0 Planning Time: The Great Divide?

Is "Planning Time" the factor that creates division in school communication and action?

I'm wondering this because like many educators I'm spending a considerable amount of time planning curriculum during the summer months.  It's truthfully the only time I have to research with depth with regard to revising units and learning the latest tools, strategies, and information.

Once the year gets going, almost all of my time is spent with time-on-task endeavor for my 25 or so students. Yes, teachers do get planning time during the school year, but most of that is spent on direct response to daily efforts such as parent emails, correcting tests, and revising lessons to meet students needs.

In many schools, however, there are a number of people whose time-on-task is planning time--that's the time they research, read, connect, and plan.  This difference of planning time has the potential to create divide because those on task who are responsible for carrying out the plans, have little time to plan during the school year, yet many, who are responsible for leading the time-on-task people plan during the year.

If this divide truly does exist, what is the solution?  As I've written numerous times, I believe that roles and responsibilities in schools have to shift to meet the new age of tech integration and connectivity we live in.  I believe that most people in schools should have direct service responsibilities to children, and those people should share the responsibility for reading, research, and planning. That would mean streamlining administrative roles to only a few, necessary leadership positions, and extending the time-on-task, direct service roles to more individuals including a more balanced schedule for each of those individuals with regard to direct service and planning time.  I believe this shift would create better student-teacher ratios for critical teaching efforts as well as provide more educators with time to collaborate and plan.

Every system has somewhat different structures, and every system defines roles differently.  For example, in some systems coaches play a direct role with student learning and in other systems coaches lead, but rarely work with students.  Also in some systems, there are numerous leadership/evaluation positions and in other systems there are few of those positions.  The key in all of this is figuring out ways to determine the merit, strength, and impact of each role--does the role serve student learning well or could the role be revised to better effect student learning?

I guess I continue to return to this discussion because I'm always a bit hindered by my role parameters and the vision I'd like to meet.  Planning during the summer means that I'm mostly planning in isolation since most people are on vacation or not available, yet during the school year I simply don't have the same kind of time for planning since I'm spending most of my time with large numbers of students in direct service.  I don't have the answers, but I do think movement away from the factory model of "doers" and "leaders" will move schools forward with strength.  Do you agree?

0 Designing a Unit of Study

This week, I'll build a new unit of study.  I'm prepping the unit for three reasons:

1. To strengthen a unit I facilitate with my students.
2. To revisit unit building steps before I present the steps at a conference next week.
3. To have a renewed, versatile unit to share at the MTA Summer conference next week. 

Unit design is unit architecture. Essentially it is a process that demands choosing the best elements and connecting those pieces to make a worthy design--one that interacts with students in a powerful, useful way.

As I build the unit this week, I'll gather the following components:

• Examples of past, related units.
• Current state, local, and common core standards including the links to those standards for conference participants. 
• Samples of similar units others have created.  I'll get these samples from Common Core websites, math websites, and a Google search. 
• Related tech tools available at my school, and those likely available at all schools including iMovie, Garageband, Quicktime Screencast, Photobooth, Voicethread, Storybird, 30Hands, Explain Everything, ShowMe, SCRATCH, UClass, and YouTube.
• A unit planning template to use as a guide.
• The SMP design process since this is a math unit that will include SMPs.
• Pre- and post assessments. 
• Formative assessments. 

Next, I'll choose a challenging fourth grade concept to use as a model.  Typically a more challenging concept demands our best work and thought when it comes to teaching well.

After that, I'll design the unit step by step.  I'll publish the unit on this blog and on UClass for participants' and others' ready access and use.

The creativity map is set, now it's time to get started with the specifics?  As I move through this assignment I want to think about the length of time it takes to plan a good unit?  I also want to think about the roadblocks that occur, and the ways this plan lends itself to a collaborative design venture.  

Is your design process similar to mine when it comes to a unit of study?  Did I miss any integral steps that you typically include?  I welcome your suggestions. 

0 MTA's Ed Talks Spread the Good News in Education

MTA's Summer Conference at Williamstown will once again host Ed Talks, a series of talks by Massachusetts' educators related to the theme of educating the whole student. Sarah Nathan, MTA's ED Talks' talented coordinator, started months ago leading a team of educators in carefully planning for, and organizing this inspiring event. I have had the good fortune to serve on this committee with Tim Sheehan, Monica Poole, and Laura Barrett.

The live talks will be filmed in Paresky Hall the evening of August 5th. The event is open to the public. If you're attending the conference, and in particular if you envision yourself giving an Ed Talk in the future, please join the celebration. If you're unable to attend, be on the lookout for the published talks.

I was fortunate to attend last year's event. It was exciting to see each speaker take the stage and share their wisdom. You may access last year's wonderful talks via MTA's Ed Talks Playlist.

This year's Ed Talks panel includes the following educators:

• Camille Napier Bernstein, English teacher at Natick High school.
• Chris Bruno, a social studies teacher at Plymouth North High School.
• Becky Curran, an advocate for little people and all people with disabilities.
• Max Grinnell, a writer, traveler and Massachusetts College of Art and Design Professor. 
• Laura Beals D'Elia, elementary school librarian in Burlington, MA.
• Max Grinnell, writer, traveler, and Mass College of Art and Design Professor
• Christine Lucey-Meagher, Worcester Public Schools High School Art Teacher, Illustrator.
• Deb Socia, Principal on Assignment at Boston Public Schools.

The Ed Talks are one example of how The Massachusetts Teachers Association has extended their reach to all current venues of communication and education. You may also find the MTA on their website, Facebook page, Twitter, and YouTube. With this outreach, MTA is leading all Massachusetts educators with 21st century design. 

