Digital Portfolios: where to start? Part 2

Digitalportfolios: Key #2: teacher inspiration

In Digital Portfolios: Where to Start Part #1, I shared that the most important way to motivate students to embrace their digital portfolio is for their teachers to have a digital portfolio themselves.  In fact, I make the case that the one requiring students to maintain a digital portfolio must not only have a place that they share their learning online, but be able to give stories of how it has made a difference.  This allows teachers to not only model the process of keeping a portfolio, but illustrate reasons why keeping a digital portfolio matters.

While, the first thing to do is take a long hard consideration about managing your own digital portfolio, the second also requires some reflection.  As with the first, it is not always self-evident, but when you take part in this key, you'll see why it really matters:

Key #2: Get inspired: take a look at what others are doing

Jumping into a portfolio system without looking at what other educators are doing ignores the tremendous resources out there.  All too often, the cart is loaded before one takes a look at the paddock of horses.  It is crucial to take a look at what students are sharing and how they are sharing it.  Here I will show just a few examples.  There is no order to these links and it is definitely not an exhaustive list: simply a place to start.  Click on the titles to see these portfolios in action.

Daniel Boyle's Honors History Site

Dan Boyle, a Humanities teacher at Triton Regional High School, decided to have his students build web pages over blogs.  He shared this with me on Who needs a digital portfolio?:

I love how he uses a padlet to display student avatars that lead to the students' twitter feeds and web sites.  The students' sites have a running blog plus multiple classroom links to a variety of shares utilizing a plethora of apps.  Videos, Pixton comic strips, spiderscribe.net mind maps are just a few of the ways students show their learning.  A look at Dan Boyle's students' portfolios will definitely expand your mind as to the possibilities out there.

Freshgrade

Here I am using Freshgrade to capture a student's project

As a teacher interested in giving students opportunities to share learning and make connections, I have kept a connection with Freshgrade since 2012.  Freshgrade is a platform that helps teachers capture evidence of learning in the moment.  Whether it is text, pictures, audio, or video, the captured evidence is uploaded to a student's portfolio where students and parents can easily access it at any moment.   The platform has been evolving over time.   Now with parent and student apps available, I have been able to use Freshgrade as as Learning Management System, keeping a connection with students, sharing assignments with them, and giving feedback.  For those looking for a way to share class activity in moment of learning, Freshgrade is definitely something to check out.

What's going on in Mr. Solarz' Class?

The Padlet that leads visitors to the Paul Solarz's student portfolios

When you visit Paul Solarz's Weebly page (Weebly.com), you find connections to all his students' portfolios over several years.  Once again, a padlet is used to make getting to each portfolio easy.  What a great idea to use a class picture to share the links to each portfolio.  Here we find student created speaking avatars called Vokis, field trip and science fair Youtube and GoAnimate videos, podcasts and more.  Paul has been called a digital portfolio guru and is definitely one to follow when embarking on portfolios.

Guitars and Fireflies

Jodie Deinhammer shared with me her students' portfolios from 2014-2015 year as I made a call out over twitter.  She uses a Google blogspot platform to lead to students' Bulbapp.com sites.  Once again, these portfolios share a bevvy of different online technologies that students can use to share learning.  As I looked through them I was drawn in by the excellent use of picture links to share post content.  As I clicked on Ariel's, I was inspired by her Smore flyer sharing learning about healthy brains, her analysis of the white and gold dress, and her piktochart infographics.  As one goes deeper into this portal, you can see thoughtful posts, effective use of media, and excellent citations.

High Tech High Digital Portfolios

Immediately, it is obvious that High Tech High's Media Arts ePortfolios seem completely integrated into the fabric of learning.  Not only do you see easy access to the student portfolios from this portal, but you can see the teacher portfolios right there.  You can feel the importance placed on digital portfolios right from the get go.  This Google site is a portal to students' sites (Weebly.com again) that allow the students to embed downloadable documents, powerpoints, videos and pictures in each post.  Navigating through the portfolios felt like travelling through a Wiki as project challenges and students projects all seem connected.  It feels like teacher and student alike work at developing this learning portal together sharing their learning alongside each other.

