Mar30

Professional Development on a Shoestring

Our district professional development budget is being drastically reduced next year. Each department has been asked how to provide professional development on a shoestring. Do you have any suggestions for our science department?
--Lisa, Montgomery, Alabama

There are those who suggest that reduced professional development (PD) budgets in many-if not most-schools districts may not be as terrible as many think. Schools may have to reconsider the single events in which a well-knows speaker blitzes in for a few hours, gives a speech, and leaves without any follow-up activities to support the teachers or to determine if anything changes in the classrooms as a result.

Take a look at the National Staff Development Council’s new report, Professional Learning in the Learning Profession. The report summarizes the research on the relationships between PD and student learning and describes how effective PD should
  • Be intensive, ongoing and sustained over time, and connected to practice.
  • Focus on student learning and address the teaching of specific curriculum content.
  • Align with school improvement priorities and goals.
  • Build strong working relationships among teachers.

This is your chance to tailor PD to the needs of your science teachers, rather than trying to fit your colleagues into one-size-fits-all events. First, ask your administrator for state or local PD requirements and the district views on independent study and teacher-directed activities. Find out what types of pre-approval and documentation are required for these nontraditional activities.

Then survey the science teachers to identify their needs in content knowledge and instruction. Ask them to examine the curriculum and state standards to identify science topics in which they need background knowledge or cutting-edge topics for which they would like more information. And look at areas in which your students are struggling. Most districts offer general workshops in instructional skills, but you now have a chance to identify specific skills your science teachers need such as inquiry, lesson design, notebooks, formative assessments, laboratory procedures, cooperative learning, reading/writing in science, inclusion, technology, or classroom management. The result of your survey should be a set of goals reflecting the needs of your teachers, PD activities to meet those needs, and a description of how you will chart your progress toward meeting the goals.

You can find or create a variety of free or low cost PD activities: teacher-directed study groups, blogging, action research projects, independent study, presentations by your own teachers (ideally, they should receive a modest stipend), online courses, collaborations with other school districts (including videoconferencing) whose teachers have similar needs, events at nearby museums or science centers, and online collaborations with other science teachers via discussion groups or networking sites. Rather than putting together an extensive list of unrelated events, be sure your activities are connected to your identified needs and goals.

If your district does not have guidelines for personalized PD plans, the NSTA Learning Center has a "PD Plan and Portfolio" tool to guide you through this process, enabling you to record events and evidence and produce a report that can be shared with colleagues and administrators. The Learning Center has other resources for individual teachers or study groups available online:
  • Web Seminars: live online discussions (1.5 hours) with content experts and educators from around the world (free and archived for later use).
  • Science Objects: online "content refreshers" (2 hours) with graphics and animations on a variety of topics (free).
  • SciPacks: online courses (10 hours) that include an assessment, support from a facilitator, ideas for classroom use, and a certificate of completion ($31.99 for NSTA members, $39.99 for nonmembers).
  • SciGuides: online teaching resources that include web-based resources, lesson plans, and examples of student work (some are free, others are $4.95 for NSTA members, $5.95 for nonmembers).

The Learning Center also has a searchable list of books, book chapters, and archived journal articles that could be used in discussion groups or for independent study (journal articles and many book chapters are available for free or at minimal cost to NSTA members and nonmembers).

NSTA Communities is a new member resource. You can communicate with science teachers all over the world, share resources, join groups of like-minded teachers, and find educators in your geographical area with skills and knowledge they are willing to share. And you can offer your skills and advice to others.

Don’t forget to work with your administrators to design a format for reporting not just the topic and the hours but also a discussion of how these activities have improved teachers’ content knowledge and instructional skills. Invite administrators to your events and into the classrooms to see the results.

Good luck with your new opportunity! Please let me know (either via e-mail or a comment) if you have questions or other suggestions.
Published: Mar-30-09 | 0 Comments | 0 Links to this post

Mar14

Wikipedia in Science Class

Our science teachers are discussing whether to allow students to use Wikipedia as a source for their research papers. What do you think of this source?
-- Jessica, Orem, Utah

When I read your question, I had a flashback to my science classes BI (Before the Internet). In one project, the students would create booklets on endangered species. Prior to the class periods in the library, we brainstormed questions and possible sources of information. But where did the students go first? To The World Book Encyclopedia. It didn't matter to the students that the set was more than 10 years old. It was accessible, easy to read, and had lots of illustrations. Rather than put the encyclopedias off-limits, the librarian and I used this teachable moment to discuss the value of using multiple sources of information and to acquaint students with other sources. Our rubric permitted only one encyclopedia in the list of references.

Fast forward to 2009. Enter a search term in your browser and the first resource will probably be an article from Wikipedia. The arguments against students using Wikipedia as a source are based on the fact that in a wiki, most of the entries can be edited by anyone and could contain inaccurate information. The article Wikipedia: Friend or Foe? presents two sides of the issue. There are also wiki-like websites in that many people contribute to them. You have to look at the small print to see they actually are wikis.

