A More Beautiful Question

“The important thing is not to stop questioning.  Never lose a holy curiosity.” –Albert Einstein

Kristin Hicks, the media specialist at Cumberland Road Elementary School, has started Genius Hour with her elementary students.  Genius Hour is a time when students develop their own inquiry questions and then try to chase down the answers.  It’s a bit hard to trace the origin of Genius Hour.  Some people point to Google (they allow 60 minutes each week to each employee to work on new ideas or skills) but others point to Daniel Pink and his book Drive for popularizing Genius Hour.

Whatever the origins, it is now alive and well in Hamilton Southeastern.  Several of you reading this are using it in classrooms at HSHS, and others are tinkering with Genius Hour-like ideas.  Kristin’s approach is to prompt her CRES students, including kindergarteners, to ask questions that really interest them.  After identifying their questions, their task is to find the answers and share what they learned.

Below are a few recent questions from her kindergarteners.  They range from interesting, to funny, to profound:

• How do spiders spin webs?
• How big are dinosaurs, and were people living when dinosaurs did?
• What does a fox really say?
• How do words and pictures get into books?
• How did god live before all the people got here?

Kristin is working with her students to revise and refine the questions and helping them start researching.  These are her words:

After we had the conversation about questions, I asked them how we might go about finding this information.  There were no pauses.  They started throwing out words like iPads, computers, and Google.  All of their suggestions were electronic.  I guess I was surprised because we were sitting in the library, a room full of books.  We then talked about the fact that iPads and computers are tools, and that we might use search engines to find websites on these tools.  Or, we could use the tools to search databases.  I brought up the idea of searching our library for books.  I also mentioned that we might ask an expert. 

One student piped up and said, “Oh yeah, we could ask ‘Series.’” 

When I asked who her who Series is, she said, “You know, when you hold that button down on your phone?  That lady comes on, and you can ask her stuff.  I talk to her all the time.”  (By the way, this student is the daughter of one our HSHS staff members!)

Kristin says that her students are digging in, taking notes, and researching.  A parent who is publishing a book is coming in to talk about that process, and one young lady wants to make a video to share her findings because “I might be too shy to stand up in front of people.”

Kristin’s parting comment, “This experience has confirmed the fact for me that some of us may not be ready for this shift in learning, but our youngest learners are ready!”

“Without a good question, a good answer has no place to go.” –Clayton Christensen

Since my wife told me about Genius Hour at CRES, I have been doing some reading and thinking about questions and questioning.  On and off over the next few months, I would like to explore the importance of questioning and inquiry in the classroom.  For now, I encourage you to think about the important questions these kindergarteners are asking, and I’ll leave you with one more thought.

Warren Berger, the author of A More Beautiful Question, asked this question to Saul Wurman, the original creator of the TED Conferences: Why do kids ask so many questions—and why do they stop?  Wurman’s response: “In school, we’re rewarded for having the answer, not for asking a good question.” 

Ouch!

Always the beautiful answer

Who asks a more beautiful question.

--e.e. cummings

What can we do to turn this around?  How can we reward a good question posed by our students?  How can we help Kristin’s kindergarteners—and our high school kids—keep, in Einstein’s words, their “holy curiosity”? 

Those are questions worth asking.

Have a great week, HSE.  I hope you return from break refreshed, rejuvenated, and ready to help students ask the “more beautiful question.”

Phil

This Is Only a Test

One of my all-time favorite comic strips is Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes.  When our older kids were little, we bought all of his published books.  By the end of the 90s, they were showing the wear and tear of constant usage.  Today, the younger ones still read the tattered but much-loved anthologies.  To be honest, when I occasionally find them lying around house, I still take a few minutes to catch up with my old friend and his stuffed tiger as well.  We grieved in 1995 as Calvin and Hobbes rode their little wagon off into history and Watterson moved on to other endeavors ending Calvin’s ten-year run.

Calvin puts into words all those irreverent thoughts that go through our own minds at one time or another.  We may be too reserved to say them out loud, but Calvin certainly isn’t.  Since the topic for today is testing, I thought Calvin might help make a difficult topic more palatable.

What State Do You Live In?

We are closing in on Spring Break.  This augments well for the coming of warmer weather and sunny skies.  There is, however, no denying that Spring Break also marks the beginning of testing season for high schools in Indiana. In the coming weeks, I will send out detailed schedules, but three major tests are looming on the horizon.  Please keep these in mind as you plan out the remainder of the year.

ACCUPLACER Diagnostic: April 14-18

In the 2013 session, the Indiana General Assembly passed HEA 1005, and Governor Pence signed PL 268-2013 into state law.  This law requires juniors who meet specific criteria to take a college and career readiness test.  Originally the testing requirement was scheduled to start during the 2014-2015 school year, but this past January the deadline was moved up, so we are testing soon.