Ms. Lirenman's Learners

Karen Lirenman on blogging in the early primary classroom

Karen Lirenman has been a longtime proponent of student blogging and shares her student's public portfolios using the kidblog.org platform.  She tells how her students' digital portfolios help her students connect with the world in this video.  What I love about Karen's students' blogs is that I can see the conversation taking place between student and teacher as she comments on the students' thoughts.  If you thought that primary students were too young to maintain digital portfolios, think again.

Riverside Secondary Edublogs

At Riverside, we use an Edublogs.org platform for our students' digital portfolios.  The above link is a flipboard magazine of some of my students' Science and Technology 11 blogs.  While you won't find many online technologies used (our Canadian privacy laws keep me hesitant from having my students sign up for these), you might find that we work hard to encourage students to personalize their portfolio, share honest reflections and visit and comment on each others' posts.

And the list of excellent student portfolios could go on. . .

In putting together this post, my horizons were definitely broadened.  It was wonderful to see how students embrace their portfolios, making them their storehouse of learning.  I was impressed with the endeavours to have teacher and student learning alongside each other.  I was amazed at the number of educational apps out there to help students share and connect.  I haven't even scratched the surface of sharing the possibilities out there so please comment and share more examples of the amazing things students can do with their digital portfolios.

Digital Portfolios: where to start? Part 1

#digitalportfolios : Key #1 for student motivation

In Who needs a Digital Portfolio, commenter Kristine Hodgins asked about first steps for creating a digital portfolio.  A great question.  I answered, but I thought the question merited more reflection.  Where does a teacher start when inspired to have students build digital portfolios (ePortfolios)? What are the next steps once the passion hits? You might be expecting me to start with: choosing a platform, getting admin on board, or informing parents. These are early steps.  But I think there are three things that really should come first.  I'll call them keys.

You might be surprised.  These keys may be steps that you hadn't really thought of.  They are, however, crucial in answering the question: Where to start?  In order to give each of these keys some focus, I will give each a post.  This first one of the three, I believe, is the most important and often the most overlooked:

Key #1: Develop your own digital portfolio

From a student on eportfolios:

In terms of promotion the problem is the people trying to explain it have probably never used it so in a way they have no clue what they are talking about, basically. To put it frankly – after listening to them you would be like, Okay so you as an outsider who never even used it is telling us we should do this because it is the best thing since sliced bread but you have never used it – you can’t find someone who did use it – you don’t have enough information to tell us how to use it – and now you’re telling us use it and we’ll grade you on it – this kind of makes it hard for students to accept or appreciate it.

- Tosh D. et al. (2005)

David Tosh, Tracy Penny Light, Kele Fleming, and Jeff Haywood, from universities in both Canada and the UK, did a study called Engagement with Electronic Portfolios: Challenges from the Student Perspective as they introduced ePorfolios to university students.  They mention that most studies on portfolios look at the effectiveness of the portfolio from the teacher's perspective.  This was a unique study in that its focus was the students' experience.  The results were extremely telling and should be read by anyone planning to introduce digital portfolios to their students.

One message that came through loud and clear in their study was that the students had a hard time embracing a digital portfolio when they felt their teachers hadn't.  It was like students were saying: "if a digital portfolio is so important, then why don't you have one?  It can't be that important if the person who is asking me to do it doesn't even need it."  This screams hypocrisy to our students and has a huge impact on student acceptance.  Tosh further comments:

If students do not accept the e-portfolio as a holistic means with which to document their learning in different contexts and, more importantly, agree or wish to use the e-portfolio as an integral part of their educational experience, then the potential impact the e-portfolio could have on learning will not be realised. - Tosh D. et al. (2005)

The Tosh D. et al. (2005) article covers a range of important ePortfolio elements: buy-in, motivation, assessment and e-portfolio technology but their "bottom line is that students need to know why their knowledge is important."  Not only do we need to share our examples of digital portfolios, we need to share stories of how our portfolios made a difference for us.  How are our digital portfolios important to us?  How can a student's portfolio be important to them?

