12.17.2012

Young Professionals Workshop

In high school, I always felt I would have been more prepared for college and in turn, more prepared for the real world if I had access to more young professionals who could tell me what they did and answer my questions. As a result, this is exactly what Morgan Harris and I have done with our Young Professional Workshops that we run on Thursday evenings at school. Morgan brought in his friend Jamie Goodin, Web Communications Specialist at Washington and Lee, and this past week, I brought in my friend Field Yates, who writes for ESPN Boston about the Patriots.

Field spoke with interested students about his road into sports journalism, beginning with his own time in high school at Belmont Hill. A beat writer for the Patriots, Field harked on the importance of social media in his ascent to meaningful employment. A little over a year ago I invited Field to speak to my US History class about the importance of writing. I figured an athletic-focused, boys school might respond better to the value of strong writing from someone who makes a living writing about the NFL. He did a wonderful job. Students renewed their focus on their education, particularly their writing skills, and saw a viable career path laid out before them.

At the time he first spoke via Skype, Field was unemployed, managing his own Tumblr and building his own Twitter feed. A year later, he was sitting in his office at ESPN Boston. One of the greatest things about this path is that students feasibly could begin this exact career path today, and it’s free! The power of social media is often underrated in education and I love teaching it with any chance I get. To prove this point, I have told Field’s story before, but having him virtually present telling his own story and taking questions was even better. Students asked a range of questions from his college major and previous writing skills, to his favorite moments at Gillette Stadium this year. This videoconference was a slam dunk on each question, as his words clearly impacted the students present. And, his humor allowed students to learn and laugh at the same time. After all, what high-school aged boy doesn’t want to hear stories about Vince Wilfork’s locker room demeanor, and doesn’t dream of spending five days a week at Gillette stadium?

12.16.2012

Why I Hate School but Love Education

This viral video is a must-watch for educators and students around the country. This college graduate is reconsidering what he learned in school. As the title suggests, he’s all for education, but not necessarily the current system if school. He calls school a “distant cousin” of education—surely a thought provoking comparison. I wrote previously about using the EPIC 2020 video in class and this proved to be an excellent follow-up discussion.
Obviously the video is biased and only portrays one side of he school vs. education argument, but it is something about which students truly enjoy critically thinking. My US History class (11th grade) was forced to reconsider their approach to learning and school. I used this video to preach the value of pursuing one’s passions and the ease at which students today can achieve this given the speed at which information travels freely across the internet  I harked on previous lessons where I argued about the importance of being social AND scholarly on the web.

Some students were genuinely touched. Regardless, all were forced to reconsider what their parents have been telling them all their lives about going to school to get an education. Are they that strongly correlated? And, in the Information Age, are traditional schools still the best way to pursue an education?

12.12.2012

EPIC 2020


If you haven’t showed the Epic 2020 video to your class yet, you must. It’s such a brilliant, yet controversial study regarding the direction of education over the next eight years. It carefully lays out the achievements in recent years in education (Sal Khan, MOOCs Udacity, badges, etc) and talks about 2012 as the threshold year for moving education to the web for all, for FREE. This democratizing of education is worth considering especially given two things: the declining test scores of US students, and the outrageous costs of colleges which are making schools harder and harder to afford, while they are becoming more and more selective. Epic 2020 offers an innovative solution to both of these problems. To open up the discussion, I began my class with this document about the absurdities in the current system of higher education. I had previously shown this video of Will Mcavoy from HBO’s The Newsroom which addressed the US’s problems in student test scores (a fact we revisited). Then, after watching Epic 2020 I opened up the room to discussion…


It was amazing to watch my students, whom we often call digital natives, struggle to consider the feasibility of an alternate online educational option. Some nodded their heads in agreement while my seniors immediately felt depressed. The college process had recently left a bitter taste in their mouths, and I was forcing them to consider the value of that diploma AND the price at which it comes.  

My US History class happened to be studying the Gilded Age and the following day, we had an open discussion about wealth during the Gilded Age with a focus on Andrew Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth and Horatio Alger’s rags to riches narratives. I used this graphic regarding wealth in Congress, this graphic about inequality in the United States, and these graphics about corporate profits and tax rates, to prove that we are truly living in a second Gilded Age. When one student astutely connected this lesson to the EPIC video, he concluded that we wouldn’t be moving toward the vision laid out in the video because the elite will invest their time and money into ensuring that the existing structure, which benefits them, will be there for their kids and grand kids. You can imagine the reaction of the other students. Minds were blown.

12.05.2012

Collaborative Study Guides on Google Docs Pt. II

I wrote previously about using Docs for collaborative study guides, and this year with midterms coming up, I’m going to try something new to help my students prepare for exams. I’ll begin with all the terms we have studied and have students fill it out much like I have previously. I will require students to put their initials next to terms that they look up to see who has put forth the best effort. I’m willing to add a grade to my grade book (maybe class participation) where those students who synthesized and guided other students best will receive points. That means adding pictures, links and videos where it helps, and making comments on other students answers when they are less than adequate.

Then, to get students to prepare in advance, I’m going to host google hangouts where students can view the doc and ask questions. I’ll also be willing to take away terms from time to time to assure that students continue to check back to the doc night to night to prepare.

I hope this produces a better skill building for students, a better study guide, and higher scores. I’m sure it will be better than what my classes did last year.

Collaborative Study Guides on Google Docs

Perhaps the greatest thing about using google docs for study guides is how quickly students can complete it when they work together. In a single night’s homework assignment, students have a thoroughly completed, peer reviewed study guide; about which they can ask questions of one another and of the teacher easily and instantly. This approach also assures collaboration between students. It gives certain students a chance to lead and other students a forum through which they can ask questions.

One great aspect of docs is that it puts students in a position to use Google and Wikipedia in places where they may not have taken stellar notes. Inevitably however, students who populate the study guide are using a diversity of materials to pursue information. Some students thumb through their notebooks and add information to the study guide, while others use google, and still others use the textbook. This approach also allows students to post links, pictures and videos--whatever works best to teach others and help them recall information on an assessment.

An added bonus of online study guides is that students can access them from anywhere. Students with smartphones and tablets can study the information on-the-go anytime, anywhere.

Online study guides teach initiative, leadership, collaboration, research, organization and work ethic. These skills are so much more valuable than having students print and fill out their own study guides. And, for teachers who still think students learn and retain more when they have to compete their own study guide; fine, have them build on their own before they collaborate. Regardless, collaborate. These skills are too important to ignore given the importance of teaching crucial 21st century skills (collaboration and innovation) in a productivity-obsessed world.