Year: 2012

On Learner-Centered Education

Denise Krebs4 Comments
CC Image by Kathy Schrock

The state of Iowa has identified Five Characteristics of Effective Instruction. One of them, which I have been paying close attention to lately, is “Student-Centered Classrooms.” From the EducateIowa web page:

Students are directly involved and invested in the discovery of their own knowledge. Through collaboration and cooperation with others, students engage in experiential learning which is authentic, holistic, and challenging. Students are empowered to use prior knowledge to construct new learning and develop meta cognitive processes to reflect on their thinking.

CC Image by Clint Hamada

This is huge. Does Iowa really want us to do this? Do our state-mandated tests even attempt to assess if students have become learners in the true sense of the word? I don’t think so.

Student-centered education is not just another tool in a teacher’s bag of strategies. It’s a seismic shift from teacher-centered classrooms of the past.

In order to have a learner-centered classroom, I have discovered that I must be the chief learner. Until I was, I wasn’t able to attempt to cross the chasm that is between teacher-centered and learner-centered classrooms.

On a somewhat related topic, recently my students’ completed self-evaluations for their mid-terms.  I sent these evaluations home. My #fantasyteaching hope is to someday be able to send home only narrative feedback written by the students (and maybe me), along with NO letter grades. I think that would be worth +25 points!

One of the questions on the self-evaluation was: Are you growing as a learner? Give evidence.

Are these students getting it?

  • Yes, because Mrs. Krebs is teaching me how to be an independent learner.
  • Yes, because I’m a genius.
  • Yes, I’m much more interested in a lot more things like presidents and world affairs, and so forth.
  • I am learning different ways to learn like on a computer and by talking to other people. I’m glad we don’t just learn from a textbook. I am learning to change the world.
  • Yes, because we can learn on our own pace and independently, and I am much more able to understand the stuff we are doing that way.
  • Yes, because I am accomplishing more than I used to be.

Do these students need more time?

  • Yes, I am listening better.
  • Yes, you teach me well. Everything that you teach me, I use in reality.

Even more telling were these answers from this second question: What is learning?

 Getting it?

  • Learning is when we get new ideas every day that you didn’t know before. And you use that knowledge for the world.
  • Learning is when you enjoy your exploring in something you love to do.
  • Learning to me is a beautiful thing where you can explore the world of thinking. Learning is wonderful because, without it, we wouldn’t be smart people.
  • Learning is growing, maturing, and helping us become  individuals. It helps us problem solve in the real world, helps us think better.
  • Learning is being able to obtain knowledge in a way you are comfortable doing, so learning is finding out stuff you want to know.
  • Learning is when you enjoy exploring in something you love to do.

Need more time?

  • You get taught things that you don’t know that you will need to know when you get older and out of school and when you get a job.
  • Learning is what the teacher says and then you will have homework and then you do the homework and then your teacher grades it.
  • Learning is what we need to know in the future and it is what we learn in school.

Those last three answers made me so sad. Those answers are also making me work hard to help these students understand the concept of the learner-centered environment I’m attempting to create for them.

This move toward a “student-centered classroom” is a process.

How are you doing it?

CC Image by Ken Whytock

Blurring the Lines Between Author and Audience

Denise Krebs

When I first started teaching, I typed my students’ stories on an Apple IIE computer and printed them on a dot-matrix printer. I used the book-binding machine in the office to make books for our classroom library. We wrote letters to authors and delighted in their return replies. We had young authors’ days, where parents came in and read to us, and we to them (from our very own writings.) I talked to my students about my favorite authors and poets, and some of my students made my short lists. My goal was always to tell my students, in as many ways as possible, that they were writers.

These were a few ways I tried to blur the lines between authors and student writers, professionally-published books and pieces my students and I wrote. I wanted my students to not just learn English, but to know they were writers.

Fast forward (and it was fast) twenty-five years, and there are myriad ways to accomplish the goal of having my students know they are writers. I still do some of the things above. Except, now we write more blog posts and less hard-copy books in our classroom library. Instead of sending letters on chart paper to authors, we tweet them and share links to blog posts we write about them.

In the 21st century, however, there are clearly brand new ways to blur the line between teachers and students, authors and readers, producers and consumers, professionals and amateurs. As a result of social learning and the Internet, here are some of the new things we’re trying and the sweet results.

NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo for young writers was a delightful find. (More about it here.) Eighth grade students in November come to English class and know just what to do. They write novels. Right now, they are furiously trying to reach their word-count goals by November 30.

