On Smartboards and the like

My good friend, Pernille Ripp, kicked up some dust, when she asked for feedback about Smartboards. There is a long-standing debate about the value of Interactive White Boards (IWBs) around the blogosphere and Twitterverse.

Ripp was on a fact-finding mission, since a Smartboard was deposited into her classroom, even though she didn't ask for it. Soon, her quest for information turned into quite a heated debate between those for and against Smartboards.

I usually avoid the IWB argument, the same way I do politics. (I just figure you can't convince people with staunch beliefs on certain subjects to chnge.) I did weigh in on Ripp's post, mainly because I admire her as a colleague and she asked for feedback.

Pulled into the tornado
It wasn't long before the debate spilled into my Twitter stream, and another educator I greatly admire, Lisa Nielsen, shared her hardline opinion that Smartboards are, in effect, useless.

Since Lisa and I have conversed on IWBs in the past, I was not immediately compelled to respond. After a few tweets, though, I found myself so intrigued by the debate that I scurried off to this blog, so I'd have more than 140 characters to share my opinion.

Thoughts on IWBs
It's important to note that I have a Smartboard. I got it five years ago with federal funds that were supplied by my district. In all honesty, back then I wasn't informed enough to ask that the money be spent on laptops or netbooks which, admittedly, would have been much more useful.

Like Nielsen and many of my peers, I believe that any IWB is a waste of money. I would always recommend anything that gets the classroom closer to a 1:1 computer/student ratio. It's better to have all students interacting than one at a time.

In all fairness to people like me, who already have an IWB or are told they will be given one at no choice of their own, like Pernille Ripp was, it's important to make the best use of what you have. Many educators who constantly bash the use of IWBs contend that they make bad teachers. This might be true, but it might be untrue; it depends on the teacher.

Innovative educators can inspire learning with a toothbrush and a rock. Conversely, some teachers could have access to a space shuttle and make students feel like they are watching paint dry.

Summarizing
I think classrooms need to go digital as quickly as possible. The best way is through mobile learning, iPads, Web 2.0, social media and anything that gets kids to love learning. Do I recommend spending $2,500 on a Smartboard? No.

But if one is dropped in your lap, turn that sucker on and make the most of it.

Diving into the deep end of mobile learning

Thanks to a marvelous Personal Learning Network, I recently stumbled upon the web-based text application, Celly.

For roughly a year, I've been casually searching for a way to have my students use text messaging for class discussions -- an easy way to introduce mobile learning. Celly is definitely the answer, as it allows administrators (or curators, as Celly calls them) to create private text rooms (cells), where students must acquire access from the teacher.

My zeal sometimes gets the best of me, when it comes to integrating new technology into the classroom; I'm not one to test something for weeks, prior to using it. So, only a few short days after discovering Celly and setting up the cells for each of my five classes, out came the mobile devices.

The most shocking discovery was that in some classes, less than half of the students had cell phones. (Some reported that they simply weren't allowed to bring them to school.) Those who did participate were genuinely excited about the experience. After a few insignificant texts -- "This is cool," "Let's do this all the time," "Wassup" -- the conversation soon turned to a spirited discussion of books and their impact on the readers.

As is the case with most new technology, there were a few glitches. Some wireless service providers did not interface with Celly. Some students had phones set to block texting, and they didn't know how to disable this security measure. Plus, like a Twitter chat, the Celly discussion moves very fast, and some students complained that it was hard to keep up.

Still, in the long run, our first experience with texting was a major success and a true example of results-only learning. I'm looking forward to doing it again.

Old habits die hard

Recently, I encountered several teachers, who are stuck in their traditional world, and it hit me that old habits die hard.

One teacher announced that her students were awful at following simple directions for bell work, which included putting a proper heading on the paper. (These are 7th graders.) "So," she complained, "We  spent the entire class period on bell work.

My thought? Throw out the bell work. Then, she'd have no lesson at all, but the students' enthusiasm might increase.
As students passed through the hallways, another colleague spied a young man who had a ball cap strapped to his belt loop. He was immediately dispatched back to his locker to return the head cover.

My thought? Seriously, is a cap on a belt loop worth taking a teenager's mind off of learning?

Later, a student asked me to go to the bathroom with only a minute left in class. "The bell is about to ring," I told him. He frowned, before informing me that his next teacher never lets students go. So, I told the teacher that a student said, "You never let them go to the bathroom." His response. "I don't."

My thought? What if you had to pee, and I told you it wasn't allowed?

It's remarkable to me that the simplest acts, things that build teacher-student rapport and encourage a thirst for learning, are constantly ignored by veteran teachers.

I guess old habits really do die hard.

Can you cry in front of your students?

I showed the video below to my students on Patriot Day. During the video, I had tears in my eyes. Students seemed genuinely surprised that a teacher would get emotional in class.

It was a powerful, rapport-building moment. So, can you bring yourself to cry in front of your students?

Imagine your students doing this

Want to get your students truly excited about creating something unique?

Show them this remarkable video, then challenge them to create a similar project.

A real-life project

If you doubt the power of project-based learning, take a look at the video below.

Of course, you can listen to music during class

Photo credit: socialwebpromotion.com

A remarkable turn of events occurred at my school recently, providing another excellent opportunity for coaching the autonomy and intrinsic motivation that is critical to the success of a Results Only Learning Environment. YouTube was made available to students. (Hopefully, it wasn't an accident.)

On this incredible day, I just happened to have my students in a computer lab, so we could work on our classroom web site. Throughout the day, the buzz about YouTube's availability had spread through the hallways, and it didn't take long for my students to discover this uncanny miracle.

As my 8th graders worked on their private web sites, creating new pages and links where they would place reading plans, novel reflections, projects and more, a student nervously asked if he could pull up a music video and play it in the background, underneath his classroom web site, while he worked. Every student within earshot craned his or her neck and waited silently, eager to hear my response.

"Of course, you can," I nodded, shrugging off what the students perceived to be a crazy request.

I told him in a voice that all students could hear that I was interested in the results. "I need you to watch the video I created for today's lesson and to create two pages with accompanying links on your home page. Can you do this, while listening to music?" He promised me he could.

Moments later, half of the class was locating music videos on YouTube, clicking play, then lowering the YouTube pages to their desktops, so our classroom site could be the focus of their attention.

The day couldn't have gone better, as all students completed the objectives, while shaking their heads and tapping their fingers to the beat.

With only a few minutes left, as they returned their headphones to me, I explained that YouTube had previously been blocked to students, because many administrators and teachers don't trust students to make good decisions. "In a results-only classroom," I emphasized, "autonomy is king. If you can accomplish a task, why shouldn't you be able to do it comfortably? Just remember the responsibility that comes with this kind of freedom."

The message was clear, and I never saw so many smiles in one class in my career.