taxes I

bequeath any future property and my legacies to 21st

Century Learners.

These anticipated future properties and legacies include, but is not limited to

the following: Interactive Whiteboards for the purpose of creating engaging

activities like dragging and dropping into a Venn diagram, Google Docs or Wikis

to create double voice poems or for students to create a document at the

same time, Web 2.0 Tools such as Schoology for instant feedback and access to

information and Voki or xtranormal to summarize lesson content, increased

internet access (including cell phones) to have continuous access to

information, inquiry based learning for real-world projects like investigating sports

balls’ composition and coefficient of their ability to bounce and apply this to

their newly created product, project based learning experiences such as a

service learning project (such as cleaning litter, recycling, books for children,

supplies for the homeless) to connect to the community, the four C’s

(collaboration, communication, creativity, critical thinking) to promote students

to “plus” each other’s ideas by making products such as websites, public service

announcements on geological emergencies, walking tour podcasts, info-

mercial on various gaming systems.

This is to ensure my trust builds schools that are “student centered

environments.” These students will be entrusted to work and learn in a real and

relevant learning environment with 21st Century tools.

{Signed by Mr. Teacher-Centered Instructor}

I sign, seal, publish this Will and Testament, in

the presence of Technology Coaches with

Cohort 8, this 13th day of April, 2011 at the

ORC, Columbus, Ohio.

Thanks to funding for training and equipment provided by a federal ARRA grant, schools in Eastern and Southeastern Ohio are finding new and better ways to engage students in learning activities. Regional schools participating in the grant include Cambridge City Schools, Youngstown City Schools, Canton City Schools, East Palestine City Schools, Franklin Local Schools, Franklin Local Community Schools, Trimble Local Schools, Carrollton Exempted Village Schools and Barnesville Exempted Village Schools. The grant provides for extensive training for a team of teachers in each school, hardware and software for student and teacher use, and a technology coach for each school district. Teachers involved in the grant spent the past summer taking an online class, and have been involved in a number of professional development opportunities during the school year. They are now involved in implementing what they have learned in their day-to-day classroom activities. The new ideas that they are bringing to their classrooms have resulted in renewed excitement and enthusiasm on the part of their students. Seventh grade students have traveled all over Ohio to learn about different areas of the state without leaving the classroom. Welcome to Google Earth. Students are now able to use tools for measuring areas and locations in Ohio, such as the Fountains of Kings Island, “The Shoe” in Columbus, and Wright-Patterson Airport. Students have used netbooks and collaboration to complete math formulas such as area and volume of some of these locations. Information from Western Reserve Media has helped our staff look at opportunities to expand students learning. The following link is an excellent example that helped open the minds of students and staff -http://westernreservepublicmedia.org/measure/script.htm Students are able to use new resources such as the iPads to create real life model rooms for a home. Students used the Home Design app on the iPad. They designed rooms, figuring the dimensions for the size of the room, and determining how much carpeting and paint needed to complete the room. They comparison-shopped for the furniture and décor of the room. Finally, they took snapshots of their 2D and 3D rooms and then created a Keynote presentation on the IPad. These presentations were projected for the whole class to view. Eighth graders read The Diary of Anne Frank. After reading and discussing the story, both classrooms engaged their students in group activities. One classroom had their students do a Holocaust Internet Scavenger Hunt using iPads. Upon completion of these activities, students were instructed to decide on the best adjective to describe each of the eight main characters. They had to be able to support their decision by finding material in the story, after which they drew symbols for each of their characters. They came together in a group to create a poster of their symbols, to which they each were to contribute two symbols. In the other classroom students were divided into groups of four to create a magazine that would reflect that period in history. Each student had to write an article and create an ad. Together they designed the front and back cover.

A r r a T i t l e I I G r a n t

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COHORT 9

Think Outside The Box!