I learned about the Tosh study from Dwayne Harapniuk (It's about Learning: creating significant learning environments). He had used my blog as an example of an educator ePortfolio.  This lead me to read his blog post.  The post is full of ePortfolio examples including ones from Teachers and Principals.  Mr. Harapniuk's ePortfolio is an excellent example of an educator modeling an online portfolio.  This he has been doing since the late 90's.  He also is a firm believer that the educator asking students to maintain a portfolio, should have one to share.  This perspective is painfully clear in the title of his post: Show Me Yours and I Will Show You Mine - Eportfolio Examples

More than acceptance, the digital portfolio requires "embrace-ment".  Motivation is the crux of the matter.  I mention to educators in a post called PBL:Q and A that:

One's soul must be mined.  Mining is dangerous; but how else can the gems be found.  I like to think that the best learning is better caught than taught and this mining leads to a better person facilitating the learning.  Added to that, the students need to see their teacher as a risk-taker.  If teachers can put themselves out there, the students will be all the more willing to do the same. - Robinson S. (2013)

In this post, I was referring to teacher as chief risk taker in Project-based Learning.  But even more-so, this applies to the digital portfolio.

- One's soul must be mined (see what I mean in Kim Ondrik's blog (here)

- Passion for the digital portfolio is better caught than taught.

- The teacher must be the chief risk-taker as we ask students to put themselves out there in this digital world

I came into our school library the other day and my principal Anthony Ciolfitto (whose wonderfully thoughtful educational blog is here by the way) came up to me with a smile and pitched me an idea.

"How about we make this corner area here in the library a collaboration zone.  We paint this wall with whiteboard paint and add a digital projector facing this wall here."

"For teachers or students?" I asked.

"For both.  What a great area for students to come to and work on group projects together.  But also, what a great way to let our students see us teachers collaborating.  We can model what we are asking our students to do right here."

Amazing.  Imagine teachers in the school library working alongside the students--pitching ideas to each other, brainstorming, planning.  Imagine students nearby--watching, listening, catching the idea that we are all learners.

We can model what we are asking our students to do right here.

It works with a collaboration area, with project-based learning, and with digital portfolios.  The students need to see it in action, not from a distance, but from nearby.  From their teacher.

References

Tosh, D., Light, T., Fleming, K., and Haywood, J. (2005). Engagement with Electronic Portfolios: Challenges from the Student Perspective. Canadian Journal Of Learning And Technology / La Revue Canadienne De L’Apprentissage Et De La Technologie, 31(3). Retrieved from http://www.cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt/article/view/97 Aug. 3, 2015

Robinson, S. (2013) PBL: Q and A. On the side of technology. Retrieved from
http://seanrtech.blogspot.ca/2013/12/pblq.html Aug. 3, 2015

Diary of Some Not-so-wimpy Project-based Learners

There has been a story brewing for some time that I am just now finding how to share.  It happened when I was teaching grade 7 last year.  I had challenged my students to "Address an Issue".  I share a bit about the experience in The Problem with Project-based Learning.  In "Addressing an Issue", the students were given the opportunity to choose an issue, either local or global, and decide on a way to address it. 

After completing the challenge, I asked my students to reflect on how they felt about this kind of learning. I have been keeping their responses and wondering how I could work this into a post.  I am now realizing that I don't need to work anything.  All I needed to do was to let the students share their stories.  What follows is what they came up with.  This could be called a guest post of sorts as these are student reflections about their own work and their own experience.  These are their own words and their own pictures: a view into the mind of a project-based learner.

Type 1 Diabetes

Our issue that we were working on is Type 1 Diabetes. We are working on Type 1 diabetes because I have Type 1 diabetes.  We made a PowerPoint to get people more aware about this terrible disease and how many people are affected by it every year.

We both enjoyed this project as I got to teach my partner about this disease and he got to learn a lot about what I have to go through every day for the rest of my life

Orphans and Widows in Ethiopia

 

The issue that we decided to address was the orphans and widows of Ethiopia. We chose this issue because both orphans and widows cannot provide for themselves. We partnered up with a local church to tackle this tough problem. To try and help the orphans and widows we have had a couple of fundraisers. We hosted an all ladies event at our church and we had a hot chocolate sale here at school. We raised almost $4,000 dollars, and we still have donations coming in every day. Also we have an anonymous donor who will double all the money we raise! The money raised will go to help build an orphanage (we need to get supplies and we will send missionaries there to build the orphanage).  The money will also be given to the widows so that they can start their own businesses and there by provide for their families. This experience was amazing; it was a great insight into the lives of orphans and widows. We were truly inspired by this project and hope to continue to help the orphans and widows in Ethiopia. 

