Mr. McLaughlin.com

I have been teaching with a Smart board for 8 years now and have gathered some tips. I use SMART brand boards; however I am sure these tips are similar for most brands.

There is a great tool that will snap a picture of the screen and put it into the note book program. It looks like a camera on the SMART software. The tool allows you to snap the whole screen, snap a rectangle of the screen or free select any shape. I have not found much use for this till the past few years. The new text book series that have been coming out have online text books to go with the teacher text. I use snap tool along with the zoom feature to highlight objectives, examples, vocabulary, pictures and diagrams. I just snap what I want into my notebook and add my own notes to it. I have tried it out with the new Tech book from Discovery and that works as well to.

My second tip involves how the notes are saved. I use Dropbox on my computer. I save the notes for each class period into a folder labeled with the class name. I share the folder link with my students and they can view the notes on any of the school computers. I collect a month’s worth of notes and print them all to PDF for the students to study from at home where they don’t have the notebook software.

My third tip has to do with how one manages the space of the board. I have one of the first SMART boards which is about the size of a portable white board. I needed to learn to optimize the size I was given. I will often group writing together and shrink it to the outer edges. This way I can pull that information back into the class discussion at anytime by resizing it in the center again. I also clone pages. This is especially useful when I teach multiple sections of the same class. I create problems for students to work on I clone a copy for each section. I also clone a page that I am working a solution out on to show the steps of the solution for the students who download the pages later.

Post your tips to this blog. I would love to learn from you.

*The sketch of me is by Oliver Richards a student of mine…Thanks Oliver

Fifty two fist is a formative assessment tool I use.  It began as a way to  resolve an issue I was having with the mystery of the raised hand. I prefer students to raise their hand in my class when responding or asking a question. A raised hand, however, is not very informative.

Imagine you are about to get to that aha moment. The student who has been silent all class suddenly has their hand up. The moment of truth comes and you call on the student. That’s when the whole class comes to a stop for the question “can I go to the bathroom.” What does a raised hand really mean?

I have also found that students will let one or two students do the heavy lifting. It does not matter if the students with their hands down know the answer or not. It is just easier to sit back and watch the action.

I wanted a way to get every student to participate without having to buy anything, make any cards or craft every question to a multiple choice prompt. I have been working on formative assessment in my district and decided to try a variation of five to fist*. Thus I came up with fifty two fist.

When I ask a question in class I have all my students raise their hand. They have been directed to put up 5 fingers if they know the answer and want to answer, two fingers if they know the answer but don’t want to answer and a fist if they don’t know. I have found this beneficial because I can see visually what the students believe they understand. It also eliminates being able to sit back and watch as every student has to participate.  I have seen students who use to put up two now put up five.  I have been able to redirect my instruction to best fit the needs of my class.

Give it a try in your class and let me know here what you think.

*Five to fist is a visual 6 point agree or disagree scale. Each finger raised demonstrates how strongly the student agrees with the prompt.

I have been a high school teacher of mathematics for the past 17 years.  I have taught every subject and every level in math and computer science that my district offers. I am a Nationally Board Certified teacher. I have a masters degree in Educational Technology. I still feel I have a lot to learn.  The Discovery Education community is always teaching me something new and challenging me to grow as an educator.  I am a life long learner and encourage my students to be life long learners as well.

I am becoming reacquainted with DEN  this year.   I signed up years ago after our school district subscribed to United Streaming, now called Streaming Plus.  Unfortunately there were many new initiatives in my district that year and I lost touch with the DEN community.  I  found my interest renewed last year after I was asked to take on a student teacher.  I remembered what a great resource the videos were and I knew it would be good for my student teacher.  Once I looked into it, I saw how much the DEN had grown.  I knew I had been missing something.   The online community I found was just awesome.  I decided to apply for  Star status to take better advantage of it.

