Describe the value of the blog and your intentions for continuing to use it.

I see the value in blogs as a reflective tools, but I am on-the-fence if whether or not this blogging added to my Kenan Fellowship.  I think these Kenan blogs would have been more effective if we had less entry requirements (maybe one every other month), yet had a requirement to respond to 2-3 people with each blog.  That way, there would have been engagement and dialogue across blogs.   Perhaps having prompts around articles or video clips, and then having us respond to those items, would have brought our blogs more together.   Because our Fellowships were all so different and personal, I felt like the blogs remained personal and more of a “checklist” item for each Fellow.  I would have loved for more conversation around unifying topics in order to make this something meaningful.

Congratulations, you’ve finished the arduous task of refining your curriculum!  Reflect on the process and describe how you’d like to see your lessons used both locally and at a larger scale.

It has been an interesting week for our Fellowship team.  One of us is submitting National Boards and is feverishly finishing up editing, one of us just submitted an application for the Governor’s Teacher Network, and one of us is transitioning to a Doctorate program!  Over the week, the three of us discussed Kenan’s impact on these career choices, and how the Fellowship has pushed us to ask, “what’s next?”   Even though our project is completed and submitted, our mentor, Barbara, is still involved in our work and is helping us take our curriculum to even more venues.   We are presenting our work at national conferences in November, and Barbara is setting up additional meetings to showcase our PD.  Our official due-date may have passed, but our team is continuing to gear-up!   Here’s to the next cha

Describe how you’ve used Lenovo technology during your fellowship.  Be sure to include media (pictures and video)

1:1 has hit Orange County Elementary Schools!   And our product in students’ hands are Lenovo laptops!  They are also the laptops the staff use.  Having the experience with Lenovo through Kenan makes me more equipped for helping students and teachers. Our Kenan project highlights Kathy Richardson’s work and the use of the Assessing Match Concepts (AMC) assessments.  AMC Anywhere is the web-based system of the assessments, https://www.amcanywhere.com/  . Teachers use the online assessments in Orange County and I am able to troubleshoot issues that occur on the Lenovo devices while utilizing AMC Anywhere.   Here is one of the video clips from our project, using the AMC Anywhere system:   Kenan Project- Hiding Assessment Video .

We created a PD series that would help teachers understand Kathy Richardson’s work around the Critical Learning Phases of math.  Here is Kathy’s description of the phases:

“For each major mathematical idea, there are certain understandings that must be in place to ensure that children are not just imitating procedures or saying words they don’t really understand. These understandings must be in place, or at least developing, in order for a child to benefit from particular instructional experiences. These mathematical insights are predictable and universal. I have labeled these understandings, Critical Learning Phases.”
– Kathy Richardson

Our project highlights the assessment and instructional strategies that are based on the Critical Learning Phases.  The link to the video below is an example of one of these assessments.  The Hiding Assessment asks students to recall with automaticity the partners of numbers 3-10.  As you watch the video, note what numbers the student can recall automatically, and what numbers causes the student to call upon his strategies.

Kenan Project- Hiding Assessment Video

(Note: At the point of the video the student is automatic with partners of 3-4 , but needs to think about the partners of 5, and needs more time to process partners of 6.   However, upon using the recommended instructional strategies for his learning phase, we recently administered the assessment and he is now within the number ranges of 7-9!).

Walking into the reception in May, our group didn’t know what to expect, because our mentor, Barbara Bissell, wasn’t there.  What might that mean for the fellowship to come?  The icing on the cake came that week when we found out that Barbara retired from her role at DPI!  We thought this could mean anything from getting assigned a new mentor to our fellowship being cancelled.  Luckily, neither of these things happened.

Barbara did retire from the DPI Math Department, but she was granted permission to remain our Kenan mentor.   I believe I speak accurately  for my whole group when I say that we are pleased Barbara is our DPI mentor.  Although she may not be in-the-minute with all of the DPI initiatives and changes, she had been a part of DPI and this field long enough to give us crucial and relevant guidance.  She knows the ins-and-outs of education and is in close contact with many big-name elementary math gurus.  She cares about children and their understanding of mathematical foundations.  She more interested in doing what is researched and right by children, rather than doing what is popular at the moment.  She has shown us how important it is to stay firm in what you believe in, and to ask questions when you don’t believe in something.  We are appreciative of this learning experience and of the lifelong connection we have made with our mentor.