We really liked the problem-based learning. We think that it prepares us for real life problems in a better way by challenging us to solve problems that we will have to deal with when we are older. In our opinion it is a great way to learn and we would recommend it to any school.
 

Our Niteo Experience

Our issue that we decided to address was something called the "Niteo" association project. Niteo is a foundation that helps children in Uganda learn how to read for pleasure. We are helping to solve this issue by coming up with a well thought out plan that was pretty simple to follow. A short version of our plan was to raise some money at a nearby church through a bake sale, then give half the money to Niteo,  and half of the money  for buying prizes for a book drive that would take place later on, then we would hold a book drive at our school. Once we had the books and money, we would drop them off to the Niteo central office in Kelowna.

We weren’t able to book an event at the church, so instead after we told the pastor what the money would be for, he got people to make some donations, and we got 45$ in total. We then went out and bought prizes for the book drive and waited until the date came for the event. Our plan was that every 10 books you donate you get one prize. After our book drive, we got quite a few books, it was over 45 books, and we were very satisfied! Now we must get the books to Kelowna, and our plan will be completed!

What we think about the project based learning is that we like it because instead of just doing one small assignment and being over with it, it seems like we get to do a project for a while and really get involved with it. We also like that with this project we got to take some action towards what we wanted to help fix, and actually get the students in the school and the people in our community involved. We also liked how not every group had to their project on the exact same issue, and how we all got to choose what we wanted to do.  This entire experience has been amazing for all four of us because we feel that this is very important, we feel that we have helped one tiny bit of world’s problem’s, and that makes us all feel very good! Now that this is almost all over, we are happy to think that someday a child in Uganda will learn to read for pleasure as we do! This has been truly an amazing experience!

The issue we are addressing is dog abuse. We chose this topic because dog abuse is a very serious offence.  People abuse dogs for no reason. There are many companies and organizations that spend countless hours trying to stop dog abuse!   We would like to help as well by spreading the word through friends, family and our community.  Our goal is that people will hear it everywhere.  Please call your local SPCA or 911 if you see any dogs being hurt or mistreated by someone.  It could be happening in your neighbourhood.  If you see a neighbour hurting their dog, please call 911 immediately!  You could save the dog’s life!

Why there should be hitting in peewee hockey

We think there should be hitting in peewee hockey because people are getting hurt from retaliation.  For example slashing.  Then to prevent that from happening you can properly hit legally. 

I like this kind of learning because everything is a team thing and it's not all mine or others work.

Building a new pool for our city

Our project was about our city needing a new pool. The city needs a new pool because the old pool has too many problems. The pool is so old it has been condemned. Without a new pool our local swim team soon won’t have a place to practice and people in the neighbourhood won’t have a pool to use. It was a great project because our great creative plans showed a nice pool that would be safe, big and clean. It was hard though because the mayor wasn't able to reply to our message.  He was interested though and tweeting him was great. I think that the problem with this project is that building a pool is such a huge project that it will take years to finish.

World Hunger

For our presentation for addressing an issue we chose world hunger. We decided to have a bake sale to raise money to give to a company that helps people all over the world not just in Canada. After a while of searching for a company we found a company called The Global Food Banking Network. This company was just what we were looking for.

Once we figured that out, we planned a date to have the bake sale.  At first we thought we should do it on Sunday, but my mom thought that we should have it at school because who wants to sit outside in the cold and barely make $30 dollars!  So we had the bake sale on November 18th.  We thought the bake sale was going so well that we decided to have it the next day as well (the 19th).  And that was a good idea because we got even more sales than the first day!  Overall we got a total of $75 dollars!  After we got all the money we mailed it to The Global Food Banking Network.  Now more people can have food.