In my exploration of the DEN I found that there were now virtual events.   The first DEN event I went to was a virtual conference called Tech or Treat.  It was such a valuable experience.  I was able to participate in many great sessions throughout the day.  I did not have to worry about having a ticket or finding a seat in a crowed room.  I have been to several physical conferences, but this virtual one surpassed them.  The best part of all was that it was free.  There was no registration fee, no travel costs, and no hotel.  And by the way ….YES they are doing it again this October .(info)

  Discovery really is a community.  Because it has so many branches it is able to pull from a large pool of resources to bring the best people and information to educators.  One of the most memorable events I was able to attend this year was a reception for Storm Chaser Reed Timmer.   Reed was giving the keynote address to the ASCD conference in Philadelphia.  This was a wonderful dinner where I was able to meet people from all over the country. I had some great conversations about education.  I was able to sit down with a writer for Discovery and discuss the new science techbooks Discovery just released.  I met teachers from Hawaii and California. I was even sitting at a table with a former high school classmate which I had not see for 20 years.  And of course I got a picture and an autograph from Reed.

As a tenured teacher I am observed by my principle twice a year. My first observation this year was in the traditional model of education. Since then I have flipped that class and set up a mastery learning model to go with it. This change was a necessity. I had a class of very diverse levels. By the middle of the third marking period a third of the class was getting failing grades, the middle was doing C work and the top was doing A work. Teaching to the middle was not working. The students who were getting A’s we’re bored and the students who were failing were so lost they had basically shutdown. I needed to make a radical change. So I flipped.

I now have the results of my observation. The principle spent the class wandering around interviewing students about what they were doing, how they felt this was working and whether or not they felt they were being challenged. The students had mixed feelings.  Some loved it.  They felt they could move at their own pace.  Other students missed the lecture style in the classroom.  They wanted the teacher in control.  My principle followed up with the students by asking them if they felt they were doing better than before.  They all said yes.  The students all felt that they were learning.  They felt they understood the concepts better.   No one’s grade went down in the second semester but there were some marked improvements.

Thinking back on this last semester there are some things I would change.  The first is the planning.  I went into this model while running full steam through the school year.  It’s kinda like pulling a 90 degree turn at highway speed.  I felt for a lot of the second semester the class was going to go spinning out of control.  I believe that if I had planned this out from the beginning the model would have worked better.  I also don’t know what part of the model was the most successful.  The videos were the medium that allowed the students to be self paced and progress to mastery.  This sounds good but I was in constant fear that some students would not be able to complete the work.  The ones that struggled were motivated to get the work done because they needed it to pass. They put in a lot of extra time after school and during study halls.  The more advanced kids did not go beyond the minimums like I had expected them too.  The students at that level just kinda fizzled and accomplished only slightly more than the others. I can’t imagine doing that balance all year.  I think a middle ground will be more effective.

I would like to plan next year to implement a flipped model for some of the units we cover.  This would work great for the sections that are very heavy lecture or vocabulary full lessons.   The problem with that idea is it takes out the self paced part.  I am not sure how to keep kids self paced yet still be able to pull them back together as a class.  The students learning to mastery seems like the critical idea here.  I have been thinking about a modified version of what I did this year to start the new school year with.  I think using the videos for the lessons that would have been mostly lecture is a good idea.  That needs to have a follow-up in class the next day to check if the students have masted the concept.  A warm-up question might do the trick there.  The tricky part is having to make the choice of what to do next.  If a majority of the students do or don’t understand it’s easy just move on or re-teach.  If the class is split then I will need to have the ability to differentiate. Here comes the hard part, how to spend the class time doing this mastery teaching yet still stay on pace.  The answer is one can’t.  The students who need the extra support will have to get some of that after class.  I really don’t like this solution but don’t have a much better one.  The students who are struggling already spend more time on the content then the students who don’t. Now I am going to ask them to spend even more time.  It almost seems punitive.

I am hoping that using the flipped class model will allow those struggling students to work through some of their issues in class.  However, without a major change in the way we educate (which I don’t see happening) I still have to cover a specific amount of content.  I have 36 weeks to do that in each school year.  In each of my classes I have 35 weeks of content and a week of state testing, assemblies, fire drills, ect. For our students we need a shift in thinking.  We need ….well I don’t know what the answer is.  If I did I am sure I would have people knocking down the door.  However, we can’t just move along following the same old same old.  So I will flip again if that helps my students.  I will also keep looking for new models that will help my students succeeded in the future so as a nation we will be back on top.

