Golf Bag of Education Tools

One of my favorite analogies when talking about the different tools we have in education deals with golf.  You can relate teaching to many different activities but one analogy is usually never enough to fully explain ideas and concepts in the complex field of teaching.  Teaching is not exact, but there are certain rules that are almost always at work just like in golf.  A great golfer can not hit the same shot 100 times in a row, there are too many variables involved.

A golfer is limited to a certain number of clubs when they go golfing, the number stays the same but the specific club types may change from course to course.  But a golfer is not going to just use one club for the whole course.  There is a reason that a putter is never used to hit from the tee box.
Teachers have a lot of different tools (teaching techniques) available to them.  They will struggle if they just use one technique over and over again.  Just like each hole on a golf course is different and requires a different club and swing to be successful, each teaching experience requires a different teaching method and focus in order to be successful.  You have to be careful not to try too many different techniques as you will not become great at any, you will just be ok with many.  Do not be afraid to try new techniques and see if they can replace one that you already use if it is not working well anymore.

A club that worked from a specific distance might work one day but not the next due to wind or other conditions.  
On the golf course there are many factors that can affect whether a shot is successful or not.  In the classroom there are just as many variables, if not more, that can affect how effective a lesson is.  We can not just assume that the technique that worked once will always work.  We have to remember that our students are not the same year to year, let alone from one period to the next.  We also can not focus on just one variable, like distance for a golf swing, and base what technique we use only on that variable.  Teaching well is a complex mental activity as we have to pay attention to so many variables.  The key is to focus on the main variables we can and have an idea in place if the shot is off target.

A club can be used to hit a variety of distances all depending on the specific swing that is used.
You can vary the swing such that a golf club can hit a variety of distances.  Sometimes you need to hit a low shot or you need to pop it up.  Sometimes you need to just punch out a shot into the fairway so that you can hit a better shot next time.  In teaching we can take one technique and modify it so that it can fit a wider range of situations.  There are limitations though.  A golfer is not going to try hitting a tee shot over 300 yards using a putter.  We can not use a worksheet to always get deep understanding.  Sometimes a worksheet can be useful but only if it is used correctly.  The same could be said for lectures.  There are some teachers who are very good at engaging their students using a discussion or lecture but too often the lecture is just a way to get information out and be done with it.  Its important to think about how you can modify a technique to fit the situation you are in, sometimes you already have the right club in your bag but you are not thinking about how you can use it differently.

Experience very useful as you can learn from past shots and figure out what works for you and what doesn't work for you.  Each round of golf is another experience that helps you get better at the game.
A golfer is going to hit a lot of shots, some will be good but many will not be when you just get started.  As a teacher, experience is invaluable.  You learn what works well and what doesn't.  That doesn't mean that experience is the only factor in making a good teacher, but there is no substitute for being in the classroom with students.

A golfer that never spends any time practicing at the driving range will find it very difficult to improve.
A teacher could be a good teacher, but they still need to be continually evaluating themselves and looking for ways to improve.  A golfer spends time at the driving range in order to constantly evaluate their swing and try out new techniques and clubs.  A golfer develops issues in their swing over time and they have to make adjustments before their swing becomes horrible.  A teacher can experience the same thing over time.  If we get too comfortable with our technique, we may not notice it when it becomes ineffective and our shots end up in the next fairway over.  This is where professional development, both provided by the school and our own personal learning network (PLN) come into play.  We need to be engaged in continual improvement otherwise we will develop faults in our methods.

A caddy or swing coach can be an invaluable tool at getting better.
Having another person analyze your swing or just give advice can be invaluable in golf.  There is a reason why all of the professional golfers have caddies and it isn't just to have someone else carry the bag.  The advice that they get while they play can change a round for the better.  We have people in education who can play the same role.  Most schools have instructional coaches or technology integrationists.  Their job is to help teachers analyze their teaching and improve.  The problem comes in that many teachers are afraid to make use of this resource.  I have read a lot of research that all seems to point to the idea that teachers hold their teaching ability as being more personal than their parenting ability.  That providing any advice or critique about how a teacher teaches can shut that person down to more help in the future.  If we expect our students to accept the feedback from us in class, we need to accept the feedback from other educators who are only trying to help us.  People will often say that the smartest person in the room is the room itself.  Teaching is not a field that allows for individuals to easily be successful without help from others.  We should not just seek out help from others but we should embrace it.  That is just one way that we can improve as teachers but it is a very important one.


