Twitter friends are like movie stars

Have you ever had the chance to meet your favorite celebrity? To shake his or her hand and even have a casual chat over lunch? I have. . . well, sort of.

I recently attended the ASCD Annual Conference in Chicago. This was a tremendous weekend, filled with fun and learning opportunities. As an ASCD author and presenter, I spent time with luminaries at the education publishing and professional development giant, including the publisher, editors, department heads, publicists and other authors. These people are solid professionals and smart educators. I presented on results-only learning, signed copies of my book, Role Reversal, and I even participated in a videotaped interview for the ASCD website. All of these were thrilling experiences.

The most amazing part of the weekend, though, was meeting people I interact with often on Twitter, people I hadn't met in person until the conference. I have communicated on Twitter and via email with some of my favorite authors and thought leaders -- people like Daniel Pink, Alfie Kohn and Donalyn Miller. Meeting any of these remarkable people would be thrilling, for sure, but I felt no less awed, when I met some key educators I follow on Twitter.

At the ASCD author press luncheon, which I was honored to be part of as a new book writer, I sat down with @TomWhitby, Steven Anderson (@web20classroom), Josh Stumpenhorst (@stumpteacher), @KristenSwanson and @PaulaWhite, among others. These people may not be as recognizable as Pink or Kohn, but they are clebrities in education to me, and meeting them in person was sort of like talking to movie stars.

They may not be seen walking the red carpet at the Oscars -- though some might mistake Swanson for Kate Beckinsale and Stumpenhorst for Brad Pitt -- but these intelligent teachers, bloggers and speakers are true celebrities in their field.

So, when you get the chance to meet the fantastic educators you follow on Twitter, enjoy the experience, and be careful not to be starstruck.


Cross-posted at ASCDEDge

Don't miss Mark's book ROLE Reversal: Achieving Uncommonly Excellent Results in the Student-Centered Classroom, now available in the ASCD store, Barnes & Noble and at Amazon.com

Meet me at the ASCD Conference

The ASCD Annual Conference and Exhibit Show is just days away. The ASCD Conference, at McCormick Place in Chicago, features amazing speakers, including Maya Angelou, Sandra Day O'Connor and Carol Dweck, to name a few. There are over 400 plenary sessions throughout the weekend.

As an ASCD author and presenter, I will conduct a session, based on my new book, Role Reversal: Achieving Uncommonly Excellent Results in the Student-Centered Classroom. I'm hoping to meet readers of the book, this blog and any of my Twitter followers, who may be attending the conference.

Where to meet 

My session: I'm presenting on Sunday, March 17th, at 8 AM in room S103D in the McCormick Center. Learn more about my session here. 

ASCD book signing: McCormick level 3 Exhibit Floor. I'll be signing my book at the ASCD center immediately after my session -- roughly 9:30 AM.

In and around the conference at McCormick Place: Saturday and Sunday afternoon and Monday morning, I'll be attending sessions at the ASCD Conference and strolling around the Exhibit Center. Please feel free to stop me anywhere to chat.

At the Hyatt at McCormick Place: When not attending sessions, shopping at the Exhibit Center or presenting, I'll be relaxing at one of the entertainment areas (restaurants/bars/coffee shops) at the Hyatt, adjacent to McCormick Place.

See you at the conference. 

Don't miss Mark's book ROLE Reversal: Achieving Uncommonly Excellent Results in the Student-Centered Classroom, now available in the ASCD store, Barnes & Noble and at Amazon.com

Role Reversal book now available

A project that has truly been a labor of love, my book, Role Reversal: Achieving Uncommonly Excellent Results in the Student-Centered Classroom, is finally finished and is now available to the public.

Nearly three years in the making, Role Reversal is based on the creation of what I call a Results Only Learning Environment, or ROLE. If you've read this blog at all, you are likely familiar with the concept of results-only learning -- a system that eliminates all traditional teaching methods, in favor of a student-centered, progressive classroom.