I had a student recently argue the merits of his algorithm. He was multiplying a binomial by a trinomial. To do this he was taking each term of the binomial and multiplying it by each term of the trinomial. This was resulting in the answer in one step. I at the time was trying to explain the concept of the distributive property and how it applies to multiplication of polynomials. At first I did not see the immediate proof for his algorithm working. After a few seconds of thought I saw that he was doing the distributive property in one step by memorizing how the terms would go together in the last line. This seems to work for any polynomial polynomial multiplications. This is all great except he was calling it the distributive property and it is not. The distributive property is specific. It is when you multiply in the form of a(b + c) = ab+ac . Now you can use the distributive property to prove that his algorithm is correct. The issue is the student does not know that. He only knows the algorithm and that it works.
This brings me to pose a fundamental question in Math education. Why do we not just teach algorithms? (in fact a lot of us just do) Students learn to get the answers with these algorithms. Isn’t that the goal of math education?( I say that sarcastically.) As you can tell I disagree. I believe it is the journey to the answer that is important not the answer. That is the way I grade and that is the way I teach. If the goal was just the answer then why not just have a computer do all math. There are many many computer programs that can do just that. Why teach math at all. Since we still teach math and don’t have students just use computer programs to do problems, we should not be teaching algorithms at all. Getting the answer in one step is not the journey we are interested in. We want students to understand how the math concepts fit together so they can reconstruct those concepts into new concepts. They cannot do that if they are only doing math as a series of formulas and procedures (that is how a computer looks at Math). So math like life is not about getting to the answer it’s the journey to get there. I leave you with a few people who agree with me:

Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.
Greg Anderson

Standing still is the fastest way of moving backwards in a rapidly changing world.
Lauren Bacall

No one else can speak the words on your lips. Drench yourself in words unspoken. Live your life with arms wide open. Today is where your book begins. The rest is still unwritten.
Natasha Bedingfield

It may be when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work, and that when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey.
Wendell Berry

It has never been, and never will be easy work! But the road that is built in hope is more pleasant to the traveler than the road built in despair, even though they both lead to the same destination.
Marion Zimmer Bradley

I believe that life is a journey, often difficult and sometimes incredibly cruel, but we are well equipped for it if only we tap into our talents and gifts and allow them to blossom.
Les Brown

I believe that life is a journey towards God, and that no one has the right to insist that you go a certain road.
Pat Buckley

It is better to travel well than to arrive.
Buddha

There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth…not going all the way, and not starting.
Buddha

Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn’t, it is of no use.
Carlos Castaneda

You should live every day like it’s your last day because one day you’re gonna be right.
Ray Charles

Man improves himself as he follows his path; if he stands still, waiting to improve before he makes a decision, he’ll never move.
Paulo Coelho

We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.
Stephen Covey

For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin-real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.
Alfred D’Souza

A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.
Jean de la Fontaine

The journey between what you once were and who you are now becoming is where the dance of life really takes place.
Barbara DeAngelis

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.
Annie Dillard

Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.
Meister Eckhart

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

You don’t create your mission in life – you detect it.
Viktor Frankl

Let your mind start a journey thru a strange new world. Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before. Let your soul take you where you long to be…Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar, and you’ll live as you’ve never lived before.
Erich Fromm

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost

How often I found where I should be going only by setting out for somewhere else.
Buckminster Fuller

We may run, walk, stumble, drive, or fly, but let us never lose sight of the reason for the journey or miss a chance to see a rainbow on the way.
Gloria Gaither

Say not, I have found the truth, but rather, I have found a truth. Say not, I have found the path of the soul, Say rather, I have met the soul walking upon my path. For the soul walks upon all paths. The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed. The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.
Kahlil Gibran

It‘s not where we stand but in what direction we are moving.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The way is not in the sky, the way is in the heart. For the traveler who knows his direction, there is always a favorable wind.
Stuart Avery Gold

