Cooper on Curriculum

10 Questions About a Student-Run #Edcamp

Typically in my school district, the last day of school for students is immediately followed by two full-days of optional professional learning for teachers. This year was no different. At the elementary level, the focus of the first day was inquiry-based mathematics. And, the second day contained opportunities for participants to dive into (1) Writing Workshop, which has been a focal point of ours for two years, and (2) Guided Reading, a practice we will prioritize next year.

For me (and for the teachers, I believe) the highlight of the second day was the two Edcamp-style time slots – from 9:45 to 10:45 am, and from 11 am to 12 pm – during which teachers facilitated conversations based on topics of their choosing (as long as they related to Writing Workshop or Guided Reading in one way or another). The idea was to provide teachers with opportunities to celebrate their successes, while also giving them time to plan for the future. And, much of this planning ending up occurring across grade levels and/or schools, which made this time that much more valuable.

While all of these sessions were undoubtedly worthwhile, Christina, a first grade teacher, arranged one that was notably unique. During this learning opportunity, attendees explored ways in which their students could create and publish Writing Workshop digital portfolios by combining apps that included Seesaw, Shadow Puppet, Doodle Buddy, and more. But, as much as we love these technologies, what mattered most was the fact that this session was facilitated by her first grade students.

That being said, looking back, here are ten questions I have about this student-run Edcamp.

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5 Ways to Promote Student Agency

By Ross Cooper 10 Comments

In my school district we adopted the five learning beliefs from Education Reimagined to help drive our district vision: competency-based; personalized, relevant & contextualized; learner agency; socially embedded; open-walled.

In working with these five beliefs, we must (1) have a clear understanding of what they mean, and (2) be equipped with explicit strategies to make them a reality. Otherwise, a vision is not much more than words on paper.

That being said, here’s the Education Reimagined definition of learner agency:

Learning that is characterized by learning agency recognizes learners as active participants in their own learning and engages them in the design of their experiences and the realization of their learning outcomes in ways appropriate for their developmental level. As such, learners have choice and voice in their educational experiences as they progress through competencies. Harnessing his or her own intrinsic motivation to learn, each learner strives to ultimately take full ownership of his or her own learning.

And, reflecting upon my work with inquiry-based learning and project based learning, here are five ways to promote student agency.

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3 Tips For Progressive Educators

By Ross Cooper 6 Comments

Over the past month or so I’ve had a handful of conversations with different teachers (from districts other than my own) who deem themselves to be progressive, and they expressed frustration in working with teachers who most would classify as traditional.

This type of friction between progressive and traditional (which I’m sure also exists in other professions) is nothing new, as I was first made aware of it when I started to attend educational conferences around 2011. Through private exchanges with some of the more forward thinking educators with whom I came into contact, I started to uncover a pattern; many of these educators weren’t put up on a pedestal in their respective school districts. And, in many instances they struggled to fit in, get along with others, and/or “win” administrative support. (Of course, there were/are most definitely exceptions.)

As a progressive fourth grade teacher of six years, I had administrative support. But, I can also say with confidence that I didn’t exactly fit in with all other teachers (including my fourth grade teammates), and often times I grew frustrated with the ways in which I believed students in other classrooms were being taught.

Looking back (albeit briefly, because we don’t want to obsess over the past), these experiences, some of which were painful, have taught me lessons that have helped me to grow as both an educator and a person. At the same time, as an administrator, I can empathize with progressive teachers who are frustrated with traditional coworkers, and I can also cite my mistakes so others can learn from some of the problems that I helped to bring upon myself.

That being said, here are three tips for progressive educators.

What’s Your Mantra?

By Ross Cooper 4 Comments

Not too long ago I headed to Chicago to present on project based learning at two conferences, iEngage Berwyn and the Midwest Summit for 21st Century Learning. And yes, this was my first visit to the Windy City, and it was long overdue.

Of course, as a pizza enthusiast (and probably, elitist), during some downtime I decided to make the trip from my hotel, Chicago Athletic Association, to Lou Malnati’s for some Chicago-style deep dish pizza. While we can debate Chicago-style vs. New York-style pizza (which is a waste of time since deep dish pizza should really be classified as a casserole), the Uber ride to Lou Malnati’s was one of the more memorable moments of the day.

After some small talk, my driver, Robert, told me about his journal (pictured) in which he asks all passengers to record the day’s date and their mantra. What followed was an unexpected yet intriguing conversation during which Robert explained the significance of the journal – documenting his legacy while establishing relationships – and the fact that he was already in possession of four journals that had been completely filled by previous passengers.

Without any hesitation, I knew what mantra to include (pictured) as these are words by which I’ve always tried to live (but admittedly, at times I have fallen short):

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Project Based Learning: Two Painless Entry Points #HackingPBL

By Ross Cooper 4 Comments

This past weekend, Erin Murphy and I were facilitating a discussion on project based learning (PBL) at Parkland School District’s Teacher Tech Con when this question came up:

I want to do PBL, but how do I get started?

