My 90-day Resolution

Yup, you read that correctly- it's a 90-day resolution. I'm not really interested in (or capable of) committing an entire year to much of anything, so I'm keeping my resolution at a manageable timeframe. Here is my four-part plan:

1. Spiritual growth: I will be following YouVersion's Bible in 90 Days plan. I have never read every part of the Bible. Now is the time. It is a bit of a commitment, but on the flip side, it's only 90 days!
2. Physical growth: I'm 31 and I have a gut, my back hurts, and I get winded playing with my little girls. Not for long. Over the next 90 days I am committing to P90X. I have started it a couple of times, but only once with the plan of finishing it. (I tore my triceps on the first day so that didn't last long.) Again, this is a big commitment, but will only last 90 days.
3. Nutritional growth: I eat poorly. For the next 90 days I will not have soda or dessert. I will make healthy choices for meals. Only exception is for Colts games, when I will allow myself to eat whatever I choose. :-)
4. Financial growth: I have always been a spender and it's frustrating. For the next 90 days I will not spend on anything I don't need. No eating out except for gift cards or with my parents. I will not buy a funny t-shirt or even rent a RedBox.

The reward: Conveniently, the 90th day will be Monday, April 1st (no foolin'!). This is the beginning of an entire week off for Spring Break at my school. To reward myself, Allison and I will be going somewhere, just the two of us, to celebrate.

That's it. As Tony says in P90X- "Bring it."

Why I do it...

This was my view tonight, sitting at a red light with my two daughters quietly sitting in the back seat, listening to Disney songs on the way home from my day at school and picking them up from the sitter.

My thoughts weren't on "Be Prepared", even though it is one of my favorites from The Lion King. My thoughts were simple: Why do I do it? I looked at the car next to me and I couldn't tell if the lady driving it was bobbing her head to the music or trying to stay awake. I shared the feeling with her- like I was mindlessly heading home almost as though it is programmed into my very nature. It was about quarter til six and already dark, and my thoughts weren't sunny, either.

So why do I go to work. Why do I labor until 5, when school is out before 3? Why do I stay after to participate in a webinar for the DOE? Does it even matter? I mean who really cares about my Twitter presence or how I use it to grow my PLN, other than those twenty or so people who listened to the webinar? Most people don't.

After a nice dinner with a friend and her new baby, I check said Twitter feed and see another teacher sharing similar thoughts. You can read his here. My thoughts turn to something I read from a student a couple weeks back. For conferences each year, students select a piece of work from each subject area to share with their parents. They attach the sheet you see below to the work and explain why they chose it. Here is what one of my students wrote:

This is why I do it. This is why I have worked so hard this year to leave the "sage on the stage" role and become the "guide on the side." I have spent hours and hours creating my curriculum on My Big Campus so I can spend class time working with students. I want to teach them, not lecture them. I want them to embrace learning by fixing mistakes. This note was exactly what I needed today. No matter how I might question myself at times, I know that I'm teaching students how to learn and to enjoy the process.

That, my friends, is why I do it. And it is kids like this one who care that I do.

DVR: Who's in control???

A couple months ago we gave up cable TV and our (gasp!) DVR. Since then, I've learned that the TV had been controlling me, and it may be controlling you, too.



ESPN, you wonderful home to everything sports. How could I ever live without you??? Every guy that I have spoken to about this asks me something along this line; I asked it of myself when starting to consider this plan. After finally going through with ditching cable I have come to realize that I don't miss it nearly as much as I thought, and I'm certain my family doesn't.

Before, in the days of DVR and cable, I would pretty much sit down and watch football all day on Saturday, all day on Sunday, and stay up late on Monday nights. I watched many games (particularly football) and shows that I didn't care at all about; I just love football.

I love my family more.

My football sweetheart is first and foremost the Indianapolis Colts. I'm a season ticket holder, own more than enough Colts clothing, and even have a Colts-themed basement. I can still watch every Colts game- FREE! It just so happens that TV stations still broadcast over the good 'ol antenna. Plus, it's in hi-def. (FYI- Thursday Night games are broadcast on the local markets' local station in addition to the NFL Network, so I could watch those games.)