Gone are lecture, worksheets, homework, class discipline and even grades. Role Reversal provides evidence of success from many leading education researchers, practical experience of the author, yours truly, and, most important, anecdotal support from the ROLE's most treasured stakeholders -- students.

Please check out Role Reversal today, and feel free to add a review to one of the linked sites below or to this post.

I truly believe Role Reversal can change teachers' lives, much as transforming my classroom changed my life and the lives of my students.


Don't miss Mark's book ROLE Reversal: Achieving Uncommonly Excellent Results in the Student-Centered Classroom, now available in the ASCD store, Barnes & Noble and at Amazon.com

Annoying Blogger Habits

As you can see by the time between posts, I haven't been blogging here often. Mainly, because I've been working on my book, creating videos for www.learniting5.com and writing at ASCDEdge. Today, I had some spare time to read some blogs, add some comments and find some new people to my Twitter PLN.

Photo credit: Comstock

After about an hour of surfing the blogosphere and Twitterverse, I became thoroughly annoyed and decided I needed a place to vent. Now Role Reversal is typically where I write about best and worst practices in education, but these are educators sharing online, so I figured this was as good a place as any for this post.

So, here I go with some venting.

 

Things that annoy me about bloggers

 

1 - Comment moderators: Do you really think that I'm coming to your blog to fill the comment section with expletives? I understand if it's a classroom blog, but I'm not reading those. Open up your comments, for crying out loud. If your audience is teachers, you might try trusting them to do what's right.

2 - Captchas: You know, those squiggly little letters you can hardly see at the bottom of your comment. Type them in wrong, and you are denied. Can't see them? Try listening to them.You'll have a better chance translating Klingon, spoken by a two-year-old. I tried to post a comment to a blog seven times today. That's right, 7!. Each time, what I typed was denied. As a blogger, don't you want comments? Turn off the captchas.

3 - Research taken out of context: Validating your points with research is an admirable practice. Too often, though, bloggers grab a quote and throw it into their blog post, with as much consideration as a four-year-old trying to pin the tail on the donkey. If you're going to quote a source, be sure the researcher supports your position, instead of just grabbing a sentence located in a random Google search.

4 - Private Twitter accounts: Nothing gets my blood boiling faster than a teacher with a private Twitter account. I was looking for people to follow recently, so I went to a trusted Twitter friend. As I scrolled the page of the people she was following, I found someone with an interesting profile. I clicked the follow button, only to be greeted with a message that the person must approve all followers. Twitter isn't Facebook. If you want to be a professional and share information, then unlock your account.

5. Twitter accounts with no profiles: Are you a secret agent? Again, if you're on Twitter, and you can easily be located, why didn't you take two minutes to tell me why I should follow you? Even one sentence would suffice. How about a word, Educator! Better yet, how about going to your account and hitting one key -- Delete!

The list could go on, but I feel better, so I'll stop here. So what do bloggers do that frustrate you?


Don't miss Mark's book ROLE Reversal: Achieving Amazing Results in the Student-Centered Classroom, due February, 2013 by world education leader, ASCD

Best Education Blogs webmix

I love the webmix creation tool, Symbaloo. Not only do I use Symbaloo as my primary computer's home page, I am now creating amazing webmixes that make my Internet experience easy and enjoyable. Take a look at my favorite new webmix, Best Education Blogs. Here's a screen shot:

Get the Best Education Blogs for your webmix now at this link.

Don't miss Mark's book ROLE Reversal: How Results Only Learning Will Change Education as We Know It, due in early 2013 by world education leader, ASCD

The Common Core Monster

Cross posted at ASCD EDge

The education blogosphere is rife with posts about the Common Core State Standards. This monster is approaching fast, and it's scarier than any of Spiderman's evil foes (pick your movie version).
Think I'm overstating? Check out what one blogger says:

"Ultimately, state leaders—educators among them—need to decide what expectations students across the state will be held to."

This perspective underscores the danger that the monster presents. Why should a state leader, who has never been in my classroom, who has no idea of the needs of my students, decide what the expectations are?