Trust in what you love, continue to do it, and it will take you where you need to go.
Natalie Goldberg

There is no enlightenment outside of daily life.
Thich Nhat Hanh

Sooner or later we must realize there is no station, no one place to arrive at once and for all. The true joy of life is the trip.
Robert J. Hastings

The future remains uncertain and so it should, for it is the canvas upon which we paint our desires. Thus always the human condition faces a beautifully empty canvas. We possess only this moment in which to dedicate ourselves continuously to the sacred presence which we share and create.
Frank Herbert

You cannot have a happy ending to a miserable journey.
Abraham-Hicks

Tell me what you yearn for and I shall tell you who you are. We are what we reach for, the idealized image that drives our wandering.
James Hillman

Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, ‘This is the real me,’ and when you have found that attitude, follow it.
William James

It’s pretty hard to get what you want when you’re busy doing and being what you don’t want.
Cheryl Janecky

Most of us do not ‘sculpt’ our lives. We accept what comes our way, then we gripe about it.
Susan Jeffers

We cannot escape fear. We can only transform it into a companion that accompanies us on all our exciting adventures…
Susan Jeffers

Listen to me. We’re here to make a dent in the universe. Otherwise why even be here?
Steve Jobs

As one gets older one sees many more paths that could be taken. Artists sense within their own work that kind of swelling of possibilities, which may seem a freedom or a confusion.
Jasper Johns

In the degree that we remember and retell our stories and create new ones we become the authors, the authorities, of our own lives.
Sam Keen

Often the search proves more profitable than the goal.
E. L. Konigsburg

To be born is to start the journey towards death.
Madeleine L’Engle

A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.
Lao Tzu

It is good to have an end to journey towards, but it is the journey that matters in the end.
Ursula LeGuin

The great lesson…is that the sacred in the ordinary, that it is to be found in one’s daily life, in one’s neighbors, friends, and family, in one’s back yard.
Abraham Maslow

Do not look for rest in any pleasure, because you were not created for pleasure: you were created for joy. And if you do not know the difference between pleasure and joy you have not yet begun to live.
Thomas Merton

Every man has his own destiny: the only imperative is to follow it, to accept it, no matter where it leads him.
Henry Miller

One’s destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things.
Henry Miller

Life is what you make of it. Always has been, always will be.
Grandma Moses

By losing your goal – you have lost your way, too!
Friedrich Nietzsche

The more intensely we feel about an idea or a goal, the more assuredly the idea, buried deep in our subconscious, will direct us along the path to its fulfillment.
Earl Nightingale

True religion is the life we lead, not the creed we profess.
Louis Nizer

I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.
John O’Donohue

Rowing harder doesn’t help if the boat is headed in the wrong direction.
Kenichi Ohmae

Heroes take journeys, confront dragons, and discover the treasure of their true selves.
Carol Pearson

The great awareness comes slowly, piece by piece. The path of spiritual growth is a path of lifelong learning. The experience of spiritual power is basically a joyful one.
M. Scott Peck

We don’t receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us.
Marcel Proust

Some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity.
Gilda Radner

Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won. It exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours.
Ayn Rand

Each one of us has a fire in our heart for something. It’s our goal in life to find it and keep it lit.
Mary Lou Retton

All the arts we practice are apprenticeship. The big art is our life.
M.C. Richards

Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will find them gradually, without noticing it, and live along some distant day into the answer.
Rainer Maria Rilke

The only journey is the journey within.
Rainer Maria Rilke

The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination.
Carl Rogers

Grace, not willpower, is what ultimately empowers us to live loving lives. Creativity, both in what spawns within the artist and the artifact, can be a vital source of that grace.
Ron Rolheiser

To be alive, to able to see, to walk…it’s all a miracle. I have adapted the technique of living life from miracle to miracle.
Arthur Rubinstein

And you? When will you begin your long journey into yourself?
Rumi

Journey from the self to the Self and find the mine of gold. Leave behind what is sour and bitter and move toward the sweet.
Rumi