How can you help? You can help by learning more about poverty and donating money to The Global Food Banking Network. To learn more visit: http://www.foodbanking.org/

Thanks for taking the time to listen and consider donating!

Leatherback Turtle

Our issue is that the leatherback sea turtle is critically endangered which means it is very close to becoming extinct and only 1% of baby Leatherbacks will grow to be an adult due to the many threats that they have to face.

Although the Leatherback is almost extinct there are a lot of organizations trying to save and get the public aware of the Leatherback Turtle such as, Government agencies, Marine Conservation Associations, the WWF (World Wide life Fund) and even some fishing companies have installed TED Turtle Exclusion Devices, so turtles can escape if they were to get caught in the net.

We chose this topic because we are interested in learning about the Leatherback turtle and how we can help to make sure this amazing creature doesn’t go extinct. We created a PowerPoint presentation and presented to the class to try to get more people aware of this amazing creature and what they can to do help to help the Leatherback. We think that we accomplished our goal of getting the public aware of the turtle and now a lot more people know of it and what they can do to help.

The picture that we have chosen is of a jellyfish (since the chances of finding and getting a picture of a Leatherback Turtle are very rare). The jellyfish is the Leatherback’s main source of food as it can eat its weight in a day. This picture was taken at the Vancouver Aquarium.

We found PBL interesting and a new good way to Learn. We think that PBL (project based learning) should be taught more around other schools as it is a very engaging and fun way to learn!!!

 

(Before and After)

 

How did we feel about this addressing an issue project.  We thought this project was very interesting because we got to change people’s point of view about the use of electronics. The only down side we found is that we think it would be nicer to not have a due date with this assignment so we could play around, experiment and raise more awareness on our topic. We like project based learning, because we get to work together, and it’s more efficient than learning out of a textbook.

 

Our addressing an issue project is on how students all around the world are spending too much time in front of an electronic device. We wanted to find out how much time kids in our class spend on a device each day. The results from this survey were 4-5 hours a day. We believe that kid’s imaginations are getting weaker throughout each year because their imaginations are already brought to life for them in a game. We also believe that kids are getting less social because electronics are taking over their free time.

Mr. Robinson allowed us to introduce two days with no electronics in class to our fellow students. Through the two days we found it harder than you would think to not use any electronics. The big question after those two days was if the experiment made a different in our classmate’s weekends, in terms of using electronics. The results we got back were that 7 kids said they had more time on a device, 4 kids said less and 8 kids said they had no difference in time. 

---------

Thank you for letting my class share their projects with you.  It is surprising to see how far students can go with three simple words "Address an Issue" and some leeway.  This venture has helped my students strive for real world gains in future projects as well.  One poignant comment to note is that several students mentioned that they wish they didn't have a due date.  Interesting.  Did I have to set a date for their presentations?  Could I have simply had them present their ongoing work?

Opening the door to project-based learning has been a turning point in my career.  It has been a great foundation as I develop Connections-based Learning.  Through it all, I have learned to never underestimate what a student can do. 

#FamilyBloggingMonth

I have a dream.

I dream that one day the dinner table conversation will start with: "I saw what you did at school today.  Love it."

I dream that a child will understand his mother a little better because he has read his mother's post and gets where she is coming from.

I dream that a brother will actually sit down and read his sister's thoughts.

I dream that family members can be the biggest fans of family members.

Here is one way that may get us closer to realizing this dream: #FamilyBloggingMonth

The guidelines.  There are only 3 parts: Challenge each member of the family to post something in the month of November.  Read and Comment on each other's posts. Share that you did it.  Simple.

1. Challenge

Talk about it with your family.  "I heard about this crazy idea.  Family Blogging Month."  Talk about digital citizenship: what should a post include and not include, what kind of comments are helpful; what are the effects of hurtful ones? "What should we blog about?".  Three ideas to make the world a better place?  The best part of being in our family?  Our passions?  Our projects?

Riverside's Tech Appropriate Poster

Think up and down.  Think of your kids.  But also think of your parents.  Your parents' parents.  It's a chance to hear from your crazy uncle.  It's an excuse to get your father sharing some of his insights.  It's a chance to hear what makes your mother tick.

