“Look at us, running around. Always rushed, always late. I guess that's why they call it the human race” (Berger & Yerxa, 2010, 01:24). I have this quote, the introduction to The Switch, framed on my wall and it popped back in my head as I read Warren Berger’s (2014) A More Beautiful Question this week. People, especially in the modern world, seem to be always rushing, always looking for the next task or the next promotion. Many of my middle school students are already trying to get ahead and beginning to consider colleges to further their intelligence. However, some would argue they should be considering other factors besides access to knowledge.
In an opinion piece for The New York Times, Thomas Friedman (2013) stated, “The winners won’t just be those with more I.Q. It will also be those with more P.Q. (passion quotient) and C.Q. (curiosity quotient) ... to not just learn but to relearn for a lifetime” (para. 8). I do agree that it is more than just I.Q. Students and adults should be finding their passion, which will spark their interest and curiosity. They will ask critical questions and continue to put in effort in their careers. How do I model these concepts in life and at school? Here is a creation to represent my quotients:
By bringing energy to my classroom, I feel I inspire students to find their passions, as they see my passion every day. In fact, every year, I show my students this speech by Steve Jobs. He ends his speech with a statement that I also connected with when reading Berger and Friedman’s ideas. He says “Stay hungry, stay foolish” (Stanford, 2008, 14:10) and that’s something I try to inspire my students to follow every single day.
References
Berger, A. & Yerxa, R. (Producers), & Gordon, J. & Speck, W. (Directors). (2010). The switch [Motion Picture;
DVD release]. United States: Miramax. Berger, W. (2014). A more beautiful question: the power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas. New York, NY: Bloomsbury. Friedman, T. L. (2013, January 30). It's P.Q. and C.Q. as Much as I.Q. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/opinion/friedman-its-pq-and-cq-as-much-as-iq.html Stanford. (2008, March 7). Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford commencement address [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc
0 Comments
When starting this journey addressing a wicked problem, I had no idea where it would turn. From the start, it was apparent that when moving to distance learning, education would not be equal for all. A lot of the students in our school’s community come from low socioeconomic households and it seemed that there was very little empathy exuding from students or staff for these disadvantaged students.
To gain more insight, I sent out a survey to my fellow teachers to only be baffled by the results. Many teachers reported that their students express empathy. While I disagreed with that, it was clear that we were in agreement that the students struggled when it came to empathizing with those who are disadvantaged. To know more about what these students from low socioeconomic status households needed in school, I conducted some academic research and found that disadvantaged students need to feel a sense of belonging at school. This can be defined as feeling respected, accepted, and supported. All of these attributes would be increased if students practiced more empathy. You can watch a presentation on my findings from the research and the survey here:
With information about empathy and a sense of belonging, I set out to develop a plan for students to be able to learn empathy skills. By doing collaborative activities, students will be led on an adventure to becoming more empathetic toward all students, including those who are economically disadvantaged. This will lead to a sense of belonging at school and boost academic achievement as well.
For more about these team-building meetings, I’ve created a slideshow, which can be viewed through the QR code in the video above, or here. Introduction
When I first read the course title “Teaching Tech through Design,” I was automatically worried. I kept thinking: I am not a designer. I am not creative enough to design something. As the first week came to a close, I really began to panic about what this course would entail and if I was capable of it. I started thinking about when I ever designed something. I have always been creative in the arts, but those designs are not necessarily for practical use, just for display or creative expression. The only instances I could think of where I designed something that was actually functional were lesson plans, which to me, did not actually seem like designing. To me, it is just a matter of combining some materials in a logical way. Designing something, especially using technology, seemed daunting and overwhelming.
Early on in the process, I was asked to pick a problem in my practice that I would address through the design process. I knew that in order to make this course less nerve-racking, I had to pick a topic that I was truly going to be passionate about. I needed to connect it to what was happening in my world for me to feel driven. With incidents occurring at my school showcasing my students’ lack of experience with diversity and a variety of deep discussions surrounding this issue with teachers, I reflected on my background and how my perspective might be different than some of my colleagues and my students. I grew up in a community similar to the one that my students are growing up in, where diversity in any form is hard to come by. I was conscious of this growing up, and when I arrived at college, I wanted to become more culturally aware. Twice during my college experience, I went to Selma, Alabama, with a group of fellow undergraduates on a service trip. Selma is still racially segregated, not legally, but geographically and economically. Every time I drove across the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge, I got this saddened feeling as the town felt like it was stuck in 1965. We worked with an after-school program that promoted diversity and inclusion through the arts. We danced, we sang, and we went and visited the local, underfunded, and predominately black public schools. Some of the students I talked to had never interacted with people of a different race before. They asked questions about the racial stereotypes they had and what it was like to live in Michigan. I still remember one little girl asking me if I owned horses because she thought “all white people did.” It might be cliche, but I have never been the same since. I wish I could bring that experience to my classroom for my students to experience and I was curious to see if I could figure out how. The Design Process
Before this class, when I thought of designing, I thought of two scenes:
I clearly believed that designing was a lot of paperwork, like sketches, brainstorm sessions, notes from research, etc. I believed that only certain people, like scientists or inventors, were capable of true design. I believed that the design process was messy and tremendously time-consuming. I was wrong. By going through the phases, I was able to see that the design process is way more structured than I had originally believed. I thought the process would be exceptionally chaotic, but it was extremely organized and clearly laid out. By following the steps, any person could design something, be inventive, and make it great. By using technology, the paperwork aspect was largely eradicated. The process was way different than I expected.