I started thinking about these analogies during my first year of teaching.  One of my friends had given me a pen holder that was the shape of a golf bag for my desk.  As I was sitting there one day after a rough day of teaching, I started to compare teaching to golf.  Some things became very clear to me and the analogies were a way for me to focus on the important aspects.  When a lesson was not going as well as I had hoped, or I was stuck during the planning stage and not sure what to do next, I would imagine that little golf bag filled with different clubs (teaching techniques) and would pick the one that would work the best.  I would add clubs to that bag over time and remove ones that were no longer working for me.  I would be careful not to add too many and focus on the ones that I used the most but would not be afraid to try out a new one.

Sometimes we need something like this to help us focus in a different way than before, in order to make things clearer to ourselves.

A Laptop is So Much More Than a Word Processor

I was working on my assignment for my Masters class this week and referenced a talk by Kevin Honeycutt.  He discussed how his home situation affected his education, which worked well because my assignment deal with poverty and education.  I decided to rewatch the talk and became a bit distracted.  It reminded me of one the biggest reasons why I was so excited for the 1:1 initiative.  Just like our students do not come from the same situation when they come to school, they do not all learn in the same way.  Yet, in so many classrooms there is only one way to do things and only one type of assignment to turn in or one single test for everyone to take.

Differentiation is a word that has been used a lot lately when talking about what we need to do in classrooms.  Since our students are all different, shouldn't their education be different too.  Not just the assignments but also the assessments.  Unfortunately many laptops are being used in classes to type what was written, digitize what was already being done and everyone is still all doing the same thing.  I see the laptops, and any device, as a way to open up differentiation for many.  Instead of focusing on a single textbook as the main resource, curate digital resources that the students can choose which to use.  Give them the option to use the tools that fit them the best.  They do not need to have an understanding of learning styles, they already know what they like and what they do not like.  By forcing students to only use the textbook, you are turning off so many students to learning.  I do not learn best by using a textbook and I have many examples from my own education to show this.  Today when I want to learn something, I do not go to a library and check out a book.  I want something interactive and something that I can watch or listen to.  When I need to learn or review a Google script or function in Google Spreadsheets, I go to YouTube.

We should not try to limit and control the learning of students.  If a student asks if instead of a powerpoint presentation, can they produce something else,  who are we to say no.  We should be allowing students to use whatever tools they feel comfortable with to show their learning.  This may be uneasy for the teacher but the focus has to be on the student and not on what is easiest for the teacher.  We need to be open to taking chances and allowing things to happen even if we are not sure they will succeed 100% or not.  Failure is part of the learning process and you can not control learning.  You can help guide it and create a effective learning environment but true learning is not the same for everyone.

Passion and engagement can easily be increased by giving students more options when it comes to exploring their learning and then showing what they learned.  A student may be way more engaged creating a tour in Google Earth as it relates to the topic instead of a poster or a powerpoint.  Instead of a cardboard diorama, a student could use Google Sketchup to create a 3D representation of what they are learning about.  Instead of a poster or flyer, a student could create a video or website or ebook about the topic.  Give students the chance to express their learning the way that they want and their engagement will increase drastically.  A student who is engaged is a student who is more likely to not just learn, but retain that learning for the long haul.

Tips for Hesitant Technology Learners

Dave Burgess writes in his book, "Teach Like a Pirate", about his dislike of the phrase, "it's easy for you, you're creative."  He goes on to say that everyone has creativity in them and that by saying this phrase, you are discounting all of the work that person put in to whatever they did that you deemed "creative".  No one is born with the ability to paint, play a musical instrument or the ability to teach.  We have to put forth effort in order to grow in any area, including creativity.

Let's transfer this to technology.  No one is born with an iPhone in their hand.  No one comes out of the womb with the ability to create a website or to develop a lesson that uses technology to deepen student learning.  When people say it must be easy for me since I am a techie person, they are downgrading all of the work and effort I put into learning new things when it comes to technology.  I love to learn about everything and technology is one of those subjects that I put forth the effort in order to learn.  I am not afraid to fail either in my learning.  I make mistakes.  I have crashed many a hard drive in my days and I doubt I am done with that yet.  We have to remember those important ideas about learning not just for our students but for ourselves.