Usually all I hear in the classroom that period of the day is light clicking on the keyboard and a tiny bit of music coming from the earbuds of some students. (Writing fiction is the perfect time to listen to music!)

However, a couple Fridays ago, the students seemed restless and talkative. Usually they are fully engaged in writing — anxious to reach their goal. However, this time they were chatting away, but strangely novel-related. I stopped for a bit to listen to the following charming conversation.

“My character has been kidnapped, and I don’t know how to get her saved,” someone said.

“I have a kidnapped character too.”

“Hey, me too.”

“What’s going on? Do we all have kidnappings in our novels?”

I was ecstatic. There were more conversations going on, as well — pockets of authors talking about their craft, not about the coming weekend. They were talking about plots and characters and other novelly-type delights. — It reminded me of the write-ins I go to with a group of adult NaNoWriMo writers. We are all writers.

21st Century Readers

I teach English, which includes both reading and writing for the junior highers. We are not reading group novels, but each student is making reading choices ala Donalyn Miller (the Book Whisperer) and Nancie Atwell. We are keeping track of our readings, but we’re not keeping long reading logs with summaries and responses like we used to. We no longer take A.R. tests.

Now we share books with friends just like real life. We encourage each other to find books we love, so we can make progress toward the 40-book challenge. Some students keep track on GoodReads, and some prefer to write a list in their English handbook. Some listen to audio books. Some read on Nooks and Kindles. Every opportunity to shape learners into life-long readers does not go unexplored.

Connected Authors

The most interesting way that the line has been blurred is through online connections and interactions with “real” authors. These connections have certainly made me feel more like an author. When we connect with them online, somehow authors seem more like us.

Kenneth C. Davis
From a summertime tweet by Don’t Know Much About series author, Kenneth C. Davis, I set up a Skype session for my history class, and my class and Mr. Davis followed each other on Twitter. It reminded me of the Cisco “Welcome to the Human Network” commercial: ”…where the team [author] you follow, now follows you.”

R.J. Palacio
Author of Wonder, the wonderful and wildly popular book, which is on the fast track to becoming an anti-bullying classic. R.J. took part in a Good Reads book club. Funny, the concept is still so new to me that when I left the following comment, I really didn’t expect her to answer back. (Welcome to the Human Network! Remember, Denise?)

Kate Messner
The #TeachersWrite Summer Writing Camp, hosted by Kate, was an amazing experience.  We were a group that included professionally-published authors, wannabe authors, and teachers just wanting to be better ‘writing’ teachers. The lines were blurred and we were all members of the same club.

Joanne Levy
Joanne was a member of the #TeachersWrite Summer Writing Camp. She donated a copy of her book Small Medium at Large for a door prize. I just happened to be the winner. I was so excited to receive the autographed copy with a large set of book marks.

Later when I saw Kate’s and Joanne’s books sitting side-by-side on the shelf in our public library, I couldn’t help but think I was looking at books written by my friends.

Sharon Creech
All authors don’t respond back personally. However, even when they don’t, connected authors like Sharon Creech share a new side of themselves and add to their body of work on blogs and through tweeting. Authors’ work is no longer limited to the hard- and paperback books found in the library and book stores.

Those are just four authors that I’ve met on Twitter. Thank you to Joy Kirr for this whole list of other authors on Twitter you can connect with.

What a joy to be a teacher, learner and writer in the 21st century!

What are more ways you see the line blurred between professional and student writers?

My Brother

Denise Krebs26 Comments

In Loving Memory

Richard B. Reed

June 16, 1943 – November 13, 2012

On Tuesday evening this week, my healthy, exuberant, funny, life-loving brother died unexpectedly of a heart attack. It was a surprise and shock for all of his family and friends.

Of course, I’ve been thinking of him all week and the hole his absence has left.

I wanted to share some of my memories to let you get to know this brother I love.

One of my earliest memories was when he came home from college one day, and he and Paula were going to go to Disneyland for the afternoon. I was the luckiest four-year-old in the world, when they took me with them! With four other siblings in school and a baby brother at home, he chose me!

His entire career was devoted to law enforcement — starting as a military policeman for the U.S. army, and retiring as a captain in the California Highway Patrol. When he was in the service, in Germany, he sent home gifts, like this stein and little wooden scene, which came for my 7th birthday. At the time, I wondered why he sent it, asking, “I thought he was in Germany. Did he go visit France? This has an F on it.”

“No, that’s a 7 for your birthday”

I just thought they were wrong and quit arguing, but I always treasured this gift from my big brother. (It wasn’t until many years later that I finally got it — some people really did make their 7’s like that.)

