The Best Learning in My Classroom this Year Had Nothing to do with Me

By Nick McDaniels – Last week at the beginning of class, as I was taking attendance, I heard some of my students in my “quiet” class getting loud and starting to yell at each other.

Four years ago, I would have come flying into the conversation with some wisdom about why we should speak peacefully to one another. Now, I just let these things play out for a second or two because my instincts about what is and what isn’t going to get worse are better, fights don’t happen as often as they used to, and perhaps, I’m just a little more tired.

Regardless, I’m glad I let it go. After listening for a few more seconds, it occurred to me what the argument was about. No one hid someone else’s hello kitty cell phone cover, no one bonked anyone on the head for saying something dumb (this game is called Bonkaz and is as childish as it sounds), and no one made fun of (packed up) anyone’s shoes.

Of course: the ontological argument (I’m sure some more well-versed MU theologians than I might disagree about my terminology here, but bear with this non-Catholic for the sake of argument).

Why not? My students were arguing about the existence of a higher power. What fun!

I snuck from my desk up into one of the student desks, just outside of the argument — which at this point was engaging about 80% of the class. First things first, the argument was really well structured. People were listening as others spoke, people were taking time to think, people were deferring to “experts” (the preacher’s kid). I couldn’t have designed this if I had tried.

One student, Jermaine (names have been changed to protect the innocent), was asking most of the questions.

So He just snaps his fingers and the world is made? He hears everything? If I am saved, does that mean I can still go to hell? Are God and Jesus the same person? Is God a person? How come when I pray for stuff I never get it?

All open ended, all for which it was clear he had no answer. Then Marissa started weighing in with answers from her experience. And “Brother James,” the future preacher, started talking about God as perfection and humans as sinners. Then the cool guys, John and Javon, lent their approval to the conversation by quieting people down when they wanted to hear a particular answer.

I let it go for 20 minutes, void of test prep, void of teaching, oops. So fire me!

Then they asked me. What about all the other religions? What about their Gods? Can there be more than one?

I started into a discourse about world religions as constructs for creating meaning and answering the unanswerable. I tried to get them to fathom the expanse of the universe, and just when their brains started to hurt, I told them that if they needed a higher power, right where their brains started to hurt, that’s where it would be. In my mind, this seemed like a fun exercise. Naturally, they got bored, so I stopped and they started again, realizing that they didn’t need me for this one, because I, probably more than most of them, have no answers for their questions. And then Jermaine realized, as many admit, the answer often times cannot come from without. Wow! Everyone nodded and that was it.

On that day, my students asked a ton of questions, and I answered none. That sounds like bad teaching. But in this case, it was the best teaching I could have done. Sometimes we just need to get out of their way. I’m grateful to my students for reminding me of that.

Learning Architecture: It’s all in the design

By Dr. Martin Scanlan – The best way to read this post is on an Ipad while sitting at a playground.

Pick any playground you like. Borrow your neighbor’s Ipad that you’ve been coveting if you don’t have your own. Seriously, get outside.

Now that you’re settled in on a bench in the shade, enjoying the breeze and watching the kids play, I want to direct your attention to the design of the playground itself. What do you notice? Is the equipment new or old? Does it appeal to the toddlers or the ten-year olds?

Consider how much the design directs the play, orienting kids toward certain activities. For instance, a freestanding slide with a ladder is pretty directive: climb up the ladder, then slide down. On the other hand, consider how much the design leaves the kids the latitude to create their own activities. For instance, a playground near my house has a simple webbing that is wide open to interpretation. Some kids jump and climb around, while others lay back and relax.

Playground design is a helpful metaphor for getting at key features of designing for learning, and what I’ve recently been referring to in my research as the “learning architecture.” Learning cannot be designed directly. As any teacher knows, the most finely crafted lesson can still flop, and no process or product guarantees that one’s students will learn.

Although designing learning is not possible, designing for learning is. This is to say that certain processes and products facilitate learning more than others. The metaphor of a learning architecture captures this point (Wenger, 1998).  As architecture typically references the process and product of designing buildings, a learning architecture refers to the process and product of designing for learning.