Tips

• Acknowledge that everyone has to learn something and that not everything comes easy to everyone.  It takes some effort to learn something and you should not be afraid of that effort.  If we are afraid to learn something new, how can we expect our students to learn something new.
• Know that there are others who are in the same spot as you.  The beauty of technology is that it changes so quickly that no one is an expert for long.  That also means that we get countless opportunities to learn something new and to share that learning.
• Ask for help.  Just as we tell our students to not just sit there waiting for help, we have to remember that we can not just sit there waiting for someone to come to our classroom to do the work for us.  There are people in the school who can help you, there are even students who can help you.  Help will only come when you ask for it.
• Do not be afraid to fail.  Failure is an important part of the learning process and it should not be a scary thing.  If you fail, then try again.  True failure only happens when we give up or worse, if we never try.  
• Play, play and play some more.  People are so scared of new things that they forget that playing with something is a way of learning.  Download that app, open that site, start that program and just play around with it.  Do not think that you need to create a perfect example the first time you try something.  I love trying out new tools and just seeing what I can do with it.  I only go looking for further information after I have had some time to play.  Do not be afraid to play.
• Enjoy learning again.  So many people forget that the key to school is the focus on learning, not content.  We succeed when we help produce learners to send out into the world.  If we were solely focused on content, we could just hand them the textbook and walk away.  We must remember that we are learners too, not just the students.
• Start small, pick 1 or 2 things to try and learn before moving on to more.  Do not feel you need to do everything at once.  Many people fail to start learning because they assume they have to learn everything.  There are so many different tools that can help you, but it helps to focus on the ones that are easiest for you to use in the beginning.  As you get better, move on to the next one and keep learning.  

If you look at those tips, not one tool is ever mentioned.  It is about the learning that takes place in the classroom more than the tool being used.  That doesn't mean that we can avoid using technology in the classroom, it is too powerful of a tool to ignore.  The teacher that fails to make use of every tool available to them, fails their students.  We are here to help our students, not to fail them.

Unintended Effects of Created Resources

One of the first things that I wanted to do this year as a technology integration specialist was to create a simple Google Site that would contain resources and links for teachers at my high school.  The only purpose was to have a place that I could collect and sort out resources and tips for teachers when it came to technology integration.  My audience was the 80 or so teachers at our high school and possibly some of our middle school teachers too.

I did not expect that my site would get much traffic from outside of Ames, let alone from outside of the United States.  By using Google Analytics I have been able to keep track of how many people visit my site and from where.  I mostly use Google Analytics to gauge how often people from my own school visit the site.  Most of the visits, over 79% of the visits have been from the United States but that leaves around 20% of the visits from people outside of the United States.  (Now I know there is a chance that some of these visits could be from computer programs and not real people, but I have to believe that not all of them are digital creations.)

Looking at the stats below, you can see that in 2nd place is the U.K. and that is followed by a close contest between Canada and Israel.  I do enjoy looking at the stats and seeing the number of visits increase throughout the month, but I wonder how much people are taking away from my site.  It is easy to find out with the staff that I work with, as they will usually provide me with feedback but I do wonder how useful my site is to others.

While I am proud of my site so far, it is by far the best looking site that I have created on Google Sites, there is a lot left to do.  I am constantly adding content to the site and having to change things as there becomes more and more to handle.  It can not become a static thing, it has to change as the needs and wants of the teachers that I work with change.  The important thing is to make sure that it stays organized and is an efficient tool for others to use.  The minute that this tool becomes ineffective or inefficient, it is time to modify the tool or use a new one.  This should be the same strategy that we use in the classroom.

It is nice that something that I created for my purpose is being used by others.  This same thing happened with my Flipped Classroom.  The resources and videos that I created for my students were not just being used by my students.  Since I made everything public, that meant that any other student could access and use them.  Although the focus of the resources was for my specific classroom, they could be useful for other people as well.  I know that even though I am no longer using these resources, my site and my videos on YouTube are still getting hits and are being watched to this day.  That is a very nice, unintended consequence of the work that I did for my students is helping others.

How Twitter Saved My Teaching Career

Any time that I get to talk to other educators and they ask about what tips I have, I always start with telling them they need to be on Twitter.  I have said this when giving presentations at conferences, I have said this when talking with teachers at my school, I have said this when talking to administrators and I even got the chance to say this when talking to pre-service teachers at Iowa State University.