All juniors who did not pass the English 10 and/or Algebra I End of Course Assessment or did not score above 45 on math and/or Reading on the PSAT must take the ACCUPLACER Diagnostic.  Our guidance counselors will give about 400 of these exams to juniors during the week of April 14.  The assessment is brand new this year, so you might not be aware of this new state mandate.  Heads up!

Advanced Placement Testing: May 5-May 16

Every year we seem to give more and more AP Exams.  They provide a great opportunity for our students to show they have learned difficult content at high levels, and they provide opportunities for students to earn college credit and get a head start on the next stage in life.

This year we will proctor well over 1500 exams in the full range of topics.  At least five courses have over 100 students participating, and one has over 250 students taking the AP exam.  These tests are bound to impact your students at some point during the test window.

End of Course Assessments: May 6-23

ECAs take place over a three-week window.  English 10 tests will be given to all sophomore students on May 6-9.  Plan for an adjusted schedule on Tuesday and Wednesday of that week, so most of the testing can be completed during extended SMART Periods.  We will not have a SMART Period on Monday.  Juniors and seniors who need to re-test will take the test on Tuesday morning, but Special Education and EL students will be pulled at various times throughout the week, so they can test receive testing accommodations.

The Biology ECA takes place the week of May 13-16.  This test impacts the Freshman Center more than the Main Campus.  We will not have an adjusted schedule for this week.

Algebra I tests are taken the week of May 20-23 and follow a pattern similar to English 10.  Most of the testing takes place at the Freshman Center, but we will need another adjusted schedule on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Those students who need to retest will do so on Tuesday morning.  Special Education students and EL students will be pulled from classes throughout the week to make sure they get their accommodations.

All told, we are scheduled to give over 2000 End of Course Assessments.  Both the English and Algebra tests take two separate sessions, so the odds are pretty good some of your students will be involved in the process.  Our students, especially upperclassmen who are still testing, are very aware that these are high stakes tests, so keep stress levels in mind as you plan for these weeks.

It Is What It Is

Love it or hate it, testing is a reality of teaching in a secondary school in Indiana.  Hopefully, knowing what lies ahead can help you plan for the coming months.  I will pass along the specific details for each testing window as we get nearer.

Bill Watterson, through Calvin, once said, “There is never all the time to do all the nothing you want.”  That may be true, but in four more days, I hope you get a chance to do a bunch of nothing.  Enjoy your Spring Break, HSE, and gear up for those final months that test both our students and our patience.

Phil

Standards Wars Episode II: HSE Strikes Back

“Impossible to see, the future is.”  --Yoda

Last week I wrote about the confusion surrounding educational standards in Indiana.  The ongoing conflict about state standards seems outside of our control and leaves Indiana educators hanging out in an uncomfortable state of limbo.  We may be able to influence the direction we go as a state by getting involved in the open review process, but even that feels like a long shot.  Unfortunately, when politics take priority, educational decisions tend to be made by those well outside of the schoolhouse walls.

It is easy to become discouraged, but I’m not ready to give in to the Dark Side quite yet.  We may not have control of the debate taking place downtown (and around the country) but we do have lots of control about what we do inside our district, inside our school, and inside our classrooms. 

Interestingly enough, I think we are on the right track.  I believe The Force is with us, regardless of which way the winds of change blow in regards to state standards.  Examine for a moment all of the work we have been doing this year.  As part of the HSE21 initiative, we are developing or revising a Scope and Sequence for each of our courses at the high school level.  We are identifying the most important content in the Scope and Sequence and ensuring our students understand this content by creating Understanding by Design units.  UbD units include both traditional assessments and performance tasks assessments.  In other words, we are designing ways to measure both knowing and understanding.

“Already know you that which you need.”  --Yoda

Our goal is to have students read and write and think—especially to think!  To do this we design units, lessons, activities, and tasks that require students to “do something” with their knowledge.  HSE21 is about moving beyond teaching and putting the focus on student learning.  If we do this well, our students will know a great deal, but also be able to understand the key concepts of each course and transfer this understanding to new situations.

This picture “heavily borrowed” from Pinterest is nice way to illustrate the difference between knowing and understanding:

People who know you may not be able to predict how you will react in any given situation, but people who understand you will be able to do so fairly consistently.  Stop and consider for a minute what this means in the context of the Standards Wars that are taking place right now.  Almost all teachers can agree on the most significant parts of any given curriculum.  In fact, creating a Scope and Sequence and UbD units for your courses requires you to identify subject matter students should know and subject matter students should understand.  When students understand, they can transfer the learning to whatever forms of assessment come their way.