Let me describe a couple dimensions of architecture, using the playground where you’re sitting to make my points. First, designing for learning blends both “participation” and “reification.”

Some dimensions of learning are participatory, involving actions and reactions. On the playground, this is seen in the playing of the kids. It’s unscripted, unfolding, a happening. Other dimensions of learning are captured in things – tools, artifacts, stories, and so on. On the playground, this is seen in the actual equipment, the layout and organization. Think of the latter as reification.  These two dimensions work together, influencing each other. Just as on the playground, the types of toys that are available affects how they play, so too in the learning architecture, our reifications influence how people participate.

A second, related feature of designing for learning involves the designed and the emergent. The emphasis here is that processes and products that facilitate learning are both stable (designed) and malleable (emergent). Again, look back at that playground (aren’t you glad you’re sitting outside?!). The equipment itself – take the monkeybars, for instance – is formally designed, with a particular purpose intended. Yet watching those kids on the monkeybars, you’ll quickly notice that all sorts of improvised play emerges that goes far beyond this design.

Attending to these (and other) dimensions of the learning architecture can help us understand how design features facilitate learning. For instance, in one line of my current research,  I’m examining how educators develop their capacities to meet students’ special needs. One way they do this is by working with coaches. Some aspects of coaching are participatory: the give and take of the teacher and coach working together. Other aspects are reified: captured in notes from the coach to the teacher. Some parts of the coaching process are designed, such as the plan to have the coach come to model a lesson. Other parts emerge, such as when the planned lesson doesn’t go as expected, and the coach has to improvise.

In short, paying attention to design provides a valuable lens for unpacking what is happening — whether one is outside at a playground or inside the schoolhouse doors looking at the teaching and learning inside.

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Martin Scanlan is assistant professor of educational policy and leadership in the College of Education at Marquette University.

Why I Chose Marquette: It’s About the Journey

By Peggy Wuenstel – One of the things that educators rarely have enough time to do is reflect on where we are, where we have been, and use that information to plan where we are going. The invitation to post about how my Marquette education prepared me for the challenges of this job I love, and led to the Teacher of the Year recognition required me to do so.

It seems to boil down to 3 L’s, LISTEN, LEARN, and LOVE.

My time at Marquette provided me with so many gifted voices to LISTEN to. It made me take stock of what I thought to be true, what I learned in the classroom, and what I could apply to the hands-on experiences I had serving children and adults. It also taught me to listen to my own voice. What will distinguish us in the future is not what we can repeat or restate, but how we can make it new and add our own personal spin in assisting our students to master. Where we travel, what we read, who we interact with, the art and music we appreciate, all speak through us to our students. A Liberal Arts education assures that those values are deeply ingrained

I have always believed that the most gifted teachers are those who help students realize what they already know. That is where the second L, LEARNING comes into play.

If what we model for students is an unquenchable thirst to be better, to know more, and to find more effective ways to share what we have found, then the excitement is contagious. Those teachers that live for what they do, that can’t wait to share what they have just discovered, are the ones whose classes and therapy sessions resonate. Whether it is mastering technology, incorporating neuroscience, understanding the impacts of gender, poverty, culture, language, or ideology, every teacher has much to keep learning. The quest for knowledge is not something that we ever finish.

I chose a Jesuit institution for a reason, and that reason still drives what I do. In a time where social justice issues are so important in the future of education, proceeding from a position of service and of LOVE makes dark days survivable.  Knowing that we remain in control of the way we choose to interact with others despite politics, finances, or social conflict gives one hope for the future. Coming to these challenges from a Catholic faith reminds us that we are not alone in the journey.

Wherever my teaching journey leads me, I know where I have been. The steps that I took through Marquette’s campus have illuminated the path, lightened the load, and given me marvelous traveling companions.

I wish you all similar voyages.