Carol Dodson– Mentor

Water Quality PBL. Is my drinking water safe? How can I find out? What do I need to know to evaluate the quality? In the past, students have had limited access to science experiments with basic supplies like test strips to discover water quality and to test PH levels. Now with our new Vernier software, hand held devices, and probes we can do any number of experiments. The lesson used to be an exercise to learn how to test water. Now, it is a project with focus kids can understand and it is relevant. Students

are asking questions like “What is the water like at my house?” “What do we need to do to make water quality better?” The 7th grade social studies class used distance learning on St. Patrick’s Day to learn about Ireland and Irish dance. Students were connected with Global Motivators and their speaker taught the students about Irish history, music and dance. The students were highly engaged as they danced and sang with the presenter. Several students also asked the speaker questions pertaining to his presentation.    Miss Crabapple no longer represents what a teacher look like or how a teacher would teach in today’s society. Miss Crabapple was the type of teacher who believed she had to be in control at all times. The class evolved around her. The saying was when Miss Crabapple speaks everyone else shuts up. Her classroom was the most organized with each desk in its proper row and her students were the quietest in the entire building (the least engagement the better). Her resources were books, chalk board and an overhead projector and let’s not forget the dittos. Today’s teacher looks and acts like Miss Allengaging. In Miss Allengaging’s classroom, she is always surrounded by students. Students are always engaged in the learning process. She is rarely sitting or standing at the board and her classroom may not be the quietest room in the building. She acts more as a facilitator than the traditional teacher. Her resources are the net books, iPads (all text books are on the Ipads) and Smartboard. Some teachers involved in the grant are experiencing a complete transformation in their classroom style. In one school district, a social studies teacher has dramatically altered his practices, from delivering daily lectures to acting as a guide to his students as they learn and present their learning using various technologies and tools. He is pleased with the increased enthusiasm and interest that his students exhibit, not to mention their improved grades.

'No problem can be solved by the same consciousness that created it. We need to see the world anew.' Albert Einstein

'It is today we must create the world of the future.' Eleanor Roosevelt

"I cannot teach anybody any-thing, I can only make them think."

~Socrates

Through the Roof Engagement!

NHS AP Government teacher put a new spin on an old lesson using technology to

engage students. The topic is bureaucracy. Students watched the movie John Q and

read the Timothy McVey manifesto posted on Moodle for background. He then gave a

brief introduction of Audacity, a tool students can use to listen and record, gave them

each a headset with microphone and let them loose. Students were sent home to

record a real life bureaucratic experience of a family member or friend. Student will

record, edit t, and present their interviews to the class. The class collaborated to

generate a list of questions to get started with their interview and fine tuned the final

rubric. Suddenly, the teacher became the facilitator as he watched the students

experiment with the software. There was rapping, interviewing, singing, reciting of

poems all going on as students eagerly put the program through its paces. Students

helped each other work through technical problems—the teacher just walked around

and watched amazed at their enthusiasm.

Cohort 11 Newsletter

The seventh grade students from the Piqua Junior High School

recently went on a field trip to the Piqua Waste Management Plant and to

the Water Treatment Plant. They documented their field trip by using a Flip

camera to capture the important steps it takes in order to filter water. After

learning about their local filtration system they then created their own water

filtration systems using real life materials or using various Web 2.0 applications

such as Google Sketch-Up. In their Language Arts class they created PSAs

using Jaycut and Animoto. Their PSAs informed the public about how the

community can help to keep their own water supply clean. After the students

completed their projects they created a video documenting the field trip

along with the student work and aired it on their local access channel for the

public to view.

Innovative Demonstration of Learning

“I touch the future; I

teach” Christa

McAuliffe.