What I've lost:

• Sitting in my recliner all day on the weekends.
• Staying up much too late on Monday nights.
• My cable bill.

The biggest lesson I have learned through getting rid of TV is that I don't actually miss it at all. I still have ways to watch a show if I really want to, but I find myself enjoying much more meaningful entertainment like my daughters' giggles. 

Cable companies sell you on the control you get to "enjoy" with DVR, but TV may actually be controlling you. Get off the couch and enjoy yourself!

I'm a Quitter and You Should Be Too.

No. It's such a simple word and it's so easy to say. Kids learn it way before they learn yes. Then why is it that we are such "yes" people?

When I was in college I was in a fraternity and became very popular at one point. I was active with several other groups on campus and was a leader. I was a "yes" man. Yes- I can do that. And that. And that. And that... It got to the point where the conversations I had with people I ran into on campus weren't about sports, weather, politics, or anything usual but simply became a chance to share just how busy you were. Things aren't much different now, either.

In the world of education, you must be all things at all times to all people. Grades are expected instantaneously, email and phone communication must be done immediately. There are so many things expected of a teacher at school it is impossible to do it all!

For 7 years I coached three sports, led the school's FCA program, volunteered at church, served on committees, and still attempted to be a good husband, father, friend, and employee.
 
Never again.

I will never spread myself so thin that everything I do gets only a small sliver of me. I will never say yes because it will please someone else while hurting me.

I will say no.

Say it with me: "No." It's easy, and oh so freeing. What's that you say? Kids in Center Grove play 4 sports at a time and have games every day all year round? Mine won't. Parents are supposed to work long hours and volunteer at clubs or church? Not if it gets in the way of my family.

I have said no. I am a quitter. I quit coaching two of the three sports and plan to quit the other next year. I quit leading FCA. I quit volunteering weekly at church. I have more quitting to do, too.

Try it.

Right now, today. What is getting in your way? You have something taking up time you don't want to give. Quit. Do something valuable with your time. Go swing your kids. Snuggle and read a book. Exercise. Cook dinner with your spouse. Live your life on purpose, not on schedule.

I dare you.

What if students did all the work?

This year I have set up my classroom to reflect a little of the Flipped Classroom model. It makes sense to me to have students do their work when they are at school and can ask me questions. So here's what a math class looks like to my students:

This is how they start class:

Once at their seats, they input the answers from the previous day's work into their clicker (which I monitor so I can work with students who are struggling), do an online math fundamentals activity, and then preview the day's lesson on My Big Campus. They take notes in their Interactive Notebooks over videos and PowerPoint files within MBC and then I give a small lesson. Then they practice! Here is what things look like on MBC:

 

I think I'm on to something here, but I'm only getting started. It takes work to locate or create video tutorials for each lesson, create a presentation, make an assignment, and then combine it on My Big Campus in a bundle.

I once read a book titled "Never Work Harder Than Your Students" but I feel as though I still am. I'm really good at sixth grade math now, so why am I still working so hard at it? It's time to delegate!

Why couldn't students investigate online content to help teach others a concept? Why couldn't they start to identify the subtle difference between multiplying 0.4 x 0.6 and multiplying 0.4 x .006? Why can't they create their own tutorial videos? Presentations? Assignments? Assessments? MBC could be used as their own digital portfolio demonstrating all that they know.

Will I be brave (or crazy) enough to even attempt this? What about my little guys who don't want to write a complete sentence? How will I be able to get them to create step-by-step instructions on how to add mixed numbers with unlike denominators, when they don't even know how yet?

This could be crazy. This could be the greatest teaching of my career. This could fail miserably.

Let's do it. I'm not afraid of failing.