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Peggy Wuenstel received her Bachelor of Science in Communicative Disorders from Marquette University in 1980 and her M.S. in 1982.  She was honored as 2011 Wisconsin Special Services Teacher of the Year.  Peggy has been a pediatric Speech/Language Pathologist in southeastern Wisconsin for 28 years. She has never once gone a year without either providing services in a school or attending classes in another educational institution. “Maybe it is being left handed and having an Rh negative blood type,” she jokes, “but I have consistently been drawn to serve the outliers in our world –  those with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Visual Impairment, or Communication challenges, and finding ways to connect.”

Game On! Using EdTech Games for Learning

By Steve Ryan – We all remember the childhood game that captured our attention for hours on end; we played with friends and family, have great memories of our interaction with these games. Maybe it was Monopoly, Clue, Sorry, or some other popular game? Each of these games taught us something about ourselves or an important skill. Monopoly teaches skills of budgeting money, property management, and gaining more. Clue enhances critical thinking skills, and detective analysis, whereas Sorry looks at numbers, chance, and luck (good and bad).

How come we don’t see more games within curricula and in classrooms with such skills being taught?

As more and more technology is integrated into classrooms, students should be exposed to educational games that assist in the learning process. Skills and knowledge are being taught through many games and engage students on an entirely new level. The engagement occurs due to the interactivity of many games that require the student to input information or make decisions quickly in order to continue to a new level or obtain an achievement. Additionally, games assist in problem solving because often in any game there is a problem that needs to be solved by the user, as discussed by forefront gaming researcher James Paul Gee. Problem solving, critical thinking, analysis, interpretation, and simulating real world are all excellent benefits to incorporating games within teaching and learning. Games are an excellent way to augment and enhance teaching on a topic or certain lesson because the game can instill a better sense of understanding within students.

A favorite gaming suite of mine when teaching American history and government is iCivics. This organization, spearheaded by former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, offers unique gaming opportunities on a variety of topics within the branches of government and citizenship topics, as well. However, I would encourage teachers at all grade levels and content areas to go out and explore different sites to find games that are appropriate for your students and your curriculum.

Whether you use the game to introduce a topic, enhance a lesson, or reinforce a topic, games will show considerable gains with your students, and make learning a little more exciting for them as well!

The Basics of EdTech

By Steve Ryan – Allow me to begin by saying, I am truly humbled to have the opportunity to share with the readers of the Marquette Educator thoughts and insights about integrating educational technology into classrooms across the world.  With technology being constant and ever-changing, I view technology as the way of the future and a way to engage our students through active and differentiated learning.

A little bit of background about me: From the first time I stepped foot on the Marquette campus in the winter/spring of 2004 I knew that I would be able to call MU and the then School of Education my home for the next four years. I grew fond of my classmates, professors, advisors, and administrators that helped to mold me into the young educator that I am today.  Currently, I teach social studies and serve as a technology facilitator at a school district in the western suburbs of Chicago and am finishing a masters degree in instructional technology this August.  I am hoping to strike up the conversation this summer on integrating technology into instruction and the impact technology will have on our students.

So, let’s get down to the technology:

Marc Prensky, an internationally known authority on education and learning, coined the term: “digital natives”, when referring to our current students. They have grown up in the technology age and most don’t remember the day before the Internet or computers or mobile devices existed.  This is the telling portion of what we as educators must do in our classrooms moving forward.  In one of his many publications, Prensky discusses the differences between the students, digital natives, and the teachers, digital immigrants, and what that means for teaching and learning.  Because many teachers look at technology as a new era and did not grow up utilizing it the way current students do, we struggle with how to define and utilize it within our classrooms.  As immigrants to the digital age, teachers must look beyond their uncertainties and know that in order to effectively reach our students, we need to adapt and integrate.

I ask you to think about technology integration in this way: don’t change, at first, what you are doing, just change how you are doing it.  I gave a presentation this past fall at the Illinois Council for the Social Studies about bringing this technology into the classrooms and I provided a few examples:

• Instead of using markers, paper, and colored pencils to create posters, try using Glogster EDU to create online, interactive multimedia posters where you can embed photos, videos, and other multimedia.
• Instead of doing a typical current events project that students turn in at the end of a unit or quarter, adopt Prezi and encourage your students to track current events and be able to present about them.

These are just two examples of simple technology integration; I will continue to provide tips and tricks as well as software options throughout my various posts!