Therefore, when we design courses, units, lessons, and assessments well, we ensure that our students can transfer key skills and knowledge to new situations.  Regardless of the political and pedagogical debate surrounding standards, and regardless of whether the new state assessments will be designed to measure minimum competency or deep comprehension, our students will be prepared to do well on the new assessments.  Certainly, we may have to tweak content and instruction over the coming year as we see whether the Imperial Storm Troopers or Rebel Alliance takes control.  (I’ll let you decide which is which in the current debate!)  The essentials of our courses, however, those things taught to the level of understanding, are not likely to change a great deal with either outcome.

“Do or do not.  There is no try.”  --Yoda

Don’t give in to the Dark Side.  Use the Force, HSE.  Continue down the path we are traveling.  All subject areas should look closely at what is being taught, at what UbD units are essential, and at how understanding will be assessed.  Most importantly, all classes should have students reading, writing, and thinking at high levels.  Every day in every class students need to do and to think.  When this happens, we create a guaranteed and viable curriculum and set our own standards for student performance.  Our standards will have students prepared to do well in school, prepared to for any kind of standardized tests that come their way, and prepared for the next stages of their lives, whatever they chose to do.

That, HSE, is a standard worth shooting for.  Have a great week.  May the Force be with you.

Phil

One more from Yoda: “In a dark place we find ourselves, and a little more knowledge lights our way.”

Standardized Confusion

If you haven’t had this happen already, soon someone from outside of education is bound to ask you about the debate taking place around our state standards.  It’s front page news locally and makes national news regularly.  Unfortunately, the loudest voices seem to get the most attention, so the shouting matches continue to escalate.  Should we dump Common Core?  Are the new standards any better (or worse) than the old standards?  Who gets to decide and who gets left out?  What’s all the fuss about?

Forewarned is forearmed, so you might want to take a look at what is creating all of the consternation.  This is the link to the proposed standards on the IDOE website: Proposed Indiana Academic Standards

Spoiler Alert: This is not easy reading.  You may find yourself lost in the long list of English and Math standards.  If you teach outside these content areas, you can make lots of connections to your content, but it takes some thoughtful work to do so.  If you want a visual “Cliff Note” to the new standards, watch this short summary video from the Center for Excellence in Leadership of Learning.  CELL is based at the University of Indianapolis and does a great job of keeping us current on issues facing educators.  Use this link to see the five-minute CELL video: Indiana’s Proposed Standards Overview

Do Standards Matter?

As I read through Indiana’s long list of standards and watched the CELL video, I kept thinking back to a book I read last summer by Paul Bambrick-Santoyo.  He says in Driven by Data:

 “Standards are meaningless until you define how to assess them.” 

It is worth your while to wrestle with that statement for a bit.  If he is right, then it doesn’t much matter whether we are looking at the “old” Indiana Standards, the Common Core, or “new” Indiana Standards.  Until we know how any of these standards will be assessed, they are simply lists of topics with little meaning.

I’m not being cynical.  This is the reality of standards.  Let me give you an example of what Bambrick-Santoyo is saying by using just one proposed grade 9/10 English/Language Arts standard on reading informational texts:

Reading Information--Standard 1: “Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.”

You can find a standard similar to this on almost every list of English standards nationwide.  Now think about all the possible ways this standard might be assessed on a standardized test, and then consider how teaching would have to change depending on the assessment. 

On the standardized test, will they….

• Ask one multiple choice question requiring the students to choose from one of four options about what might be inferred from a paragraph of text?
• Ask students to answer numerous multiple choice questions about how to use evidence to support a textual analysis?
• Ask students read a paragraph and write a two-sentence response to a question about an inference that could be drawn from a text?
• Ask students to read an extended text and write a full essay in which they analyze the text and cite textual evidence to support both explicit and inferred messages found in the text?
• Ask students to do one or more of these tasks?

Kick that around for a bit.  See if you think Paul Bambrick-Santoyo is right.  Without knowing the way this one standard will be assessed, how do we know how and to what extent to teach the standard?  And remember that this is only one of the 74 proposed English/Language Arts standards for grades 9/10.

Don’t Panic Quite Yet

There is no question that the state of Indiana is in a state of disarray when it comes to state standards, but I think there is reason for optimism, not because of what will happen legislatively but because of what we are choosing to do at the local level.  Next week I want to make an argument for why I strongly believe that Hamilton Southeastern High School is positioned correctly to handle whatever comes our way from the free-for-all taking place around standards in downtown Indy.

I am convinced that we are on the right path, and I’ll tell you why next week. 

Until next week, have a fun, Southeastern.  Promote respect, foster pride, and inspire excellence.  These are, after all, the standards we have chosen to live by at HSE.

Phil