6 Reasons I Heart Teacher Evaluations

It's true. I love evaluations. As a kid, I loved tests- I loved the challenge of trying to get each and every problem correct. Never once did I think about failing. So I have to admit, I love the new teacher evaluation system that is being put into place in my school district. Here's why:

1. I want to improve. This is how I am at everything. Maybe I'm weird, but I always want to get better. I want to lift heavier weights, overcome my latest parenting mistake, shoot better in basketball, keep my house straighter, and yeah- be a better teacher. I want to have better lessons, more authentic learning, and provide more useful feedback for students. I think I'm already a good teacher, but 'good' isn't something to aspire to.
2. I want to be held accountable. I have an "accountability partner" for my everyday life that I meet with every Monday. He cares when I screw up and calls me out. When I think about doing something that is dumb, I often think about having to tell him. Usually that keeps me in line. My administrators should do that too. It's not because they don't like me- quite the opposite, really- they want me to be the best teacher I can be.
3. I want to show my students how to improve. I want my kids to improve and I hold them accountable for being a student. As a teacher I should model how to do that. I expect my students to respond to evaluations I give by improving themselves. Now they will have a model to follow in this area.
4. I want to work with amazing teachers. First off it's important to note that I already do. My circle of "teacher friends" from my school district include some unbelievable educators. Most of the teachers I work with are really good, but they aren't great. Yet. Just like me, I want to move from good to great. Already I've seen teachers in my building quit or cut back extra-curricular activities, come in earlier (one might even say "on time"), and be more assertive, prepared, and productive in our meetings that don't have adminstrators present.
5. I want my work to be acknowledged. 7 and 7. I have worked 7 years in my same position and have 7 evaluations to my name. (That's 4 in years 1-2, 3 in years 3-5, and 0 since.) I work hard and do great things in my classroom. My adminstrators should know about it and acknowledge it. Stop in, tell me I'm doing a good job, thank me for the hard work and time I've invested.
6. I want someone to care. Have you ever felt that you can pretty much do whatever you want once you close your door and it's just you and your students? I have. I would much prefer to know that someone cares enough about me and the students to come in and verify that I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. Imagine if I treated students this way- I'm going to assume that everything is going right until one of their parents contact me. That would never work! 

Is the evaluation system perfect? No. And neither am I so I'll deal with it. Should our pay be based on these evaluations? That's another post all its own!

I want to be a great teacher. I want someone to show me where I can improve. I want to be evaluated.

Parenting Like an Olympian

Here I stand, in sweatpants and a sleeveless tee, standing guard at my own bedroom door. Silent and stoic I refuse to give in. But it's 1:45am and I'm tired. My opponent is giving it their all. It's the turning point in the game. The next moments are crucial to victory and both sides feel it.

Me vs. 3-year-old. For the gold.

Lilly, my eldest of two daughters, has spent the last week basically refusing to sleep at night. She fears us being gone, especially mommy. And Allison is tired. So tired. The kind of tired you can see in her face and hear in her voice. It's time for me to rescue my damsel. My task: let her sleep.

We've tried reasoning with Lilly, threatening her with turning her toddler bed back to a crib, and even putting a baby gate at her door. Tonight's method: putting her back in her bed without saying a word, as many times as necessary. It's a plan that should work in the long run, but may take time to take effect.

I didn't anticipate the kid's fortitude.

At bed time it took about an hour and putting her back in her bed more times than I could count. She finally succumbed to sleep around 9:40. She was up again at 10:45, 12:40, 1:45, and sometime again later. At 1:45 I wasn't sure if I could stay with the plan. I wanted to speak, to say something to her to tell her how tired I was and that she had to go to bed. I wanted to YELL!

But then I thought of Team USA.

Yes, that Team USA.

I could relate to them. They claimed to be the next "Dream Team", an unstoppable force of all that is good with America. I had began the night with a similar resolve. I was going to be more patient than my kid could stand and she would give in to sleeping. Lilly was no Nigeria. She was giving me the Spain or even Lithuania treatment. Lilly thought she had a chance. For a moment, I thought she might, too.

Then I started thinking like a champion; like an Olympian.

If you watched most of the Team USA basketball games you likely noticed a trend. The games were usually competitive during the first half, but USA pulled away in the third quarter. The competition thought they could win, but Team USA knew they would win. The US team was bigger, faster, stronger, deeper, and simply better than any other team. They knew if they followed the game plan gold would be theirs.