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the only one who’ll decide where you’ll go.
Dr. Seuss

Sometimes in your life you will go on a journey. It will be the longest journey you have ever taken. It is the journey to find yourself.
Katherine Sharp

Success is a journey, not a destination.
Ben Sweetland

There was never yet an uninteresting life. Such a thing is an impossibility. Inside of the dullest exterior there is a drama, a comedy, and a tragedy.
Mark Twain

Your journey never ends. Life has a way of changing things in incredible ways.
Alexander Volkov

As I ramble through life, whatever be my goal, I will unfortunately always keep my eye upon the doughnut and not upon the whole.
Wendy Wasserstein

The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.
Don Williams, Jr.

The spiritual path – is simply the journey of living our lives. Everyone is on a spiritual path; most people just don’t know it.
Marianne Williamson

Understand that the right to choose your own path is a sacred privilege. Use it. Dwell in possibility.
Oprah Winfrey

We had a productive few days while the students were resting and relaxing a few months back.  On Thursday we had Thom Stecher and Associates come in and discuss with us social emotional learning.  Thom and Alex (Thom’s assistant) connected with us right away, by discussing very personal stories in their lives.  One of the major things I took from this class was that we need as a District to increase school and community spirit.  We discussed the stages of forming a community and I was happy to see that we were on a good pace.  The stages are : Polite, why are we here?, shared leadership, construction, and Spirit.  An important component in doing this is to create a full value contract.
A full value contract has four things that need to be agreed to:

• Agree to be safe ( emotional and physically)
• Agree to value and support others ( build up not take down)
• Agree to give and receive honest feedback
• Agree to let go and move on.

One of the things I need to work on is sarcasm.  It was very meaningful to me to find out that the root of the word is to Tare flesh from the bone.  Wow!  I know it can be funny but I am going to avoid any sarcasm that tares anyone down.  I invite you to call me on it if I happen to fall into that again.  A good way to do that is through what is called a feedback model called the Johari Window.

Our second day consisted of two parts.  Part one was focused on using google more in-depth.  Now one might think that this was not a productive morning for me in that I am fairly competent in web design.  However, I was able to work on google forms and figured out some very interesting scripts.  I now know how to have a Google form send an email to me with all the data from the form.  This email gets triggered by someone submitting a form.  This is very useful for forms that are long-term and don’t get checked often.  There are also a few things I want to check out further.  The first is google file cabinet.  I just have never looked at this and have to play around with it to see how to include it into what I do.  The second is QR codes.  I would like to make one to send students to my google calendar or my website.  I also want to investigate Latex on google to write math formulas in google docs.
In the afternoon we had a good discussion about AP classes and some standards we would like to adopt.
All in all it was a very good two days.
P.S. my qrcode
link

As Larry Page, the co-founder of Google.com narrates:
“Lucas Pereira: ‘You idiots, you spelled [Googol] wrong!’ But this was good, because google.com was available and googol.com was not. Now most people spell ‘Googol’ ‘Google’, so it worked out OK in the end.”
or
according to Google corp. 1999:
” 10^100 (a gigantic number) is a googol, but we liked the spelling “Google” better. We picked the name “Google” because our goal is to make huge quantities of information available to everyone. And it sounds cool and has only six letters.
or
according to Google corp now:
Googol is the mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeros. The term was coined by Milton Sirotta, nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner, and was popularized in the book, “Mathematics and the Imagination” by Kasner and James Newman. Google’s play on the term reflects the company’s mission to organize the immense amount of information available on the web.”
or
Wikipedia version:
“The original founders were going for ‘Googol’, but ended up with ‘Google’ due to a spelling mistake on a check that investors wrote to the founders.”