2. Post, Read, and Comment

Each member posts on whatever medium works: personal blog, professional blog, social media, lined paper.  But here is the kicker: each member reads each post from each member of the family and meaningfully comments.

3. Share

To the level of your comfortability, share the posts and comments tagged with #familybloggingmonth.  This might be a tweet: "Participated in #familybloggingmonth . Great way to share as a family." You might share each other's posts tagged with #familybloggingmonth . You might not feel comfortable sharing on social media at all.  That's okay.  Sharing on social media isn't the point.

#FamilyBloggingMonth is a reminder that the most important people we share with are our family.  It's a chance to know and be known better by the people who should.  It's a chance to show our closest that we seek to understand them.

There is no mark.  There is no grade.  Only feedback.

So join with me this November for #FamilyBloggingMonth . And if you have the same dream as I do and become a #familybloggingmonth champion at your school, place of business, or circle of friends, let me know.

[Cover photo, “Dinner at 'Lorraine' 1922“, by Blue Mountains City Library licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.]

What Relationships do for Learning

"No significant learning occurs without a significant relationship" - says Dr. James P. Comer, professor of Child Psychiatry, Yale University.  If you know anything about Dr. Comer, you would know that he worked with schools in low economic areas.  The schools were fraught with a lack of learning, frequent inattendance, and constant behaviour issues.  Starting with a viewpoint that it was the students' experiences and not the students themselves that resulted in a lack of success, Comer began to evaluate the students' school and home environment.  He found that although at one time the communities around these schools had been strong and connected, the connections had been lost.  The students were coming to school without the proper skills to be successful.  The strong social bonds that help students develop the proficiencies to learn were missing.  He created the School Development Program in 1968 to help schools recreate those social bonds--working with administration, parents, and teachers to foster student development.

Dr. James P. Comer on Development, Relationships and Learning

It worked.

 

The School Development Program caused a sharp increase in student achievement alongside a decrease in behavioural issues. This SDP model has been now used in over 1000 schools scattered throughout half of the states in America.  Each time, the stakeholders work together to foster child and adolescent development in the school.  Comer's quote illustrates how the development is based on the relationships fostered.  "It is the positive relationships and sense of belonging that a good school culture provides that give these children the comfort, confidence, competence, and motivation to learn." Comer (2005).

Fantastic, right.  You would think that with that kind of success, opponents would give up, schools would focus on relationships and we would move on. Tackle something new.

Not quite.

As Comer states 37 years after his ground breaking work with the New Haven schools:

Many improved practices in education that have been developed over the past two decades have been less successful than they might have been because they have focused primarily on curriculum, instruction, assessment, and modes of service delivery.  Insufficient attention had been paid to child and adolescent development. - Comer (2005)

Curriculum, instruction, assessment, and modes of service delivery.  Sound familiar.  It seems that once again focus is on the wrong place.

Providing engaging activities and maintaining high standards are important, but the effectiveness of these are maximized with positive teacher-student relationships.  Good connections help students learn.  It has been found to be true over and over again.  Emily Gallagher gives a whole host of studies that show this to be true in her NYU Steinhardt article The Effects of Teacher-Student Relationships: Social and Academic Outcomes of Low-Income Middle and High School Students:

 Aligned with attachment theory (Ainsworth, 1982; Bowlby, 1969), positive teacher-student relationships enable students to feel safe and secure in their learning environments and provide scaffolding for important social and academic skills (Baker et al., 2008; O’Connor, Dearing, & Collins, 2011; Silver, Measelle, Armstron, & Essex, 2005). Teachers who support students in the learning environment can positively impact their social and academic outcomes, which is important for the long-term trajectory of school and eventually employment (Baker et al., 2008; O’Connor et al., 2011; Silver et al., 2005). - Gallagher (2013)

Connections-based Learning: Understanding Together

Focusing on positive teacher-student connections is the basis to what I am calling connections-based learning.  You see, if I was going to base learning on anything, it would be the connections.  In connections-based learning I share several ways that students can learn through connections. But I believe the fundamental connection is the one with the teacher.  The teacher-student relationship is the place to start.

So how does a teacher foster positive relationships with the hundreds or thousands of students they work with over the years?