Almost a week prior was our "first half" where Lilly came at us unexpectedly with this whole no sleep thing. Allison and I were reeling. We survived, really.

But now we had a plan for victory, we just needed to stick to it.

At 1:45am I decided to think like an Olympian, to know that I have what it takes to win. The plan will work.

Survive first. Make a plan and battle through to victory. Some days will be easy, a Nigeria game, but some nights you'll have to fight off a tenacious Tunisia in order to win. You can do it.

The Apple...

"The apple never falls far."

Image credit to Darren Crabb, edited by me.

Many old sayings like this don't make any sense or hold true that often, but in my experience as a teacher I find it to be highly accurate. Kids who make smart choices at school usually have parents that have done the same. Parents that have made poor choices in their own lives generally have kids who tend to make poor choices.

When I was a kid my parents would usually take a "parents only" trip once a year. I remember that I had a gift to open each day they were gone and that made everything easier for me. My Aunt Danna remembers how I stubbornly refused to go to bed. She has reminded me on several occasions about my stubbornness that I displayed on those days I stayed at her home while my parents travelled.

Aunt Danna was just sharing a funny anecdote, but I found parenting advice.

As we started back to school this week we did everything we knew to do to prepare the girls. We started taking them to the sitter for half days a couple weeks in advance and upped it to full days a few days before our first teaching day. The result- Lilly (the 3-year-old) EXPLODED the night before our first day!

Thursday was the first 'teacher day' and Allison came home exhausted and stressed. She is navigating the beginning of the year without her stalwart teammate who retired, plus a new principal and head secretary. Things have been challenging for her. We had dinner with my parents, got things together for Friday, and put the girls to bed. Allison went back to school to "cross her t's and dot her i's."

Then the storm hit.

See, Lilly has a fear of thunderstorms that baffles us. Allison and I enjoy a good storm and even have a couple of thunderstorm CD's we use to fall asleep to.

Lilly woke up and scurried into my lap. Allison was on the way home. Things were just getting started at the Casa de Smiley circa 10pm. By 11 we had spent some time in the basement waiting out the tornado warning and were putting the girls to bed; Gwen willingly but Lilly not so much.

She was scared. She was hungry. She had to go to the bathroom. She wanted us to pray with her again. She wanted us to stay in her bedroom. She wanted anything but to be alone, and would get out of bed every. time. we. left! At one point I had to ask Allison to take over because I was at wits end. A little after midnight she was asleep and we quickly followed suit.

Just after 4am Lilly came into our room again. By 5 I thought she might be asleep but it was time to get my workout in anyway. Not too long into my workout my crying, sleep-deprived, and frustrated angel of a wife came out and asked that I did something with Lilly because she was at her breaking point. I laid Lilly down next to my workout equipment and finished my exercising.

Fast-forward to Friday night and the same things happened at bed time. Lilly slept the night on the floor of our bedroom. A frustrated post on Facebook by me received several suggestions and one "sounds familiar" comment from the aforementioned Aunt Danna.

I was every bit as stubborn as Lilly. I drove my Aunt Danna batty with my refusal to sleep. I'm sure I did the same to my parents, too.

I remember my parents letting me in their bed a few times as a kid when I was scared. Their patience with me helped me overcome and develop my own coping strategies.

Suddenly, I feel relaxed about this. This behavior by Lilly won't last, it didn't for me. My patience as a parent will dictate how well this turns out, just like it did for my parents and me.

The apple doesn't fall far. And for that, I am thankful and encouraged.

Module 6 - Digital Citizenship

For my grad class I had to do some learning about digital citizenship. I chose to follow Option 1 where I developed an action plan for an issue regarding digital citizenship. The issue I emphasized is cyber-bullying.  Here is my action plan:

Digital Citizenship Action Plan on Prezi

I also had to review the book for the class. Here is my writing in regards to it:

A New Culture of Learning by Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown

This book looks at the large picture of learning as a culture. Thomas and Brown speak of the history of education and then counter it with what is changing in our modern society. Ne of the recurring themes of the book is the shift from gaining knowledge to learning. Historically, gaining knowledge was seen as the way to educate people so that is how schools and teaching was designed. The Information Age has put more of an emphasis on tacit learning over knowledge. Knowledge is just a click away, but using that knowledge in new and creative ways is what must be learned today. This tacit learning is just starting to be developed in schools though.