I leave you this week with this thought-provoking video and ask you think about this question: how do you incorporate meaningful technology into your own classrooms and workplaces?

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Steve Ryan graduated from Marquette with majors in history and secondary education, and a minor in broad field social sciences in 2008. He now serves as a technology facilitator and social studies teacher in a western suburb of Chicago, close to where he lives with his wife, Beth. Additionally, he is currently pursuing a masters degree in instructional technology from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. 

Three Years, Three Teaching Assignments

By Nick McDaniels – During my teaching interview two years ago, I remember saying something that might have ultimately sealed my principal’s decision to hire me.

I said, “You know, I’d really love to teach 9th grade.”

I know now, after sitting on some teacher interview panels, that a teacher requesting a 9th grade teaching assignment during an interview is about as likely (and as appreciated) as an interviewee leaving a tip for their interviewers.  The truth is, many teachers do all that they can to avoid teaching 9th grade. It is commonly believed that teaching freshmen should be left for the foolish and wildly energetic. Fortunately for me, if you ask my wife, I am equal parts foolishness and energy. As a result, I have thrived teaching 9th graders for my first two years in the classroom.

In my first year, my teaching assignment consisted of three standard 9th grade English classes, the smallest of which contained 38 students at the beginning of the school year. Many 9th graders are considered undesirable pupils because of their boundless ability to disrupt learning, not follow directions, and unwillingness to complete work. While I found this reputation to be in part true, I very much enjoyed the challenge that 9th graders posed for my budding classroom management strategies and I also thoroughly enjoyed providing the care it takes to help students transition from the small and structured world of middle school, to the large and free world of high school.

Because of restructuring in my school, I spent my first summer vacation preparing for a slightly different teaching assignment. During my second year, I was scheduled to teach two classes of standard 9th grade English and one class of honors 9th grade English. Having a second year of teaching the standard 9th grade class made a world of difference as many of my lessons were already planned and merely needed tweaking and I could spend more of my planning time developing creative assignments and grading papers. The 9th grade honors assignment provided a new challenge that took considerable time in planning and preparation as the curriculum is more accelerated and involved at least six different novels than the standard curriculum. The free time I gained by teaching standard 9th grade English for a second year was immediately reinvested into developing lessons and activities for honors English, thus giving me, in part, that new teacher feeling all over again.

Now beginning my second Summer vacation, I have learned that I will have a new teaching assignment for next year. If nothing changes (and things often change), I will be teaching two classes of standard 10th grade English and one class of honors 10th grade English. For most teachers, this would come as a welcomed reward for paying the dues of teaching 9th graders for a few years. I, however, still like 9th graders and would still teach them if given the opportunity. Fortunately for me, I will get to “loop” with some of my students, having many of them for a second year. These students will already be aware of my expectations and strengths. This, theoretically, will translate into greater student achievement, especially for those that made connections with me as a teacher, and especially on standardized tests.

In Baltimore City, 10th grade English is the tested grade level as all students completing 10th grade English are required to take the Maryland High School Assessment for English. This challenge is exciting and one that will take considerable Summer preparation and will result in increased pressure throughout the year.

In all, I am excited for the different opportunities I have had to grow as a teacher, and I am complimented by the fact that I am trusted to make such changes from year to year. I will miss teaching 9th graders, supporting students that are experiencing so many new things in such a short amount of time, but I will be happy to see students mature in new ways.

What Oprah Taught Me about Honesty, Trust, and Teaching

By Nick McDaniels – Admittedly, I have never been an avid Oprah watcher. Though Oprah has been on television for every one of my 23 years on this earth, I can say that I have probably only watched a dozen episodes. I was, however, like millions of people around the world, compelled to rush home to watch the last few episodes of The Oprah Winfrey Show. And now, I am becoming one of the billions of people world-wide that have reflected on the impact of Oprah on our lives, and one of the millions to blog about it.

Watching the last few episodes, hearing from the people that Oprah has impacted, and seeing the best moments of 25 years of great television, I can say that I learned something that will help me as a teacher.