My thought on finding something I was passionate about coupled with the real experiences I was seeing at my school, allowed me to really focus on this project and take it head-on. It was not even remotely overwhelming, in fact, by following the steps, I was fascinated with it. I learned to listen to my students more and hear what they had to say. I learned that identifying the root of a problem as large as mine can be challenging. I learned that brainstorming and communicating with colleagues could allow for bonding and building a stronger team. I learned that designing a product does not have to be more complicated than what I was already doing. Most importantly, I learned that feedback from others is essential to design. My final design - a unit plan requiring students to read novels with diverse characters - is more detailed and ready for the classroom than any plan I have ever made on my own. The design process was extremely applicable to my problem of practice and I think the design process has a lot of applicable uses. Implications of the ProcessFor Problem Solving
Since the design process can be used in a variety of ways, I see it being beneficial for problem-solving. A lot of people face large problems in life and become overwhelmed. I would recommend using the design process because, as it did for me, it can make these problems seem less overwhelming. At the same time, the design process can work for minor problems as well. For example, say I wanted to redesign my living room, but I was not quite sure how. I could ask my roommates for their thoughts, get to the root of what some of the constraints are, brainstorm and create different maps of the room, and then test out my design by moving some of the furniture. Whenever a person reaches a troubling issue, big or small, I would definitely recommend attempting to apply the design process. Even if the steps take one hour or take years, the process is usually applicable to most life problems. It is obviously applicable in the workplace as well.
For Curriculum Planning and Development
The design process could be very beneficial in terms of curriculum planning. This year at my school, the majority of the professional development has been centered around professional learning communities (PLCs) and the ideas of essential versus non-essential standards. I have spent a lot of time in these meetings reviewing the standards I teach and receiving feedback from colleagues about what they deem is essential for me to teach. Now knowing the design process, it is clear that this seems like a beginning phase, almost like empathy. Combining my colleagues’ opinions with my own, I have identified some problem areas and some content I definitely need to add to my yearly plans.
With all this information, it is now time to ideate, prototype, and test. When will all of that have to occur? The summer of course! This is really an unfortunate issue as a teacher. I know many teachers who spend weeks in the summer reviewing what they taught the year before in order to make it better for the next year. I personally ideate and prototype all summer to get ready for the test in the fall when I can try out these new plans and new ideas. The worst part? I do not get a lot of feedback from anyone. Sure I might get observed by an administrator or a student might comment on the activity, but that is about it. I think that is what I enjoyed most about the design process was testing my prototype and receiving feedback from colleagues. The feedback I received was what forced me to go back to my prototype and add or change details. Without this step, I probably would have just created some rough unit plan and taught it, without giving it a second thought. The design process changed how I think lesson planning should be done. Teachers should be given time during the school year to sit and talk with teams of teachers about new and innovative lesson or unit ideas. This would allow teachers to express concerns, trade ideas, and become more aligned by subject and by grade. In previous years, my school was really focused on vertical alignment, or making sure content for students is fluid and more challenging from one academic year to the next. While this was beneficial, as with most new initiatives in education, it faded to the background after a few canceled meetings. It would beneficial to add this time back into professional development. Another benefit of having some type of discussion with colleagues would be that the veteran teachers could gain insight from the new teachers and vice versa. In addition, I see a lot of possibilities for communication about the incorporation of technology in the classroom. Teachers should also be offered time to observe other teachers and give them feedback on the lesson or unit they designed. As a relatively new teacher, this would have been extremely beneficial to see what other teachers are doing in their classrooms, not just for curriculum but for classroom management as well. I also would have gained that valuable feedback that the design process offers for my own ideas and plans. The design process could honestly be beneficial in all aspects of schooling, even including student use. For Classroom Structure
The design process could also be used by students and could provide a classroom structure. For example, I think students would be extremely engaged if they were to think of a problem in their school or community, get other perspectives on it, come up with a solution or at least an improvement, and make it happen. I know that my students typically get pretty excited when arguing about controversial topics, especially ones that are current or directly impacting them in some way. I can imagine the prototypes of presentations, speeches, activities, movies, and much more. Teachers could easily require written work, reading for research, and many other content areas could easily be connected. Students, at least I can speak for my eighth graders, would thrive in this environment, especially since it breaks their daily mold of silent, independent work.