I couldn't agree more with the main point of this book. My colleagues and I refer to this movement as changing from "teacher-centric" to "student-centric" classroom environments. I think I like the book's idea of moving from teaching environments to learning environments. Technology has made gaining knowledge so easy it isn't necessary to know as much as we once did (although I would argue that we know much more than humans in the past). Education's entire purpose is changing to one where we must teach students how to learn.

All of the course materials point to this same idea of the major shift in education. The Information Age has redefined education. We have looked at tools that can be used in classrooms to teach students the skills necessary for modern society. We answered the question "Is technology redefining education?" and the book supports what I included in my response. Society is changing because of technology and education changes when society does.

I would recommend this book to my colleagues. Many of them are already on board with the changing tides of education in regards to technology, but there are many that I don't think understand how or why. This book does a good job of explaining some of the historical context as well as a brief glimpse of what will be done in classrooms. There are some practical applications that can be taken to the classroom. It is written with a positive outlook that will encourage teachers to move forward with their craft.  

The Flipped Math Classroom

Do you want to learn how to "Flip" your math classroom? Here is a mini-course I have developed that will teach you what a flipped classroom is, how it can be implemented, where you can find the tools you need, and will get you started flipping your own room!

Chick-fil-A? You don't say!

This couldn't sum my feelings up any better. I'm not one to get heated up over these types of controversies and here is why: I am a sinner. My anger is sinful. My greed is sinful. My pride is sinful. My lustfulness is sinful. My words are sinful. My gossip is sinful. I am full of sin. Absolutely full of it. Who am I to judge?

I know the bible speaks of homosexuality, but since I'm not attracted to men it doesn't impact me. I have plenty of my own problems. You know what the bible speaks about a lot more? Love. I recently read through 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John and was astounded by the focus on love. As I read it, I thought "Wow, John really doesn't think we get this whole love thing." He's right. We don't get it.

So I'm going to sit this debate out.

"Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

My Technology "Menu"

I have composed a "menu" of digital resources that I use/will use in my classroom.  It isn't exhaustive quite yet, but it's a good start.

This past several years I tried several different "Web 2.0" tools and even taught a session on using Web 2.0 tools at a conference this summer.  Last year I felt that I did too many different things and wound up leaving many of my students confused on what tool was to be used to do which part of each assignment.  This year I want to be consistent!  In my last grad class I ran in to the same problem as a student- I had to double and triple-check how I was supposed to turn in assignments.  Did I post them in Assignments? Messages? Chat room? Forums?  It definitely made me crazy at times.

My Big Campus is going to be my "Main Course" where everything will be located.  I plan to mirror much of it on my school website so that parents can have access easily.  The other main "dish" in my repertoire will be Discovery Education, since that will be where the bulk of our science content will be found.  Here's the rest:

Starters- these tools are used by students to find more information and explore the skills and content independently.  xtramath, ten marks, and Khan Academy give students more customized learning experiences, while Explore Learning (Gizmos) and BrainPop provide additional content but are the same for all students.  Wolfram Alpha is like the ultimate calculator.

Desserts- these tools help students present their learning in digital format.  Most of the tools revolve around podcasting, which I have dabbled in for the past two years and plan to emphasize even more this year.  Prezi is a great presentation software.  Honorable mention goes to Glogster which didn't quite make the cut.

Drinks- these tools go with everything; they are used by students to keep track of their learning.  Included is our Student Information System, Skyward, as well as our Homework listing online.

There will likely be more added to this list throughout the year, and I won't limit myself to just these tools, but I also don't want to overwhelm students with too many.  My experience has shown that it is often better to become "experts" at a small amount of tools instead of trying to learn a million of them.

Redefining Education

My grad class has asked this question: "Has technology redefined education?"

The answer is a no-brainer, and has always been true- YES!