The book Teacher-Centered Professional Development by Gabriel Diaz-Maggioli, lists stumbling blocks for teacher professional development.  Stumbling block number 6 follows: Lack of variety in the delivery modes of professional development- Once a decision is made to invest in professional development, the cheapest format is often chosen for the purpose—usually a lecture, workshop, or seminar. It is ironic that so much has been written about the importance of differentiated instruction in the classroom; when it comes to instruction for teachers, undifferentiated approaches usually prevail. (Book excerpt with all 11 stumbling blocks: http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/104021/chapters/Professional-Development-Today.aspx) . 

KFP PD strived and succeeded in avoiding this stumbling block.  Because so many of our presenters are teachers themselves (and inventive, talented teachers at that) we experienced PD in different formats.  We were not just told to do things, rather we tried them with guidance.  We were not just lectured at, rather we became an active part of the presentations.  When teachers lead professional development, we understand how important it is for our colleagues to walk away with something of value, and also leave feeling valued.  If our ideas, insights, needs, questions, and concerns are not acknowledged in PD, then why would we value what is being asked of us?

On a coach level, the KFP PD Institutes provided reflection time on the goals I should have for my own presentations.  The Institutes spurred me to re-read the 11 PD stumbling blocks and to hone my own PD seminars and presentations accordingly.   

The PD migraine we all hope to avoid: 

 Polar Viewpoints about social media in the classroom? Sounds like just about everything else surrounding the classroom.

Schools are polarized places, so I have learned to carefully choose what I fight for vocally.  Last year, an experienced teacher said to me, ” if you can’t control it, make yourself and others as comfortable in it as you can.”    The phrase has stuck with me, as I realized that as much as I may dislike certain aspects of our profession, it is not my job to overtly object, because sometimes the objections won’t change things.  Rather, all they do is make myself and others more upset.

This all segues to social media usage.  Our district has a strict list of websites that it allows.  Although I understand the precautions behind the district’s decisions, it is also frustrating when I am planning from home and realize the sites I want to use are not available at school.  We are getting better about our blocked sites, in that you can ask for sites to be unblocked for educational purposes, but this still delays lessons and teachable moments.  As much as myself and others may complain about the strict firewall, complaining only makes the situation worse because it doesn’t change it.  I am now concentrating on what I can do within my district and what can be done with social networking.  And, if I feel strongly enough about something that is blocked, I know that we have a receptive technology department that is ready to listen to my rationale and help me either find something that is allowed in our district that does the same thing, or, I can unblock the resource.

Something Borrowed:  Our fellowship has been all about borrowing.  The camaraderie and “fellowship” of this fellowship encourages the sharing resources, trying them in our own classroom/style, reflecting on the experiencing and making them even better for our whole group!  Christina, Alex, and I have gone beyond the project goals to help one another in our classroom goals and instruction.

Something Blue:  The sad part about the timing of this post is that it means the 3 of us are all extremely busy in our own districts. While we are excited for this school year and what is already happening, it is becoming more and more complicated to find time when to sit as a group and work on our project.  We are now at a point where a bulk of what we do is independent work, then come back together to collaborate and reassess our plans.

Something Learned: One of my most valuable takeaways is that when frustrating things happen in education, the blame should not go straight to DPI. I can’t tell you the amount of times I hear/have said myself, “if only DPI knew what they were doing” or “it’s just DPI making us jump through another hoop.”   While I still think it is good to question anything coming at us in the classroom, I walk into this year giving DPI more slack and am able to defend decisions to colleagues.  The staff members in the math department at DPI are frustrated by the educational climate and mandates being required of them. Though it may not always feel like it, they are doing their best to try to navigate a tricky system and do what is right for students and teachers.

Something NEW:  A new perspective on DPI, which will hopefully help others understand the math decisions/work/expectations coming out of the department.

“Math Class” (Imagined by Kids) – From Kid Snippets

I’m sure by this time, we have all seen the viral Kid Snippet video of a math class (link above for those who haven’t).  Every time I think about our Kenan project, this video comes to mind. We laugh because we know that we may have fallen into these same teaching traps. When a student does not understand content in the manner we are delivering it this should be our signal that a change in pedagogy is needed. However, we give more and more examples in the same delivery method, or give the student one-on-one time with same content in the same manner, thinking just the close proximity and time dedication will be the answer to the problem.

Our Kenan Project’s goal is to change the mindsets of both teachers and students on what a math classroom should look like and feel like in early elementary classrooms.  From a kid’s perspective, our Kenan Project will make a math classroom engaging, intriguing, and challenging (and worth the challenge).   Teachers will see that they can have impact in a student’s math knowledge because they will be able to efficiently find the “edge of understanding” and instruct from this point with  meaningful lessons.