When I was about eight, my mom must have asked him to teach us to swim. Perhaps she just asked him to make sure her youngest three kids wouldn’t drown if we fell in the water. He taught us to swim, not American-Red-Cross-swimming-lesson-style. This was pure Rick-style — throwing us into the pool at his apartment and helping us make it to the edge. I guess it worked; we’re still here.

Rick owned the only motorcycles I have ever ridden on. I always felt proud when he came over and took me for a ride.

When I was an adult and getting ready to move to Michigan to be closer to my future husband, he took me aside and gave me a fatherly talk. (My own father had died when I was seven, so he was a faithful fill-in.) His little talk with me included an offer to buy a plane ticket back home, just in case I needed it.

Later when I asked him to walk me down the aisle and give me away at my wedding, he said yes and wrote a three-page letter in response. In part…

My Dear “Lil” Sister,

I received your letter today. This is undoubtedly the first time I ever sent a letter back by return mail!

He gave me good wishes and guidance for my upcoming marriage, along with plenty of his signature sarcasm and ribbing, but poignant passages, like this one, have made me keep this letter for the past thirty years:

I love you so much and I would be so very proud to share June 11th with you and Keith by ‘escorting you down the aisle.’ Or, any other way you choose (excepting parking cars).

As for your other questions and comments,

  1. Fine.
  2. No.
  3. No, not quite as much.
  4. I’m glad for you, if you’re happy.
  5. Yes, I will.
  6. Thanx.
  7. See you then.

And here’s a note from Rick from my daughter’s baby book. (I really didn’t order him to write in her book!)

My own daughters have wonderful stories about him too. When they were very young, they didn’t get to see Rick and Barbara very often. However, they did know that Uncle Rick and Aunt Barbara were the ones who got them the teddy bear necklaces with a “100% genuine diamond” embedded in the tummy.

On one of their trips to Arizona, when Katie was four, they took us out to Olive Garden. We stayed late, enjoying conversation and a leisurely dinner. Someone ordered tiramisu for dessert, and Katie sampled a bite and loved it. She kept eating it until it was gone. Rick ordered her another piece.

Katie laughs about the time Rick threatened her high school boyfriend that if he didn’t take good care of her, he would come back to take care of him.

Last summer I got this birthday card from him. Look at the inside (and back, where he answers his own question) to get to know more about this warm, fun-loving man.

 

Back of the card, and the answer to Rick’s question.

The last time I saw Rick, we were together saying goodbye to our mother who died two years ago. As one of my sisters said, that is not enough time between generations.

We will all miss him terribly.

“I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:43

An Open Letter to My Pre-Service and New Teacher Friends

Denise Krebs11 Comments

Dear Friends,

I’ve finally learned a few important things about teaching that I’ll never let go. I wish I could have put into practice all these things from the start, but I’m offering them now to you. PLEASE spend some time reading about and considering these priorities in your classroom. And, even more importantly, if you are not willing to consider them, please get out of the field now while you are young and can still find meaningful work. We need only the best teachers for the work that needs to be done in education.

Today, I offer these four priorities:

Bring whimsy.

Laugh and invite your students to laugh. What teachers do you remember? I remember a few of the crabby teachers who made life miserable for students. I don’t think I remember the insipid teachers who didn’t care. However, I do remember many warm teachers I loved, the teachers who loved life, loved me, and were just pleasant to be around.

I was excited when I found my name on the class list of Mrs. Rhodes, the “best” first grade teacher. (Even at that age, we all knew who was best.)  To our delight, this grey-haired lady did things to surprise us and make us smile, like pulling out of the closet a giant plastic Tweetie Bird mask to wear in our Halloween parade.

I have images of Mr. Golji folded in half with laughter, snorting. I don’t remember why he laughed, but I know his love for life was contagious to us normally cynical eighth graders.

Mr. Thornburg, goofy high school business teacher, delighted in making us laugh with his quiet and silly antics.

I do know those teachers didn’t laugh at the expense of other people. They laughed with us and often at themselves.

Make your classroom a fun and safe place to be, and don’t forget to give them opportunities to laugh at you.

Recognize your colleagues.

Your fellow teachers are your colleagues. You will learn much from them. You will laugh and cry with them. Make friends with the positive ones. Don’t get bogged down with the negative ones. But work collegially with all of them.

However, you have colleagues far beyond the teachers you work with in your district. You have more colleagues than you could ever count in the wonderful world of your online Personal Learning Network. (If you haven’t met them yet, join Twitter and give it time to make connections. Twitter is not an end — it’s a means to find and get to know your friendly and helpful, yet distant, colleagues.)