Much of this stems from this article written in the New York Times last October.  The article more or less suggests that education doesn't need to be using technology because it works at the Waldorf school.    Malarky.  These students are children of highly-paid employees of Silicon Valley giants like Google.  These kids have DNA that helps them, as well as families who value education.  That's a great start to being successful.  It doesn't hurt that the staff at Waldorf features a majority of teachers who have spent time overseas and in other professions.  That experience makes them fascinating people that are interesting- great qualities for teachers.  Plus, the teachers "loop" with their students from Kindergarten through eighth grade!  I can tell you that the advantages of knowing your students that well and for so long are many.  It's not the lack of technology that makes this school better, it's clearly the people.

Back to the question.  Before the printing press, (this is a lot of history for me, I'm not much into the past) one would learn as an apprentice.  They would learn from working directly with the person doing the job they would one day be doing themselves.  A blacksmith's apprentice would learn all of the smithing techniques from the blacksmith, and once he was capable he would become a blacksmith.  After the printing press, this didn't change that much.  At least not at first.  Rich people could afford books (they were cheaper than handwritten books, but they weren't free or anything!) and there was a "Digital Divide."  Ok, a "Technology Divide", but it's not as fun to say.  So now some people learned from books, not necessarily people.  As the Industrial Revolution changed the way humans worked, it also changed education.  Too many kids were jobless!  (Seriously, child labor laws came to be and kids didn't need to work as much as before to help their families survive.)  Schools started giving basic educations to everyone!  Plus, they were kind enough to let everyone out during the summer so they could do the farming.  Twice, through books and then machines, education was redefined.  So what's happening now?

It's all about jobs.  We are well past apprentice jobs, which were really simple to train for.  It was a "sitting duck".  Now we are aiming at a "moving target."  According to a study last year, technology companies have employees with a median age of 36.  According to this study the first social networking site began in 1997, when the average technology employee was 21 years old and likely in college.  That means that even while they were in college, their jobs may have not existed!  Technology  is changing the work force so rapidly that we no longer know exactly what we are aiming for.

Technology has always redefined education.  We are now aiming at a moving target.

I should add (and I have to for my grad class :-) ) that we took notes collaboratively.  Here is the link to my group's notes.  Truthfully I didn't really dig the joint notes.  I felt much of it was redundant and notes are often strange to read when someone else wrote them.  We tend to write small fragments with little context and often only write what is new or unknown to us.  These tendencies make others' notes quite strange to read. 

 

The Digital Divide

Caution- profanity is in the following video (but the worst is bleeped out)



Oh Dennis Green, thank you for your entertaining rant.  I'll write a post sometime about anger, but this post is totally different.  I'm talking about the Digital Divide.  As I was growing up, technology was slowly becoming a mainstay in the classroom.  Somewhat like a snowball, it started small with a few pieces of equipment and now there are schools where every student has their own device.  That is progress, for sure.  But like most things in life, some people are being left out.

Like most social issues, the Digital Divide is complex and doesn't follow a set of rules.  It's not as simple as we make it out to be, but at the same time, it is.  The Divide is the haves versus the have nots. It's the Kardashian's against the Clampett's.  It's the Bears versus the Cardinals.  Dennis Green, in all his rage, makes a valid point- "They are who we thought they were!"  Intelligent people can write insightful articles on how there has been a "shift" in the digital divide, but I see right through it.  I read about it, and my classmates in my grad school class even talked about it (see here), but it's nothing new.  The beginnings of the Digital Divide were between socioeconomic groups.  Those with money had access to technology while those without money did not.  Experts are now trying to say that low socioeconomic groups have access, but they use it differently.  They have cell phones but they only use it for entertainment purposes.  So I say, "They are who we thought they were!"  Low socioeconomic students are still at a disadvantage when it comes to technology access.

Dennis Green says that his team let the Bears "off the hook", implying that their 23-3 lead with 1:47 to go in the third quarter was enough to beat the Bears, but the Cardinals faltered.  We have been throwing money at schools with low income students for years but have seen little change in the cycle of low socioeconomic students only obtaining low-end jobs.  We are like the Cardinals/Bears game right now.  Even though we throw money at it (the Cardinals had a new stadium, new quarterback, and the highest-paid running back of all time) but were still behind the Bears and their pedigree of winning.