Since my problem of practice was all about my students having a lack of experience with diversity, I could easily see how this type of project or structure would increase the amount of communication and collaboration between the students in my classroom. I would also challenge them to speak with other members of the community to push their thinking and their project to new heights. Students could learn a lot of skills, like empathy, respect, responsibility, inclusion, creativity, communication, collaboration, and many more. These skills are valuable and could be influential for the youth going forward in society and the workforce. Conclusion
By participating in CEP 817, I was able to learn and practice the process of design by addressing a problem of practice. I was able to connect my real-world experiences to my passion for teaching and inspiring students to be more well-rounded and culturally aware. By addressing the problem and following the steps, I was able to communicate with both students and fellow colleagues to gain insight and feedback. My feelings of being overwhelmed faded quickly to feeling organized and accomplished. This process has many implications both in life and in my field of teaching. Both students and teachers can use these steps to be engaged and solve problems of all sizes.
References
Mad scientist experiment gif (2018). Retrieved from https://gph.is/2Aw0OCX
Mad work gif. Retrieved from https://gph.is/VwN1Vl This whole design journey started with one experience. A student in my eighth-grade class could not name three different religions. “There’s Christian, which I am, and isn’t Jewish one?” I was shocked. I reflected on that conversation and it really opened my eyes to the lack of cultural knowledge that my students have acquired. Teaching in a school district that has an 87% white demographic, I really questioned how I could help teach my students about other races and cultures. How could this student not be able to name three religions? What if none of my students could? Have I failed them? Have their previous teachers not taught this content? These questions began swimming in my head as well as possible solutions to help fix this issue. EmpathizeTo start the design process, I was asked to empathize with my students and really try to figure out their mindsets. To ask students about their thoughts on race, religion, gender, and sexual orientation directly would lead to inappropriate comments and uneasy feelings, as these actions have been demonstrated in other classes. Instead, what I decided to do was poll the students. I had them answer a few questions on the back of their warm-up one day. I framed the questions around the idea of their “perfect novel.” First, I asked: It was interesting that more students seemed to favor having a book character who is not like them. This showed me that my students may be more inclined to read books about diverse characters than I originally anticipated. Many students added that they would like the character to be around the same age range, but race, religion, and gender did not matter. There was not a single mention of sexual orientation, which I think is due to a lack of experience with the subject. I then asked: Family issues seemed to be at the forefront and that is definitely something that would be relatable for my students, as many of them come from dysfunctional or broken households. I was excited to see that students openly asked for books about physical and mental disabilities, which furthered the notion that my students were truly interested in the experiences of characters different from themselves. DefineThe next step in the design process is to truly define the problem that the designer is facing. This was easily the most challenging aspect of the process for me, as this topic seemed cumbersome and out of my reach. Along with that, there were so many factors and stakeholders involved that I questioned if there was anything I could really do to “fix” this issue. Their parents/guardians have an influence and these students often repeat comments heard at home. Parents of minority students have also expressed their concern about teaching content like this, as it makes those students feel uncomfortable and targeted in the classroom. This was an uphill battle and it was challenging to pinpoint what the true problem was. Was it parent influence? Was it a lack of education at school? What is a lack of diversity in the community? Eventually, with some help, I was able to pinpoint the problem: My specific problem is that my 8th-grade students' interest in becoming more culturally aware is hampered by a relative lack of experiences. IdeateOnce I had identified a lack of experience as the main stem of the problem, I reflected and noted all the thoughts that swirled in my head. It was important to get these down on paper, as they were becoming overwhelming. I wanted to communicate with colleagues about potential solutions. Turns out, I didn’t even have to schedule a meeting. Showing up to lunch with my eighth-grade teacher team, the discussion was already centered around a student wearing a sweatshirt covered with confederate flags. The sweatshirt said “heritage not hate,” but we all still pondered if that was a dress code violation or freedom of speech. I talked about how I genuinely think the students have very little experience with people who are different from themselves. I highly doubt that that student realized that some people may take offense to his sweatshirt. The teachers agreed that there are definitely opportunities for us to inform students of these topics in the classroom. I then sat down with my English Language Arts department to find that they had witnessed similar situations and thought novels would be a great way to expose students to characters different than themselves. Here are my notes from both meetings: I used these notes and ideas to start thinking of what I could design to aid the problem many of the teachers at my school have experienced. PrototypeFrom the first step of empathy to now designing a prototype, the idea of a novel study never left my mind. For my prototype, I decided to create a unit plan that would include the reading and discussion of novels, videos, and non-fiction articles to grasp real-world experiences. I decided to make a table calendar on Google Docs, as this is the way I make yearly plans for my own organization. I really found the process of creating the unit plan enjoyable. In class, I had the students participate in a book tasting, where I set books out and