Sara Rimm-Kaufman, PhD, and Lia Sandilos, PhD, University of Virginia have a great article, Improving Students' Relationships with Teachers to Provide Essential Supports for Learning, that shares what positive and negative teacher-student connections look like plus some suggestions to cultivate positive relationships in our classrooms.  These include getting to know students by finding out interests, showing warmth and respect, and being aware of the explicit and implicit messages being sent.

I am not big into lists.  And my acronym skills are poor.  But here are some of the things I focus on as I build connections with my students.

Questions

Asking questions is a good place to start when looking to increase the connection with another.  And just as inquiry-based learning keys in on finding good questions, so good questions can help good connections form.  Parents know this.  The question, "How was your day at school?" solicits much less than "what was your favourite part of gym class?"  In the same way, asking students the right questions to promote connection is a bit of an art.  It requires a knowledge of students' interests and activities.  It takes knowing what is going on in their lives.  But I have found that these questions help me understand my students better.  Ask good questions.

Understanding

A focus on understanding is important as we seek to build connections with our students.  When we seek to understand where students are coming from, we show concern for the student.  It actually helps us put into context what they do.  Understanding the child is shown to be a part of Ross Greene's Collaborative and Proactive Solutions approach.  In the article What If Everything You Knew About Disciplining Kids Was Wrong, Katherine Reynolds Lewis (2015) shares "The CPS method hinges on training school (or prison or psych clinic) staff to nurture strong relationships--especially with the most disruptive kids--and to give kids a central role in solving their own problems."  Lewis tells how, in this approach, staff talk to (and believe!) the child as he or she shares the problem.  Staff seek to understand, then to help the student come up with a plan.  Isn't that what we all want: to be understood.  Seek to understand.

Individual

A class cannot be seen as a class.  It is a group of individuals.  Each student comes to you with their own conscious experience.  If the class has a great culture, the students might identify as being part of something, but WE ALL operate in our own personal headspace.  We forget that as teachers; I forget that.  We do not see ourselves as simply a part of a group; we are part of many groups: family, friends circles, different classes.  We don't have to individualize learning.  It IS individualized.  The focus has to be on facilitation of learning or we are simply lying to ourselves that we can actually make learning happen.  Treat as an individual.

Time

Time needs to be set aside to foster relationships.  Bonds between teens and adults have always been a battle.  In the home, the battle for bonds have often been fought by campouts, dinnertime conversation, family events, time.  But the armies against bonds with significant adults have upped their game.  Notifications, insular online networks, addictive games, no time.  I am not saying that the battles are lost everywhere.  I am saying that generally the war is being lost on a large scale.  Time must be set aside to foster relationships. I have taught a K,1,2 split. I have taught Science and Tech 11. In whatever class I am teaching, time set aside to foster relationships has been worth it.  Take the time to foster relationships.

The acronym is QUIT. Oh well.

It is intuitive.  Good relationships better learning.  Good relationships better life.  We don't need to be convinced.  Just reminded. 

How do you strive to achieve significant relationships with your students?

Comer, James P. 2005. “Child and Adolescent Development: The Critical Missing Focus in School Reform.” Phi Delta Kappan. 86:10 (June 2005): 757-763.

Gallagher, Emily. 2013. "The Effects of Teacher-Student Relationships: Social and Academic Outcomes of Low-Income Middle and High School Students" Applied Psychology Opus. Fall issue. Accessed July 2, 2015.

Reynolds Lewis, Katherine. 2015. "Everything You Think You Know about Disciplining Kids Is Wrong." Mother Jones. The Foundation for National Progress, n.d. Web. 09 July 2015.

Rimm-Kaufman, S., & Sandilos, L. (n.d.). Improving Students' Relationships with Teachers to Provide Essential Supports for Learning. Retrieved July 3, 2015. 

Who needs a Digital Portfolio?

"We'd love to have you. Think about what's best for you and your family and let me know."

Those were the words I heard as I sat across the desk from the principal. The interview had been short. It didn't start with the usual "tell me about yourself" kind of questions. It was like he knew me; and he did.  We chatted; then he offered me the job.

And with that interaction, I was sold on the digital portfolio.