The good news is that the Cardinals made it to the Super Bowl a few years later, once they had a change of leadership.  Perhaps a change in leadership is what we need?

The bad news is the Cardinals lost that Super Bowl (XLIII) to the Steelers, the franchise with the most Super Bowl wins.

The Digital Divide is what I thought it was- the haves versus the have-nots.

What's in a grade?

"What can I do to bring up my grade?" Students and parents frequently ask this question of me, and it bothers me all the way to my core. Why? Because my answer is routinely "turn in your missing assignments" or something similar when my answer should be "learn __________, ____________, & ___________." I can't shake the idea that students are being judged by whether they have done their work versus whether they have learned.

 So, what's in a grade? What does getting an "A" mean?

Standardized Testing - Did You Know?!?!

I must start by giving credit to Gerald W. Bracey's article "Put to the Test" for some of this info.

Before "Obamacare" there was a different kind of big-time legislation called No Child Left Behind. NCLB basically said that every student in the country would be at grade-level by 2014. As a realist, I scoffed at this idea. As an educator who knows about the tests that will be used to prove this, I knew it was impossible. See, test-makers won't let everyone pass- EVER!

Let me explain. There are two basic types of standardized tests: norm-referenced (NRT) and criterion-referenced (CRT). NRTs give results in percentiles and are compared to grade-level. These test scores are basically lined up against one another and ranked. CRT results are given as a numerical score with cut-offs at specific numbers that tell students if they pass or fail. These tests are compared to a total possible. If we were to use NRTs, no more than 50% of students would "pass" because test-makers compare scores to a "norm" so that scores are distributed widely. Since it is comparative to other scores, not everyone could be considered "at grade-level".

 I think (but have no data to verify) that most states use CRTs. ISTEP+, Indiana's high-stakes standardized test is criterion-referenced. Aside from arguments about whether or not tests truly show student knowledge and skill, let's look just at the test-making process. Each question is sampled to see if the results are "valid". Here is a list of reasons a question would get omitted:

• a high percentage of students get the answer right
• a high percentage of students get the answer wrong
• students who got most test questions right all missed the same question, but students who didn't perform well overall got it right.
• students who bombed the test got the same question right at a high rate

Basically, if most students get a question right, it is removed from the test. ISTEP+ is supposed to be based on the Indiana Academic Standards which are publicly available and used by teachers to plan curriculum. If teachers are teaching the same skills and concepts, a large majority of students will become skilled at those skills. By my understanding, these questions would then be removed from the test or changed so that more students miss it. That could be achieved by changing the distractors (the wrong answer choices) or the wording of the question. This sounds to me that if kids get good at something, test-makers will try to simply trick them into wrong answers so that the results from the tests are more widely distributed.

 This is the process behind tests that can determine if students can continue to the next grade or even graduate. Scores from these tests will be used to evaluate teachers.

The Natives Are Coming

I like to read.  In fact, I can't remember the last time I watched a sitcom-type of show on TV.  (I'm actually in negotiations with the Mrs. to cancel TV altogether.)  But I don't like books.  Well, it depends on what you think of when I say book.  I prefer my iPad.  It's within arm's reach most of the time, and can hold lots of "books", and it looks cool.  Plus, now that I'm in grad school I have found that highlighting and bookmarking within digital books helps tremendously.  I'm in a leadership group at church that is using a workbook and I'm annoyed every time I try to write in it.

