Cut and Pasting our High School Diplomas

In college I always had someone’s paper notes from the previous semester.  We would share them.  I often would read essays from friends who had already taken the class.  I would even meet friends for a coffee and find out what the professor’s expectations were before even sitting in his/her class.  Oh the SHAME!  

In today’s virtual world of education where students can collaborate and share at light speed we have demonized much of what we all did in class 20 years ago.  In the pre-Google years our teachers tried to force us to collaborate and now good intentioned educators are closing the doors on these very skills due to our lack of control.  The students are ahead of us and it's time to catch up. They have everything and everyone right at their fingertips … more than we will probably ever know :)  How do we handle this?

In an instant a group of students (and anyone else that wants to help) can form a #hashtag and tweet out all the geographic features that define places in California, or join a Google Hangout and work together on a quadratic function presentation, or create a facebook page sharing everything needed for success in Psych 101 … GREAT!  

The challenge is that as a 21st Century teacher, we need to be ahead of this collaboration.  Our policies and class structures need to not only control digital collaboration but to embrace it.  Here are strategies to help empower our virtual teachers so that students are not simply cutting and pasting their diplomas:

*Teacher explains ahead of time what parts of an assignment students are expected to work on together and which parts must be a student's own individual work (Corsetti).

*Create a mechanism for other students to anonymously self-report the plagiarism of others - like a hotline or a Google form.  Make it very public to all students that this ability is out there.

*Good virtual teachers keep a digital copy of everything ever submitted by previous students to compare to present student work and make it well known that this process is in place (private websites expand this like turnitun.com)

*Teachers change the mechanics used for assessments (ie poetry or personification) allowing for more creativity and limiting the ability to copy and paste.  Consider these two prompt examples: “In your own words explain five differences between photosynthesis and cellular respiration” vs. “Become your favorite plant or animal and please defend five reasons why photosynthesis is better than cellular respiration or vice versa”

*Even though systems usually timestamp when students turn in work the expectation is for the student to contact the teacher telling him/her that it is complete.  This gives them ownership in the process and allows the teacher a better feel for when multiple students are turning things in (Ruiz).

*It is imperative to set expectations in your virtual class, both in your syllabus and on your individual assignments.  If you have a face-to-face meeting at the beginning of your class ensure to discuss this.  Give examples of what virtual plagiarism is, why it is wrong, and when they may get tempted to do it.

*Teachers have students complete writing assignments (instead of multiple choice, fill in blank, etc.), thus encouraging individual pieces to demonstrate their understanding of course material (Reinowski).

*Teacher changes the media used for the assessment (ie ShowMe, ExplainEverything, or video) allowing for more creativity and limiting the ability to plagiarize.

Please feel free to share your ideas with me at this link so I can add them to this list.

https://docs.google.com/a/croslex.org/forms/d/1tlFJTBlBMv9B9Nof5KuRJreo2HllvE5g5VQATOwkCsQ/viewform

iManage the Classroom

5 Management Strategies from the Trenches for Teachers to Utilize in the One-to-One Classroom


It’s often said that when all students in your classroom have iPads (or other tablets) that “it changes everything”.  This is certainly true for learning, but often overlooked is classroom management.  With multiple companies selling products and software to schools the single best management tool is, and always has been - the teacher.  Here you will find teacher tested management strategies in the evolving world of one-to-one instruction.


1.  Expectations have to be clear.

The best run 21st century classrooms are always the ones where teacher and students are completely on the same page regarding rules and expectations.  Good teaching is good teaching, and collaboratively setting class rules/expectations and posting them for all to see apply to “one-to-one classrooms” just as they do in traditional classrooms.  Good teachers clearly state expectations and stick to them.  Consider posting them on your class website or social media feeds as well.

2.  Students switching from work to games during your lesson.

All educators know that today’s digital natives can quickly move from a game on their iPad to an appropriate learning activity when they see a teacher coming.  The students are often too fast to catch, even for the best of us who pride ourselves on moving around the room throughout the lesson.  To solve this, get in the habit of asking your students to clear/close their running apps at the beginning of class.  They can do this by double clicking the home button or four-finger swiping up.  Then they should hold down an open app until the minus sign comes up.  By closing all running apps they not only will save battery life but also give you the ability to do spot checks of what they have been using during your leson.  If the students know you can quickly find out what apps they have been using they will be far less likely to sway from your lesson plan.

3.  Losing my signal to the LCD projector.

We know the iPad was not created with the teacher and certainly not with the LCD projector in mind.  It’s wifi’s promiscuity, hiccups with mirroring, and inability to secure cables into it’s connection slot makes projecting often a nightmare.  Many of us have lost great teachable moments due to our screens suddenly going blank and our kids attention lost as we attempt to reconnect.  Get in the habit of “freezing” your projector.  Most remotes have a button allowing you to freeze whatever is on your screen while you do different things behind the scenes.  When you are not moving from screen to screen simply freeze it and you will never get that black screen again.  You have a much better chance of maintaining student engagement while trying to reconnect if you have something on the screen.  This is also a great way to take your attendance while your anticipatory set is up on your smartboard.