Origin of the name “Google”

From time to time I read or hear stories of the origin of the search engine and company name “Google” that are incorrect, which prompts me to write this brief account, based on my understanding of the genesis of the name. The source of my information is my friends and colleagues from Wing 3B of the Gates Computer Science Building at Stanford University, where Google was born.
In 1996, Larry Page and Sergey Brin called their initial search engine “BackRub,” named for its analysis of the web’s “back links.” Larry’s office was in room 360 of the Gates CS Building, which he shared with several other graduate students, including Sean Anderson, Tamara Munzner, and Lucas Pereira. In 1997, Larry and his officemates discussed a number of possible new names for the rapidly improving search technology. Sean recalls the final brainstorming session as occurring one day during September of that year.

David Koller:
Sean and Larry were in their office, using the whiteboard, trying to think up a good name – something that related to the indexing of an immense amount of data. Sean verbally suggested the word “googolplex,” and Larry responded verbally with the shortened form, “googol” (both words refer to specific large numbers). Sean was seated at his computer terminal, so he executed a search of the Internet domain name registry database to see if the newly suggested name was still available for registration and use. Sean is not an infallible speller, and he made the mistake of searching for the name spelled as “google.com,” which he found to be available. Larry liked the name, and within hours he took the step of registering the name “google.com” for himself and Sergey (the domain name registration record dates from September 15, 1997).

David Koller (dk@cs.stanford.edu), January, 2004

How to handle students without internet access in a flipped classroom is a major obstacle to implementing the model.  The key factor in this model is the students having the ability to watch the videos outside of class.  My Algebra class has been working during class time to watch videos, complete homework and take concept checks.  I was disappointed in the number of students who did not watch the videos outside of class. I thought I addressed this when the class first flipped by building in a good motivator.  Students have a minimum number of concepts they must complete to pass the course.  In order to do this they need to move at a reasonable pace. If they get beyond the minimum there are quizzes with bonus points built in.

The question that hit me about 7 weeks in is: Are some of them not working at home watching videos because they don’t have access.  I made a mistake in taking for granted that all the students had regular access to a device with internet. I learned that some students don’t have computers that they can use all the time. They have to share with their parents or siblings. Staying afterschool to watch the videos is difficult for students as well. In general access is a problem for some students. I cannot reasonably expect students to do the work at home if I can’t guarantee universal access. I had to come up with a solution.

The solution started with converting my videos using filewiggler.com to iDevice format. I have then been using iTunes to put the videos on a class set of iTouches (which up to now I have only used for their very cool graphing ability on quickgraph app). I can then sign out those iTouches to students. I can also add the vidcast to the student’s personal devices as well. In the process of doing my conversions I learned that you don’t have to apply for an offical iTunes podcast. You can just create your RSS feed to you videos and subscribe to the feed on the computer you use to update the iDevices. As I add videos all the iTouches update in my cart. The other way to get videos on the iDevices is to manually drop them in, but this is a lot of work for more then a few devices.

The other component of universal access allows for is requiring evidence that the video was watched. One thing one could do is look at the podcast stats. This can give a general idea that a video is being watched, but can’t get down to the student level. This issue can be remedied by embedding questions in the video that the students have to answer. The questions could be random that have no content or specific content questions the students must show the solution to in order to demonstrate their homework. I plan to implement this next year in any flipped class that I create.

This is just one answer to a hard question. The major problem with this is having a class set of iDevices. I am lucky enough to have that. The only other advice i have is to keep looking for the solution that works for your situation and share with your Personal Learning Network.

This past week I brought my students to the PA High School Computer Fair State Competition at Dickinson College (#pacompfair) in Carlisle, PA. This was a great event. My students showed off their work in webdesign. I was given the opportunity to see a presentation (#60in6012) by Brandon Lutz called 60in60, his website is 60in60.info hosted by wikispaces.

Brandon presented on 60 different web 2.0 sites. Checking his site will give you the complete list. Some of my favorite sites were: Kidzui.com which sets up a safe Internet for kids to use. This is great for parents like me who want their children to have access but don’t want them falling victim to the Internet dark side. I also liked screenr.com because of its ability to screen capture without having to download software. I believe you can also download the video later for posting on other sites. Then I had a good wow and then a wow that later went poof. The first was photosynth.net put out by Microsoft. This website and app allows you to stich pictures you take into a panorama or a synth (full 360 sphere). Very cool for virtual field trips or just for fun (wish I knew about it yesterday at National Aquarium in Baltimore). The second wow was reflectionapp.com. This website lets you mirror the iPad or iPhone onto a PC for free wirelessly for ten minutes. The poof happened when I saw that it only worked for iPad 2 or higher and only on a Mac (will have to wait for PC version to use in class).