So we have a dilemma. Some schools block Wikipedia and some teachers will not accept student work if it contains references to Wikipedia articles. But students can access it outside of school, and I wonder if we ban Wikipedia outright, would students still use it without a citation or create a fake citation? The bigger issue is how we can help our students become critical consumers of the information available to them with a few clicks of the mouse. Your librarian will have advice on how to help students develop information literacy. The ability to evaluate websites for their accuracy, potential biases, and sources is a takeaway skill that students need to learn in all content areas, including science.

You can also help students by modeling the use of accurate and reliable resources. NSTA's SciLinks has lists of vetted websites on many topics. You can use the My Favorite SciLinks feature to create a list of sites to share with your students. I know a social studies teacher who uses the website Jog the Web to create a collection (or track) of recommended websites for each unit. It could be an interesting project for students to suggest sites to add to the list. (I've created a track with resources related to wikis and information literacy.) Many teachers and students also have set up their own wikis to share information within a class. Students add information as they find it and evaluate what others have posted. Access can be limited to registered users.

I must admit when I need basic information on a topic, I'll read the Wikipedia article. However, I would not cite a Wikipedia article as the only source. But I would scan the list of links and resources at the end of the article for additional information. If I were doing my life science project this year, I'd suggest that my students use Wikipedia as a starting point (as they used to use print encyclopedias), I'd still work with the librarian on recommending online and print resources, I'd start a list of appropriate websites (and have students suggest ones to add), and instead of creating booklets the students would contribute to a class wiki on the topic.

If anyone has examples of information literacy activities or wikis you'd like to share, please add a comment.
Published: Mar-14-09 | 0 Comments | 0 Links to this post

Mar08

Activities Get Students Focused

It takes my students a long time to settle down. By the time I take attendance and collect or return assignments, a lot of valuable time is gone. I've heard of "bell-ringer” activities. How would I use them? Do they really work?
Nick, Paterson, New Jersey

Even good classroom management can break down at times students are transitioning: from one class to another, between activities, or at the end of a class. "Bell-ringer" activities take advantage of these times. They are not unrelated busywork. They are brief—usually written—activities that encourage students to focus their attention or reflect on the lesson.

At the beginning of the class, have the bell-ringer (or warm-up) ready when the students come in. They should get started right away, even before the bell actually rings. The students are engaged while you take attendance, distribute or return assignments, or check homework. Some examples of warm-ups include:
  • Answer a question about yesterday's work or another related topic;
  • Respond to a statement or visual to uncover any misconceptions or to activate prior knowledge of the topic;
  • Solve a quick brain-teaser or math problem;
  • Complete a vocabulary entry with a graphic organizer such as a Frayer diagram;
  • Do a "quick write" with several sentences on a theme or topic;
  • Do a "quick draw" on a theme or topic;
  • Put a few words on the board and ask the students to write a sentence using all of them; and
  • Respond to a "this date in science history" or current event

At the end of the class, use another bell-ringer (sometimes called an exit activity or a ticket-out-the-door) as a formative assessment to check student understanding through a summary or a brief response to a question. This also gives time to scan the room to make sure materials are put away. Beyond classroom management, exit activities get students to focus and reflect, instead of dashing from the end of one class to another without "packing up" their thinking. But be sure that the exit activity doesn't make students late for their next class. I know a teacher who has an official "time keeper" in the class to give him a five-minute warning!

Bell-ringers have many formats. Some teachers use a notebook page. Others use a single sheet of paper divided into sections for each day or small pieces of paper (recycling old handouts) that can be turned in. If students have laptops, they can add to a class blog or Wiki. Do students respond positively? They may not at first, but don’t give up! It may take time for this to become a routine.

Some teachers grade bell-ringers; others include them in a class participation rubric. Some collect them and then return them at the end of the unit to review. But be sure to skim them to identify what students do or do not understand. Refer to their work the next day: I noticed that yesterday some of you had questions about… It seems like you understand... I saw an interesting connection between… I observed a teacher who asked the students to put a "Q" in the top right corner if they wrote a question or a check mark if they wrote about what they learned. He skimmed through the papers and used the questions and understandings to guide the next lesson.

You asked, "Do they really work?" I haven't seen any formal published research on bell-ringers per se (a possible thesis idea for graduate students?). But research (described in Robert Marzano's Classroom Instruction That Works ) shows positive effects for strategies often used in bell-ringers (e.g., activating prior knowledge, the use of nonlinguistic representations, and summarizing). I've seen them used in all kinds of schools, grade levels, and subject areas. My own action research sold me on the topic, and I wouldn't teach a class or conduct a workshop without bell-ringers.

If anyone has examples of bell-ringers activities you'd like to share, please add a comment.
Published: Mar-08-09 | 2 Comments | 0 Links to this post