Oprah, ironically behind a lot of make up and beneath a lot of hairspray, has earned a reputation as someone rarely afraid to admit her faults on television. In an age when celebrities, with help from the media, do so much to distinguish themselves as different from the common folks, Oprah consistently has tried to relate to the rest of us, the less than perfect people. Through televising her own struggles with weight and style and a tumultuous upbringing, Oprah has made people comfortable, inspired people to make changes for themselves and for others. In this way Oprah is doing something that every teacher in America, including myself, should be doing better.

As teachers, we need to ensure that our students see our faults, see that we are not perfect, but work hard to be great. Too often in my classroom, especially as a first year teacher, but still too often now, I try to be perfect in front of my students. Recently I realized that the more that I admit my own imperfections (typos in assignments, not knowing the answers to questions), the more my students are willing to listen, the more comfortable they become and the more they trust me.

So watching Oprah’s finale, seeing thousands of people with tears in their eyes, I realized that people trust her because they perceive her to be honest, and people for years have tuned-in intently every week to listen. Following Oprah’s lead, by acknowledging my imperfections as a teacher and a person in front of my students, they will, among other things, perceive me honest, and trust me, and listen, and learn.

If You Can’t Beat ‘Em…

By Nick McDaniels – If you search through the pages of this blog, you will find that I have made multiple critiques of the Baltimore Teachers Union, its leadership, its handling of contract negotiations and ratification elections, and general ineffectiveness. It doesn’t necessarily follow then, that I was recently elected (though unopposed) as Building Representative to the BTU from my high school. It certainly doesn’t follow that I’d become a member of an organization that I was hesitant to join, is a lightning rod for criticism, and that I have been outspoken against since I became a teacher.

What does follow is that we all should realize that to know and not do is to not know. I recognize problems within the organization, just as I recognize strengths (and there are many), and I realize that if I had considered it my duty to complain about it, then it also must be my duty to help make it better, or get a better understanding so that I do not complain with the ignorance of an outsider.

As of July 1st, I will represent over 100 teachers and paraprofessionals as a representative to the BTU. I will assist individual teachers in administrative proceedings at the school level. I will ensure that teachers know how to fully take advantage of the new and, undoubtedly, purposefully confusing new bargaining agreement that I railed against in the fall.

It is my hope to help, in a small and local way, to rebuild the dignity of teacher in America, to ensure that the good teachers are respected and rewarded and all teachers are treated fairly. It is my job to make sure that teachers can spend less time watching their backs and more time watching their students succeed.

It’s better to come in last place than not to place at all

By Anna Luberda – It was 45 degrees, overcast, and there were 30 mile an hour winds.  Great day for a track meet.  Last week the track team at my school was in desperate need of an extra adult as one of their coaches was unable to attend a meet.  I volunteered the day before because I was told that I would get to go out to dinner with the team afterwards.  As a poor student teacher and now an even poorer Jesuit volunteer, I have never, and will never, pass up a free meal.

So there I was, sitting in the bleachers at a high school about 30 miles away from the reservation.  All the while I was thinking to myself, “Really, Anna?  A windbreaker?”  The weatherman said it would be a cool 55 degrees with a light breeze.  Nonetheless, I was there for the day to offer support and encouragement to the small group that comprised the track team.

There are about 25 kids on the team, a good majority of them are good competitors.  There were a few kids who knew they would be missing a day of school for the meet and thus showed up and were unwilling to try very hard.  And of course there were the kids who were not particularly great at any event but were anxious to try everything.  These are the kids I love the best.

As a student at a small Catholic grade school outside of Chicago, I was never really very good at sports.  I tried them all– thanks to my mother– but never really got the hang of anything.  So I’ve got a soft spot for the kids who try their hardest but come up short.

Two team members stuck out to me the most at the meet.  One was a fifth grader who was at his very first meet.  He signed up for every running event.  I was corralled in to being a timer at the finish line so I got to see him run all his races.  Each time he came around the track towards the finish line, dead last, he had a huge smile on his face.  He was looking from side to side, as if to say, “Why are all these kids running so fast?”  Each time he came in last I patted him on the back and said, good job! and he was off to his next event.