I am the first of a new generation- NetGen is the term.  My generation is just now coming into the professional world, but occupies all of school populations.  Check this out:

Here's the problem-teachers aren't ready.  NetGen students want to create (not dioramas though).  These students want to share.  That's as simple as I can make it, and it couldn't be more complex for educators.  I work in a pretty tech-forward school corporation where every teacher is equipped with classroom projectors and document cameras and knows how to use email.  Unfortunately, kids don't really care unless it's their creation on the screen and they rarely check email.  Students want to make videos, blogs, animations, podcasts, websites, presentations, anything to get their point across.  And then they want to post it to Facebook, Twitter, or the like.  They want to show it to the class, their friends in other classes, other schools, and around the world.  Watch my video I created to depict the stark divide between students today and their teachers:

The Native
by: Mr.Smiley

Little Guys Need Dad

I'm sitting, "pretzel-style", on the floor of the church auditorium.  As I look around I see the constant movement of 180 pre-school children all sitting "still" on the floor.  It's VBS, or Vacation Bible School for those of you not accustomed to church.  And here I am, one of just 2 men in the room.  Well, there's one on stage- our worship director- and another one or two in the sound booth, but directly working with the kiddos it's me and a stay-at-home-dad named Jason.

Flight 3 is the name of the group of 3-year-olds I'm responsible for and there are 12 of them.  There's a mom of one of the 9 boys (to 3 girls, mind you) who's partnering with me to guide these little ones to each of their stations throughout their 3-hour day packed full of activity.  We sing, we dance, we make a craft, we play games, we walk in a line holding a rope (otherwise we'd be herding cats), and we sit and listen as well as 3-year-olds can.  Flight 3 is boy-heavy but otherwise a typical group here at Sky VBS.

Back to the auditorium- I quickly start to notice something different about my situation.  See, all of the adults and teenaged helpers are sitting with their groups too.  What I notice is the amount of children actually on them.  I would estimate half or more of the leaders are just sitting there alone, while the rest have a child or two in their lap.  Except me.  I have 3.  Three boys.

There it is.  Sitting right in my literal lap.  Boys need fathers.  Let me say that louder, in all caps:  BOYS NEED FATHERS!  Girls do too, and very much so, but little boys were using me like a jungle gym for two days so I took notice.  Boys need affection and attention.  They need time with dad to play and they yearn for physical contact, but not the kind you get in football.  Yup, even boys want to cuddle.  Over the course of 6 hours with these nine boys, I'm pretty sure I had at least 6 of them come sit on my lap.  It's not because I'm extraordinarily cool or great with kids; it's because I was there.

So here it is, a few suggestions to get dads to be closer to the great dad we all want to be:

1. Be there.  Did I mention there was only 1 other dad there?  I know most dads work but there were almost 200 kids there.  Certainly we aren't the 1%!  (I actually split the week with my wife, she did two days and I did the other two, so you don't have to go "all in", just go!)
2. Get on the floor.  I teach this to my basketball players because it's how you can manufacture intensity even if you don't naturally have it.  Dads can manufacture effection even if you don't have it naturally if you just get down and let them crawl on you.  Trust me, you'll have fun too.
3. Play.  One little guy cried each morning when he was dropped off and nobody could console him.  My wife did on the second day, but she handed the reigns to me for the last two days.  The last worship session he smiled and danced, after just standing there silently all of the other sessions.  What made him come around?  I played with him!
4. Just do it.  Some guys are scared of being in charge of kids, but here's a little teacher-secret: if you act like you know what to do they will think you do!  Works every time, I swear.

Luke 5:16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

Jesus needed time with his father, just like little boys do. 

What is "Daducation"

Firstly, daducation is a word I have to add to my iPad's autocorrect. Anyhow, daducation is what I see myself as doing- that's being a dad in education. These are two major places where my soul lights up and I plan to combine them here in mostly random thoughts. As a Christian dad, I see the important role God has assigned to fathers and my heart breaks for children who don't have strong men in their lives. As an educator, I see the effect this can have on children. In its most basic generalities, here is what Father's need to do: For daughters: make them feel loved and beautiful or they will seek that love in other forms. For sons: give them adventures, chances to take risks, and purpose. If not, they will take risks on adventures, trying to find their purpose without any guidance. I will also add lots of thoughts on education. Be warned, I am a big thinker! Don't read this if you are the sort of teacher who is comfortable where you are in your career. Do read on if you want to radically change schools for students. I am Andrew, the daducator. Father of two girls, educator.

My girls and I love Photobooth! :-)