To be honest, Twitter probably saved my teaching career.  A few years ago I started looking at Twitter mostly as a way to post reminders for my students.  I even put a gadget on my Wikispaces site so that it would show my tweets for students that did not have a Twitter account.

My school was starting a 1:1 initiative at this point where every student was given a white Macbook laptop.  Even as someone who loves playing with technology, I was trying to find ways to use this new tool effectively in my classroom.  The problem was that my school was small and there weren't many teachers there and even fewer that had a lot of experience using laptops regularly in the classroom.  This was also a problem with my content areas as I was the only teacher teaching my subjects and did not have a lot of physics teachers nearby to talk to.

I don't remember why, but I started to read tweets that others were posting more often.  I started following other educators and following certain hashtags related to education.  I even lurked during weekly chats that were held on Twitter that focused on various topics in education.  It was through Twitter that I first learned of the Flipped Classroom.  I started reading posts people were making about how they were flipping their classroom and how standards based grading could be integrated with it.  I started connecting with other educators and our conversations really triggered ideas and changed how I was viewing things.  I started to figure out how to do things differently so that my students had a better learning experience.  I learned so much and was able to connect with so many educators, people I get to see at conferences and people I hope to meet at a conference someday.

Twitter helped me change how I was teaching and opened me up to so many new ideas and techniques to use in the classroom.  I am able to follow along at conferences I am attending and to conferences I am not attending.  I find resources that I can share with others.  I get to learn about something new not just daily but almost hourly.  I have connected with educators in other countries and even to people in charge of the Department of Education in Iowa.  I have connected with professionals in the science field and with some awesome educators.  I know that if I have a question, there are many who follow me who may be able to give me an answer.  Twitter is the primary source for my personal professional development and it really is the one tool that I could not teach without.

Biggest Tips I Have for Twitter Beginners

• Don't be too selective who you follow initially, you can always unfollow down the road.  Do not be afraid to follow people you may not agree with, that is part of our learning experience.
• Use a program like Tweetdeck in your Chrome browser as it makes it much easier to follow different subjects using hashtags.
• Know that it is ok to lurk during weekly chats.  Do not feel like you have to post right away but the best learning takes place when you do start posting.
• Be professional.  Remember that anything you put online will reflect on you as a teacher and make sure you do not post anything that can damage your career.
• Follow people outside of teaching too.  I follow many different scientists as well as NFL writers and teams.  I have even won contests using Twitter so it can be for fun as well as for work.

Efficient and Effective

One of the best things that I heard while at the Midwest Google Summit was said by Krista Moroder (@edtechcoaching) when she was discussing the Ed Tech Challenge (http://www.edtechchallenge.com/).  She stated that one way to decide whether to use technology as a tool or not depends on it making things more efficient or effective.  I could not agree more.  I love using technology but the big reason that I love technology is that it can make things more efficient and effective.

People often say that they do not have time to learn about something new in technology.  I would counter that they don't have enough time not to learn something new.  The big reason that I use Twitter is that it makes it easier for me to get new information while at the same time making it easier for me to connect with others.  My professional learning becomes more effective because I can now carry on conversations well past the conference and with people that I can not meet in person.

I use Google Docs with my students because it makes it much more efficient to provide feedback and to include collaboration with all of my students.  It makes the learning process more effective by including the chance for them to get feedback from not just me, but other students in class.

I have my students create their own Google Site so that they can have an audience of more than 1.  Their learning becomes way more effective when they feel that others may actually see or read what they create.  It is a lot more effective than just printing it out and putting it on my wall for a limited few to see, instead the whole world can see it.  Many students want to just feel that they have a voice and this is one way that we can do that.

I use formative assessment tools like Google Forms, Socrative or InfuseLearning to make it much more efficient to provide feedback.  The learning is more effective if students can see quickly how well they are understanding the content and this gives us the chance to quickly change the class to better meet the needs of our learners.  Instead of waiting for the copy machine to spit out the quizzes, taking them home and trying to find the time to grade and analyze all of the quizzes, I can just use the built in tools to do this for me instantly.

We do not have enough time in the day to not use technology effectively.  The time that we spend now to learn something new and apply it, is time that we get back later when it is much more important, in the classroom with our students.