4.  Collaboration and when students should work together.

One of these device’s strongest attributes are their natural tendency toward collaboration - they were designed for this.  We must be crystal clear about our collaborative expectations for each assignment we give.  Digital natives are wired collaboratively and now have devices that encourage this.  They can share and work together across the classroom and across the globe without anyone knowing.  We must specifically tell them when it is and when it is not appropriate to work with others … a good rule of thumb is that if we don't tell them they can’t - then it is appropriate.  

5.  Digital Literacy and Turning In

It is now common place to ask students to submit their writing digitally. They can draft in Google Docs, share their drafts with peers/families and teacher for in-process feedback. Teachers then bulk download work as pdfs, save them on Google or in DropBox, and open on iPad with a digital copy of the rubric where they respond using a note-writing app where they write on them with a stylus.  Getting in this habit is not only strong process but it creates a digital log for the student, family, and teacher.

iTeam in Action

Birth of the iTeam

The need for a student led technology club came simultaneously with our one-to-one iPad deployment this August at Croswell-Lexington High School.  Our school culture supports clubs of all kinds and the “iTeam” was a natural fit when the entire student body was issued  iPads this year.  The club’s present goals are to help fellow students and teachers who need tech support and to assist in guiding our school policy as it evolves with the addition of 800 iPads.

I knew the group was going to be popular, but was surprised by the immediate pride our members took in the iTeam.  They designed a logo and ordered t-shirts.  When a student asks a teacher for help with their iPad, team members jump at the chance to interject.  They solve problems quickly.  They have created a google doc of common problems and how to fix them and even taken broken iPads - opened them up and repaired them.

Our next step is to work directly with Apple and broaden our goals. Team members are interested in:
- getting sponsorship to support new objectives
- schedule office hours where students can get help with technology from our members
- create a course so team members can receive high school credit for their service
- obtain Apple certification

Armed and iDangerous

The Pioneers are now armed with the power of iPads.  Who would have believed that an economically challenged rural district like ours could have found a way to tip the scales and provide each middle and high school student - 1600 in all - with an iPad to take home and computer/iPad access for all 700 students K-4 students all day. We found a way …

The real excitement began five months ago when we deployed about 100 of the devices to our teachers and began to systematically offer progressive professional development we termed iPD.  Most teachers begin running on reserve fuel as the end of the school year approaches … our teachers started running on adrenaline.  

Their excitement and fear was demonstrated in many ways, but none so apparent than their willingness to attend iPD sessions.  Change is tough.  We offered purely volunteer training sessions once a week - all summer long - and were amazed by the attendance.  We deliberately set them early, so our teachers could work for a few hours and still enjoy the summer weather.  iPD became contagious and our numbers continued to grow throughout the summer months.

If we thought the the teachers were excited, nothing could have prepared us for the students.  Our August was packed with 14 different iPad deployment sessions.  Every student was required to attend a session with a parent/guardian.  They began listening to our dynamic superintendent - Dr. Kevin Miller - describe the vision behind the one-to-one initiative. Principals then discussed expectations and students were divided into small groups for a 30 minute set up and basic tutorial.  They left excited about school and proud to be a student at Croswell-Lexington.  

We watched as students began to post on facebook things like “I lost my girlfriend to an iPad” and “Ok i said these iPads were a dumb idea before i actually got to learn with them. A year of intro to chem and a year of chem i didn’t understand anything. A night with one of the chem apps and i understand it. Best Idea Ever!”  It was by design that we deployed the devices early.  We wanted our teachers to have them ASAP to plan with them and we wanted the students to have a few weeks before school started to get their “sillies out”.

Now, a week into school and we have had the expected bumpy start.  As the Principal, I have never been prouder of my students and teachers.  When the digital textbooks were delayed … they shook it off and kept going.  When the internet service provider went down day one … they shook it off and kept going.  When our system hiccupped day two … they shook it off and kept going.  When Self Service determined it couldn’t handle all our kids at once … they shook it off and kept going.  It certainly wasn’t a smooth beginning, but we all knew patience was going to be the key.

Now in the midst of resetting google accounts and trying to get the reflection software to work consistently, if you look closely you will see some incredible things going on at Croswell-Lexington Schools. You will see flipped science classrooms where students are watching lectures at home and working under direction of the teacher the next day.  You will see digital textbooks having replaced all of their old and heavy predecessors.  You will see “edmodo” conversations where normally shy quiet students are able to have an equal voice.  You will see an exponential rise in formative assessment and this is driving instruction.  You will see PDF notes being sent seamlessly back and forth between teacher and student. You will see all students having continuous access to their google apps and the world wide web.   You will see 2300 students armed with iPads and excited about learning.