If you would still like to attend the MTA's summer conference, you may register until August 1. I welcome your questions, and hope to meet you at the conference. 

0 Challenge Avoidance

As I continue to work towards meeting a tough challenge, I am cognizant of the importance routine and context play. I continue to use this challenge process to reflect on my role as an educator who coaches many children towards meeting challenging goals.

So to summarize the learning so far.

First, it's essential to clearly define the goal and "success criteria."  What is it that you're attempting to conquer, learn, create, or do?

Next, it's essential to create a supportive context with the right coaches, environment, schedule, and other supports.

After that, it is important to be mindful of the journey, reflecting along the way.

Hence, as I meet the next turn in achieving my goal, I find that I am very good at "challenge avoidance," by filling my time with things I'm good at, and avoiding the challenging tasks that will take to goal success.

In what ways do our students avoid challenge, and how can we make them aware of "challenge avoidance" in their behavior and action.  The first step is recognition of what you do that helps you to avoid challenges, and then the next step is to meet those avoidance steps with new behaviors.

It will be interesting to hear how students respond to this coaching in the fall.  In the meantime, I need to make the goal schedule so avoidance doesn't creep in.  Let's see what happens.

0 Lesson Plan Challenge

My trial with UClass has propelled me into the challenge of planning lessons that multiple educators across the globe can potentially use. This challenge made me look carefully at UClass's two standard templates, the 5E and 5-Step lesson plans, and the lesson design template I recently created with the new Massachusetts Educator Evaluation Standards in mind. Since I know that all three lesson models have merit, I combined the emphasis in the chart below:

Next, I created a template based on all three to follow when creating UClass lessons.  I created this template to make sure that my work covered the essential elements of quality instruction.

Lesson Planning

Title	Phrased as a question if possible.
Lesson Objective, Rationale, and Success Criteria	Write an easy to measure, meaningful objective. Set goals with students when possible.	Objective: Rationale: Success Criteria:
Grouping In what ways will I group students to foster optimal learning?	Like ability grouping Stronger-more challenged grouping Role grouping Social grouping. Random grouping	Group Size Rationale Specific Groups
Classroom  Set-Up How will I set-up the learning environment to support student success?	Table arrangement Intro/share space set-up Visuals displayed including learning objective, activity menu, vocabulary and other important resources Technology ready to go.	Draw a map or make notes about the learning environment set-up.
Materials: What are the best materials to use in order to develop student learning?	Available and accessible to learners. Hands-on, paper/pencil, tech-related. Create or adapt materials for solving problems. Model material thinking, use and care during focus lesson. Choose materials that best meet the lessons objectives.	Materials List: (Including Technology)
Vocabulary What words and phrases will students need to learn and understand?	Key Words Students and/or teachers create vocabulary cards or bulletin board to support learning.	Word/Phrase Definition

Lesson Roll Out

E N G A G E	Lesson Introduction/ Opening: What engagement strategies will I employ at the start of the lesson?	Capture learners’ attention. Make connections. Tap into students’ emotions/experiences. Use narrative. Good questioning: perplexing, paradoxical, unexpected. Short videos, artifacts. or multi-sensory introduction. Pique curiosity. Connect learning to past learning. Look forward to future learning. 10-15% of entire lesson.	Circle chosen technique(s) on left-hand list.  Then write specific links, details below.
E X P L O R E E X P L A I N E L A B O R A T E	Student Activity What activities will engage students and develop learning?	70%-80% active learning. Give students time to actively explore the concept. Foster student explanation with peers, to the class, and in writing. Guide student learning. Facilitate investigations. Plan so that students are mainly actively engaged in the process with words and actions. Create enrichment and elaboration paths for students who are ready.	Guided Practice, Exploration, and Explanation. Independent, Collaborative Practice, Exploration and Explanation. Enrichment and Elaboration
E V A L U A T E	Closing/ Assessment/ Evaluation Measurable objectives How will the teacher and students assess learning at the end of a lesson?	10%-15% closing share, next steps discussion. Assess the learning using the predetermined measurement. Observation Exit Ticket Writing Quick Quiz Class Share Assessment of Activity Results Explain evaluation procedures with students. Rubric. Criteria list.	Closing Evaluation

After that I simplified the effort even more by leaving out the descriptive information that I won't need once I complete five or so lessons with this new template.

Lesson Planning

Title
Lesson Objective, Rationale, and Success Criteria	Objective: Rationale: Success Criteria:
Grouping In what ways will I group students to foster optimal learning?	Group Size Rationale Specific Groups
Classroom Set-Up How will I set-up the learning environment to support student success?	Draw a map or make notes about the learning environment set-up.
Materials: What are the best materials to use in order to develop student learning?	Materials List: (Including Technology)
Vocabulary What words and phrases will students need to learn and understand?	Word/Phrase Definition

Lesson Roll Out

E N G A G E	Lesson Introduction/ Opening: What engagement strategies will I employ at the start of the lesson?	Circle chosen technique(s) on left-hand list.  Then write specific links, details below.
E X P L O R E E X P L A I N E L A B O R A T E	Student Activity What activities will engage students and develop learning?	Guided Practice, Exploration, and Explanation. Independent, Collaborative Practice, Exploration and Explanation. Enrichment and Elaboration
E V A L U A T E	Closing/ Assessment/ Evaluation Measurable objectives How will the teacher and students assess learning at the end of a lesson?	Closing Evaluation

Though tedious at first, these structures will foster thoughtful, detailed lesson design--design that can strengthen response to students' needs, interests, and passions.