In fact, since Erin and I published Hacking Project Based Learning, this is the question we have heard most frequently. So, here are two painless PBL entry points.

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Book Review: Cultivating Communication in the Classroom

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A few weeks ago I was able to get my hands on Cultivating Communication in the Classroom by Lisa Johnson. And, if you don’t know who Lisa is, then you should. She is an Educational Technologist at Eanes Independent School District in Austin, Texas. And, I have been following her work for a handful of years over at her blog/website, techchef4u.com. So, of course I was excited to hear her book was being published and she’d be sending me an advanced copy. (The book is now available, by the way.)

As my district, Salisbury Township School District, continues to explore the 4 C’s – communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity – Lisa has written a book that focuses on what she cites as the C that is often times neglected, communication. She adds, “While there are multiple books available to support creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration, very little content is available to support students with communication – the highest rated of the critical 4 C’s among employers [from a 2012 American Management Association survey].”

Considering the direction of my district (and education, in general) I could see Cultivating Communication in the Classroom being used by K-12 teachers when planning lessons, and/or it could easily be leveraged as a textbook for a communications course.

Lisa’s intentions mimic my thoughts:

The ultimate goal of this book is to provide a success-ready resource that will support educators with designing learning experiences that allow students to flex these communication competencies, while providing students with tools and authentic opportunities to foster the continued growth of these skills throughout and beyond their secondary education.

You’re Not Doing It Wrong, You’re Doing It Differently

By Ross Cooper 2 Comments

“All this time, I was doing it wrong.”

Since Erin and I released Hacking Project Based Learning this past December, we have been happy to hear from teachers and students who are benefiting from what we wrote. At the same time, we have received several messages that look like the one above. These are messages in which readers imply our book, and the #HackingPBL framework, is the one way to do to project based learning (PBL). And, since they weren’t doing it this way, they were falling short.

Here are a few thoughts I have on situations such as these.

Education Is Not Quantitative

By Ross Cooper 6 Comments

If we are relentlessly focused on the quantitative measurements of education we miss the beauty of learning #mlts #mltsfilm #edchat

— Dr. Chris R McGee (@cmcgee200) March 10, 2017

A few days ago, the above tweet was sent out by Chris McGee, a friend of mine and an assistant principal out of St. Louis, Missouri.

While these words can apply to countless areas of education, I found myself thinking about them this past Friday during a professional development session in which an excellent Heinemann consultant, Sheila, was working with my district’s elementary level on Fountas and Pinnell’s Benchmark Assessment System (BAS)…In short, the BAS is an assessment that’s administered to students, one-on-one, usually two or three times a school year to determine each student’s three reading levels: independent, instructional, and hard. All levels are indicated by a letter on Fountas and Pinnell’s Text Level Gradient, which ranges from A-Z.

Towards the end of the professional development, after Sheila had spent the time focusing on (1) how to find each student’s levels and (2) how to use qualitative data to drive instruction, she made it a point to say something to the effect of, “Despite all the testing, Irene Fountas and Gay Pinnell have always left it up to the teacher to decide at which level to instruct each student.” When she uttered these words, my thoughts shot in two different directions.

5 Ways I Screwed up (and Fixed) Project Based Learning in My Classroom

By Ross Cooper 8 Comments

About a month ago I was chatting with a colleague who was inspired to implement project based learning (PBL) in her classroom, took it upon herself to do so, and her first attempt at it was a complete flop.

While talking with her about what took place, she mentioned how many bloggers and writers (including myself) spend a lot of time talking about what we should do, but we don’t always reveal the struggles we endured to arrive at our current belief system.

Although I’m sure there are countless reasons as to why we should be transparent about our trials and errors, there are a few that immediately come to mind:

From my point of view, writing or talking about my past practices helps me to strategically reflect, which then informs what I’m currently doing.
From the point of view of someone who is following in the footsteps of others (my colleague), it is often comforting to know what we’re enduring is “all part of the game” and comparable to what others have gone through, and not just exclusive to those “who don’t know what the heck they’re doing.”

That being said, here are 5 ways I screwed up (and fixed) project based learning in my classroom.
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5 Lessons from Giving the Same Presentation Twice (at the same conference) #HackingPBL

By Ross Cooper 1 Comment

This past Monday at the Pennsylvania Educational Technology Expo and Conference (PETE & C), Erin and I had the opportunity to present on project based learning (PBL). While we had presented on the topic many times before, this was the first time the presentation was mostly based on the contents of our book, Hacking Project Based Learning. (Exciting!) Rather than walking the audience through the book’s ten hacks/chapters, we decided to take a unique approach by focusing on six main symptoms and remedies for PBL Paralysis (obstacles that could prevent educators from implementing project based learning: standardized testing, needing grades, poor professional development, etc.).

Following Monday’s session, Erin and I were asked (and flattered) to present the session again on Wednesday, which we did. Between the two presentations we took the time to revise and edit our work.

That being said, here are five lessons learned from giving the same presentation twice (at the same conference).