I had never sat down with this individual before. A little homework, though, and my educational blog surfaces. On it, one would find the teaching practices I was learning about: flipped learning, project-based learning, bring your own device. I would like to think it paints me as a connected educator, a lifelong learner, a reflective practitioner. It would share my interest in the teachings of Gordon Neufeld, William Kilpatrick Heard, even George Couros. It would show that I'm learning about social emotional learning and digital citizenship.  I'm interested in these things yet trying to know more.

My posts would have response comments from educators all around.  The comments would show educational conversations that took place in response to the ideas in the posts.  The digger would see how others have reacted to my thoughts giving insight into the professional relationships I was forming.

A little more digging and one would see my twitter account. Reflective quotations, friendly banter, thoughtful questions. It would contain photos, videos and statements of inspirational ideas, of complex inquiry, of attempts to make clear some difficult concepts. It would show my responses to educational chat questions.

My Slideshare account would show slides for the workshops I have done. My Youtube account would have Math and Science teaching videos. Even more digging and one might also find articles written for educational companies or magazines.

This rich mosaic shares a picture that I couldn't paint in a 40 minute interview, nervous and out of breath.

Some have happened upon my digital footprint and caught up with me.  Some have offered me opportunities; some have even offered me consulting work.

I tell this story as we put a bow on one year while unboxing another.  A whole new grade level at our school will be dealing with BYOD and digital portfolios.  And the question some of the staff will ask is why.  Why use these tools?  Isn't blogging just another add on?  Isn't the proverbial pendulum about to swing?

For me, blogging goes hand in hand with passion and purpose.  It is inseparable from my career.  It got me where I am today.  It helped make me into who I am today.  I want to share that with my students.

What does a digital portfolio mean for students?
- It is a stage to share learning.
- It is a place the receive feedback on that learning from anyone
- It shows progress and development.
- It allows students to take charge of their digital footprint.

Who needs a digital portfolio? Everyone.

By the way, if it wasn't obvious, I took the job.  Hey, I had done a little digging myself.  I liked what I saw and that made the difference.

#Eduin30 Thots Year 1

George Couros (+George Couros) had a great idea last March: why not use twitter's video feature to have educators share their thoughts in 30 seconds or less over the medium.   He would introduce a thought provoking question each week and people would give their answers.  Always enjoying an opportunity to share ideas and make connections, I joined in.  Now, that #eduin30 is taking a hiatus over the summer, I thought I would look back at the questions and some of my answers.  Here they are:

Let students know they'll have your support as they make an impact on the world w/ their projects #EDUin30 #EDUin30w1 pic.twitter.com/FSNhLEqffz

— Sean Robinson (@sr_tutor) March 9, 2015

Principals: do a good job at school & home. My #eduin30 #EDUin30w2 @gcouros @LollyDaskal pic.twitter.com/1BgcZD99DD

— Sean Robinson (@sr_tutor) March 16, 2015

Community circles help build ... community. ( who knew :) ) #EDUin30w3 #EDUin30 pic.twitter.com/afstM00VUe

— Sean Robinson (@sr_tutor) March 20, 2015

My response 2 #EDUin30: challenge a practice or trend in education: Let's ask ourselves Y we're using tech #eduin30w6 pic.twitter.com/5AlxHfbL3F

— Sean Robinson (@sr_tutor) April 12, 2015

An element of literacy that needs special focus for today: what is plagiarism? #eduin30 #EDUin30w7 pic.twitter.com/WI1En7ZckK

— Sean Robinson (@sr_tutor) April 18, 2015

How to facilitate an environment where innovation is the norm: facilitate Piggy-backing #eduin30 #EDUin30w12 @gcouros pic.twitter.com/G8uk27w6s8

— Sean Robinson (@sr_tutor) June 1, 2015

I used to think that twitter was a waste of time.  Who wants to hear about somebody else's cat or see a picture of what they made for dinner.  But if you're into reflection, connection, and betterment, there's lots to check out there.  Educators are doing great things with this tool.  I entitled this #Eduin30 Year 1 as I know that something like this is only the beginning.  Who knows what might happen in Year 2. Innovation is only limited by our pride.