they had to summarize and rate their interest in reading them. This gave me a lot of feedback about potential books for this unit. I was able to narrow it down to six novels, all of which included some form of “family issues” that the students had requested during my initial survey. It was exciting to dedicate time to finding new resources, from the children’s books to the Ted Talks I wanted to use. I do like planning lessons when I know students are going to be engaged and I am going to show passion for the content. Here is what I developed: While designing this prototype, my school closed temporarily, which then became closed for the rest of the year. It was hard designing this prototype knowing that I probably wasn’t going to be able to teach it, at least not this year, to these students, whose input I had used to design it. However, I still wanted to gain feedback on this prototype, so it was on to the testing phase. TestFor the final testing phase, I ended up asking two teachers their thoughts on my unit plan. My first user was a Kindergarten teacher and I did a think-aloud observation, where I had the user examine my unit plan and express their thoughts aloud. From this user, I gained ideas for some clarifications to the unit plan as well as ideas for how to get more participation from students. The second user was the seventh-grade ELA teacher at my school, who teaches the students I have the year prior. When asked if this unit was challenging, I think this teacher, understanding the environment we work in, really captured what I had been trying to express all along: The students we teach are apt to say whatever comes to mind and teaching students to think first before speaking will inherently be the biggest challenge of the entire unit. If students are able to acquire that skill, they will be able to discuss the novels at hand and hopefully become impacted by them. From the beginning of the design process, I could have easily decided that I was going to do a novel study unit with diverse books. I could have chosen the books, created the unit, and taught it without any input. A lot of curriculum planning, specifically at my school, is done in this manner. After going through the design process, I think more input than just the individual’s is necessary. I would say by following the steps of empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test, I was able to gain valuable feedback and ideas from all stakeholders, including the students, the teachers, and even administrators. By following the process, I was able to think more deeply and clearly about my problem of practice and develop a design that I feel will truly impact the participants. While the design process was lengthy, the ideas generated and the topics discussed were well worth it. By using the design model, I was able to gain support from my fellow staff, which is something I will definitely need to conquer a unit like this. I appreciate that my prototype is something that is applicable to my practice. It was nice to have the time and support to build what I think has the potential to be a phenomenal design.
My wicked problem has never been more apparent than in these past few weeks. During this time of converting to a distance learning model, a lot of questions surrounding economic inequities have been expressed by parents, teachers, and the administration. There have been concerns over internet and technology access, but also over the physical and mental health of the students while they are away from school. I’ve reflected a lot on how I personally believe students at my school are not extremely empathetic towards others, including other students who come from a socioeconomically disadvantaged household. I wanted to gain insight into what teachers at my school thought about the mindsets of the students they teach in reference to empathy and socioeconomic status.
In order to do so, I created a twelve-question survey. I started by making an initial draft, where I brainstormed questions that I wanted answers to surrounding my problem. The hardest part was that I felt like a lot of the questions in my first draft were open-ended and honestly more answerable through research than a survey. With the idea of asking other teachers these questions to frame the task, I revised my questions. With some feedback from colleagues, I went ahead and created a Google Form to finalize and present my survey. Overall, the process was quite simple, even with the challenge of coming up with specific and clear questions. One big decision I made, based on feedback I received from a colleague, was to divide my survey into sections. Being one long page did not seem to be effective and adding sections made the survey more organized and less overwhelming. Survey design requires brainstorming and organizing, but the data received could be essential for a solution. This week, I set out to create a sketchnote style video. I’ve seen many of these types of videos both for educational and advertisement purposes, but never thought to create one myself. I always assumed I couldn’t make one, as I do not have the proper materials (whiteboard, tripod, etc.) and I also don’t feel I am that artistic to be able to draw, write, and doodle. After watching a few more example sketchnote videos, I realized a lot of those videos were filmed hands-free. I knew to be successful I would probably need both hands to sort my question sticky-notes. Without a tripod, I really had to think about how I could possibly accomplish this task. I thought maybe I could hold my phone with my chin. I thought about suspending a device from the ceiling. I searched online for ideas, which was a bust since I didn’t have a glass table to elevate a camera either. I had to be innovative. Here’s how I filmed my question sortings: By setting my iPad on top of the stack of books, I was able to sneak around the side to sort my questions. To do the handwriting portions, I shortened the book stack and followed a similar procedure. After figuring out this camera rig, making the video actually wasn’t as complex as I was thinking. I am used to narrating and editing videos; however, I still don’t think it looks extremely professional. I could definitely see myself using this style of video to explain concepts to students and colleagues. With more practice I might consider using It is much more engaging than a slideshow presentation!
|
Jennifer StirlingThis is my #MAET journey! Thanks for reading! Archives
August 2020
CategoriesThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. |