Your administrators are on your team, and they are your colleagues in casting vision for what is important for students. (In my experience, administrators are not autocrats, most want to work WITH you, not above you.)

Most importantly, your students are your colleagues in learning. Work collegially with them, which is defined as “the power and authority vested equally among colleagues.” Learn WITH your students; don’t just try to give them knowledge, which brings me to the next priority…

Be chief learner.

You must be the chief learner, learning every day. Let your students see you learn. Say “I don’t know” often. Say “Let’s find out!” and “Look what I learned!” MORE often.

Do not begin to think that you have already learned enough content and teaching strategies to carry you through a career. You don’t know much. (I don’t either.)

If you do think you are done learning, please just leave teaching now. We do not need any know-it-all teachers who think professional development is a waste of their precious time.

At this critical time in education, we need lifelong learners who relish opportunities to become better at their craft and grow in their understanding of the world. If you love to learn and are never satisfied, we need you to join this precious club called education!

Find and nourish genius.

Find and nourish your students’ genius. I could write a book about this one, and many people have. Please know that all your students are lovable, capable, creative, amazing, talented, gifted geniuses. THEY. ARE. RIGHT. NOW. Each of them.

You need to get to know what makes them tick, what floats their boat, trips their trigger, tickles their fancy, flips their pancakes, razzles their berries, tosses their salad, flies their kite, sizzles their bacon, bakes their cake, lights their candle, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera! (OK, I’ll stop with the bad metaphors.)

Everyone loves to learn something, and you must invite your students to learn the things they are passionate about as often as possible.

I am finally passionate and unwavering about these priorities in education, and, if you haven’t already, I pray you will study and learn these and other important educational priorities.

Here are some experts I’ve read and watched (search for them on YouTube) who have helped me grow:

What do you know? The following link came in a tweet today: Ten of the Best Ted Talks on Improving Education. So I’ll check those out later. Always, always, always learn…Please join me!

Sincerely,

Denise Krebs

P.S. To my PLN, what other priorities have I not listed?

ITEC 2012

Denise Krebs6 Comments

Connected educator. Leader. Learner. Colleague of my students.

My life as an educator has changed dramatically over the past two years. One of the ways can be illustrated in my experience with ITEC, which is Iowa Technology and Education Connection, a conference held each October.

2010 – Brenda and Mary went to ITEC and came back telling me all the exciting things they had learned about connectedness, Twitter, blogging, and more. “What’s ITEC?” I asked. They explained.

2011 – The next year, I was anxious to go myself to learn more about this new connected educator I was becoming. I wrote about Day 1 and, several months later, Day 2.

2012 – This year, I went back to ITEC, excited to learn more, but I also decided to contribute. I signed up to lead a session about genius hour, where students are given time and autonomy to learn, create, and produce something meaningful to them.

I suppose it was because of my interests, but each session I attended (except “Bringing History to Life Workshop” by Karen Lampe) included some reference to genius hour learning.

I went to ITEC for just one day this year because I had committed to present on Tuesday at Northwest Iowa Reading Council on being a connected educator. (Remind me not to present two days in a row again–for a while, at least!)

I am thankful for the professional development opportunities that my school gives me, like the chance to go to ITEC and other conferences.

It’s hard to explain, but ITEC and other PD experiences have helped make me more connected and a willing leader, given me a renewed love for learning, and led me to develop a collegial partnership of learning with my students.

I am profoundly grateful for the journey I’m on!

Precious Water

Denise Krebs11 Comments

Monday was Blog Action Day! I want to call attention to hipporollers, which easily transport 24 gallons of precious water.

In church on Sunday, we focused on the preciousness of water and how we who have can help those who don’t have enough clean water.

 

We had beautiful, clean water decorating the pulpit, yet more than three million people die each year because they don’t even have clean water to drink.

Children practiced carrying and rolling a five-gallon bottle of water. “Imagine if you had to carry this water all the way from the Floyd River!?” the children were asked. It seemed impossible. The hipporollers will help.

This month we will collect money to buy hipporollers for the Maasai people in Kenya.

All the photos of hipporollers above are from this collection by Project H Designs: Hipporollers.

Update:

Global Cardboard Challenge

Denise Krebs9 Comments

Seventh graders created cardboard creations in science. My favorites were the crane and the catapult, but everyone had fun and learned a thing or two.

Watch Caine’s Arcade, the sequel, which tells about the Imagination Foundation, created to Find, Fund, and Foster creativity and entrepreneurship. Tomorrow is the first annual Global Cardboard Challenge.

Caine’s Arcade, Video 1