In This Issue:

• Through the Roof

Engagement

• Astonishing Student Abilities

• Bringing the World into the

Classroom

• Innovative Demonstrations

of Learning

Bringing the World into the Classroom

Astonishing Student Abilities

Students in a 7th

social studies classroom were participating in a project-based learning experience titled “Pondering Plagues. A distance learning experience transported the students back in time to a peasant’s cottage in the 1400’s. Through student questioning, the daily life of a peasant during these turbulent times was revealed. As historians, society reporters, government officials and economists, students conducted research to investigate the effects of the Black Plague on Europe and choose a current plaguing issue of today’s world answering the driving questions. Through a presentation mode of choice student teams presented their investigated findings for both plaguing issues. A final part of the project was for each team to identify which of the plagues in their opinion had the most devastating effects on society. Students a Kenton Middle School are investigating why Washington DC is a great place to visit in preparation for their May field trip. The real world visited the classroom through both Skype and community speakers. Students learned about Arlington Cemetery and The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with Major McCreary, a former Commander of the Old Guard. Major McCreary opened the Skype session with an information then finished with a question/answer session. Community visitors included Commander McBray and Mr. Brimm. Commander McBray discussed his experiences working in Washington DC while Mr. Brimm shared his experiences during he Vietnam War. These insights bring Washington DC to a personal level. A question/answer session also followed. At the conclusion, students created a Wordle reflecting knowledge gleaned during the session.

Urbana Junior High School recently demonstrated their writing ability while showcasing their technology

skills as they researched political issues that were near to their hearts. The students then drafted letters to

their elected officials voicing their thoughts on topics ranging from texting and driving, helmet laws for off

road vehicles, to start and end times of individual schools. This type of project is typical of middle school

language arts classes across the country but the Urbana students, with the guidance of their 7th grade

teacher, Whitney Stolly, decided that they would email their city council, state representative, or United

States Senator. Before the students click send they spent a few days researching current law or policy

concerning their self selected topic, then composed an email attempting to persuade the public official

to consider the students point of view but before they formally sent their letter they shared their emails with

other students in their class soliciting feedback in an attempt to clear up any areas that were inaccurate

or unnecessarily verbose. The students also had the ability to have other students in other language arts

classes provide feedback. This opportunity was provided by the email / student communication tool

Gaggle. By having students outside of the classroom comment on their stories the students created a wide

range of opinions and gained a greater appreciation of just how hard of a job an elected official has

balancing all of their constituents varying opinions. Finally the students send their revised drafts to Mrs.

Stolly who provided last minute corrections and feedback to the students who then made the necessary

changes and send their emails to the appropriate elected officials. The students were extremely anxious to

hear back from the officials but in the mean time have been learning about persuasive speeches and

have changed their persuasive letters into speeches. Practicing in front of the class and receiving

feedback via digital videos have help create much more impactful speeches that the students will deliver

to the 7th grade language arts students. Stolly also plans to record their polished persuasive speech and

upload to the internet. Through this process the students have not only gained a better understanding of

the writing process, but also learned more about the legislative process.

Caption describing picture or

graphic.

Cohort 11 ; Volume1 Issue 1, April 13, 2011

Mountaintop coal removal: A choice between environment and economy? Royalties for this idea may be directed to Casey Wright, Jim Engel, Bev Riley, Mariann McClelland,

Kathy McClelland, Tim Curtis, Nicole Friend, Nancy Fry, and Judy Spicer

An interdisciplinary project-based learning experience

Share the learning objective: The choices people make have both present and future consequences.

(Grades 7-12)

Entry event: show images or video of mountaintop coal removal in contrast to pristine Appalachian

landscape

For example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW9dni4r9y8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GehK7Q_QxPc

Frame the question: is mountaintop coal removal justified as a

method of obtaining coal?

Encourage students to develop a more informed, holistic view of the

issue, beyond allowing them to get entrenched in their existing

opinion.

Identify long term effects of embracing or rejecting mountaintop

removal and actions we can take both individually and collectively to

address the issue.

Interdisciplinary connections:

Technology/Science, Math, Language Arts

Technology products students could create:

Voicethread, Glog, Prezi, Blog, Tagxedo, online surveys

Audience: local community, classmates, elected representatives,

another classroom in a community affected by this issue

Extensions: Are there issues in our community that pit jobs against health, safety, or environmental

concerns? What grassroots solutions could we implement and who could we influence? For example, local

recycling vs. use of landfill; logging or removal of other natural resources; point source pollution

How does this relate to your future career? What jobs will need to be created as society deals with this

issue?