All in all it was worth the 6 hours of driving today to take part in this event.

One of the most difficult things to do is to evaluate the performance of a teacher. It is often argued that teachers should be judged based on the performance of their students, much like the coach of a professional football team is judged on the performance of his team, or how an employee in the corporate world is judged based on the amount of business he or she brings in. So, a model for teacher evaluation could be that teachers get a score based on standardized test of students’ and students final grade. Maybe, throw in an evaluation by the students as well. This model sounds great to the public at large but they are making a misjudgment.

It is generally believed that since educators are professionals they should be judged like all other professionals. There is a major difference. In other professions, people get to choose who they work with as clients. Could one imagine a world where businesses could only work with clients who lived near their business? Or could one imagine a professional football team that could only recruit from the residents within a 20 mile radius of the stadium? Could you imagine a business who had to hire anyone who applied? No business would work on such a model. However, K-12 education does work on geographic restrictions and cannot refuse anyone who lives in the district an education. The model of evaluation that most other professions use will not work based on the fundamental tenet that education is available and free to all students.

How should teachers be evaluated? The model that many schools use is observation by a supervisor twice a year. There are usually three parts to this model: A pre-observation interview, an observation, and a post-observation interview. This is a good model if it is done with rigor. However, in my experience education becomes so busy that the pre and post interviews often get truncated to 5 min in the hall while headed to lunch duty. The system is broken and we need a way for educators to show the value of our profession. There are schools that have failing students. There are bad teachers. However, the students may not be failing because of their teachers. There are so many other factors that influences a student’s performance that don’t involve the performance of the teacher. Teachers need to be evaluated based on their ability to teach. It needs to be done more then once or twice a year and needs to be in a non-adversarial collaborative model.

In my district we have adopted a differentiated supervision model. The differentiated supervision model provides faculty members with a choice between several professional growth options dependent upon employee status. Tenured teachers may elect either a clinical supervision or peer observation model. The clinical model is the traditional observation done by a supervisor. The peer observation model is one of teachers working together to become better teachers. Participants in the peer observation process declare their intent in the beginning of the school year if they have gone through the training sessions offered each summer. This election can only be made three consecutive times. After three times the teacher must complete a clinical model. In the peer review the teachers set up several observations of each other. The teachers discuss what they have seen after each observation and suggest improvements for each-other. The teachers schedule a meeting with the principal at the end of the experience. Completed peer observation summary forms are due at the time of the conference with the principal.

The peer observation model allows teachers to give real feedback without the threat of an unsatisfactory based on one 42 min bad observation. I know students behave differently when the principal is in the room. Students generally don’t want to get their teachers in trouble. They become the perfect students for the one day. Or the students don’t like the teacher and they sabotage the observation. Neither of those results in a valid observation. I know a teacher who once told his students that when the principal is in the room they are to do the following: if you know the answer raise your left hand, if you don’t know the answer raise your right hand. That allows for the illusion that all the students are active and engaged in the class. In the peer model the teaches can observe what they do as teachers and the observers being teachers has less of an effect on the students. One other major advantage of the peer model is that the observer will most likely know the content. I teach math and sometimes my content is beyond the educational experience of the principal. I have been told on several occasions by a principal that he did not know what I was talking about, but it seemed like the kids did. That is not a very helpful or productive evaluation.

The state of teacher evaluation programs is very political now. However, it is up to teachers to work in collaboration with administrators, and other stake holders to come up with an observation model that makes sense to the profession and to the wider community. Perhaps education need to do something similar to another profession that often does not pick their clients. The professional lawyers in the US have to answer to a bar of lawyers. If this is not done soon teachers may face politicians, activists and lobbyists making the teacher evaluation model