The other student was a seventh grader who played every other sport at school as well.  He also placed last in all his events.  Now, I was always a little bit of a sore loser.  Not this kid.  He came right up to me at the end of each race and told me that he had beat his time from the last meet and that he would work on beating it again at the next meet.  He would also then go find every other kid in the race and shake their hand or give them a high-five.  I almost cried when he told me how much he loved running track.

As the school year comes to an end, I’m starting to think about how much I will miss these kids.  Things like these track meets make me think about how upset I get over something small and how ridiculous it seems later on.  It’s inspiring to see a kid who comes in last in every race trying harder and harder each time to improve.

After his last race, he came over to me and said, “You know what?  It’s better to come in last place than not to place at all.”

It’s little things like these that make me glad to have picked the profession I did.  It’s hard to imagine so much inspiration coming from any other job.

A Little Improv Never Hurts: Creativity in Teaching

By Cassidy Wilson – Once a month, in Marquette Hall room 200, the Studio 013 Refugees perform an entirely improvised show.  Standing among the performers is me:   a nervous freshman with pit stains the size of Canada.

I stare out into the overwhelming crowd and can feel my heart beat in my throat. The sound is so loud it reminds me of that kid that never shuts his darn phone off amidst the quiet of a test. I have to compose myself at this moment. No one can know how nervous I am for fear of killing a joke and fulfilling my apprehension of a bad performance.

Comedic group improv has always been an enjoyable thing for me to watch. I never envisioned actually becoming an improviser; nonetheless, here I stand, anticipating anything, knowing nothing. No matter how embarrassingly terrified I am before I speak my first words, every show ends with a satisfied audience and one helluva show. Everyone supports one another in improv, and we have something deeper than just a team. We have a family.

Currently, I am on track to major in Secondary Education and Writing-Intensive English.  Believe it or not, the experiences I have during my improv shows, and even during practice, echo the experiences I anticipate having as I embark upon the journey of becoming an educator.

As a teacher, my class will be my audience. Every day I will stand in front of them and deal with nerves. I will recall how my own high school English class complained about how bad the teacher’s breath was, or that the instructor for our Politics class always forgot to zip his fly up. I have condemned myself to an eternity at the mercy of the evils of high school.

But, there won’t be any reason to fret, for Studio 013 Refugees has perfected my confidence front. I will appear cool, calm, and collected to every single student. My confidence will be almost intimidating. That’s good. It means respect.

Studio 013 Refugees at Marquette University

Improv has also taught me to to be a quick, on-the-spot thinker, which will be invaluable in the classroom.  I may have no idea what my students will ask or what topics they  may bring up in class. Unfortunately, there is no guide to every student’s query. However, I will keep improv in my back pocket. The questions I will receive are my suggestions in a show. I can entertain the suggestions my audience gives me by means of my knowledge. I can engage my creativity to answer ambiguous questions and teach on entirely new levels not yet explored.

Improv is beautiful that way; it unveils things you never anticipated.

Another part of my experience with the Studio 013 Refugees is working with a group of people. As a teacher, I will need to be collaborative. I’ll work with students, faculty, and parents. Everyone will share a common goal of educating youth; however, we may all have a different idea for the best approach. During a scene in improv, you are never sure what another person will bring to the table. Every improviser has her/his own idea of how to perform an entertaining and coherent act. As a member of the team you cannot negate one person’s idea to bring in your own. You must respect everyone’s creativity and work together to make the best of it. As a teacher, I won’t negate or take away from another’s idea, but rather make the best of each.

One of the great things about applying improv to educating is that you don’t have to actually be a part of an official improv group. Every word you say, thing you do, and day of your life is improv. Creativity is the fuel of improv, and it’s also the fuel of education.

As Maya Angelou once said, “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use it, the more you have.”

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Cassidy Wilson is a Freshman in the College of Education majoring in secondary education and writing intensive  English. She is involved with the Service Learning Program on campus, as well as the Studio 013 Refugees. Cassidy grew up in a small town in rural Iowa and reports that she has really enjoyed the change of scenery she experienced when she moved to Milwaukee.