This arrogant notion CCSS authors have -- that they know what's best for my students -- is as bad, perhaps worse, than the monster we currently have.

Don't miss Mark's book ROLE Reversal: How Results Only Learning Will Change Education as We Know It, due in February by world education leader, ASCD

Can we be this bold?

Brilliantly bold ideas about education from consultant Will Richardson. Thanks to Lisa Nielsen for sharing this.

So, can we be this bold?

Don't miss Mark's book ROLE Reversal: How Results Only Learning Will Change Education as We Know It, due in early 2013 by world education leader, ASCD

Use the app, Evernote, for formative assessment

The web site and mobile app, Evernote, is a powerful collaboration, content management and formative assessment tool. Check out how one school uses Evernote in a 1:1 computer environment. 

Evernote offers the sort of technology integration that helps create a Results Only Learning Environment. 

You can learn more about Evernote here.

Don't miss Mark's book ROLE Reversal: How Results Only Learning Will Change Education as We Know It, due in early 2013 by world education leader, ASCD

Formative assessment in action

While browsing YouTube, I ran across this insightful video on formative assessment. Listen for keywords, like conversation and feedback. This is definitely worth 5 minutes.




Don't miss Mark's book ROLE Reversal: How Results Only Learning Will Change Education as We Know It, due in early 2013 by world education leader, ASCD

Why do we need classroom rules?

An article I posted at ASCD EDge, Top five reasons to eliminate classroom rules, has gotten plenty of attention (1,000 views in two days). When EDge promoted the article to its Facebook page, comments from teachers poured in.

Some people can't grasp the idea of a classroom devoid of rules and consequences. One skeptic writes, "Good luck with that." Another more emphatically states, "You've got to be kidding."

Others see the concept as easily as I do. "It's about relationships," one teacher comments. Another discusses the value of a student-centered approach.

Still, the discussion fascinates me. I'm curious what you think about rules and consequences. Do we really need them?


Don't miss Mark's book ROLE Reversal: How Results Only Learning Will Change Education as We Know It, due in early 2013 by world education leader, ASCD

When students and teachers collaborate

One of my Twitter friends (pictured above) tweeted this at me, in response to an article I posted at the ASCD EDge blog, called Top five reasons to eliminate classroom rules. She later amended "rules" to "expectations." Here is my response to her tweet.

Collaborating with students on creating a learning community

Any classroom will run smoothly, when students see that their teacher values their input. This doesn't mean using assertive discipline, in order to manipulate students into creating your rules. In fact, there's no place for the word "rules" in a high-functioning results-only classroom.

Here are a few simple guidelines for involving students and building a successful learning community:

1. Begin with collaboration: Tell your students that you want their help. "We need a successful learning community, free from disruption. Let's brainstorm some guidelines for this kind of environment." Now, get out of their way and let them work.
2. Listen to all suggestions -- even the crazy ones: Don't easily dismiss seemingly-wild ideas. Something like "Let us go to the bathroom anytime we want to" can go a long way in building the class that you want, when all parties agree on how to make it work. I did this once, and the students created a remarkable policy of signing out, taking the classroom pass and leaving whenever the urge hit them. They loved and respected the policy, because they created it.
3. Remember the ultimate goal -- learning: When ideas are unreasonable, simply remind students that, "We are setting guidelines for a successful learning community." There can be chaos, but it has to be good chaos. There are times for movement and noise, and there are times for quiet contemplation. Discuss how to distinguish between the two.
4. Emphasize mutual respect: Be sure to discuss what this means (let them talk about it with each other first). You can always fall back on respect, when something goes awry.

Start your year this way. Revisit the conversation often, and you can throw out the rules and consequences.


Don't miss ROLE Reversal: How Results Only Learning Will Change Education as We Know It, due in early 2013 by ASCD, the world's top educational leadership organization

An excerpt from ROLE Reversal

“Teachers tend to have control issues in their classroom. We have a paradigm of what teaching looks like. This paradigm usually includes teachers in front teaching students who are at their seats” (Jenkins, 2011). Without turning this into another book on classroom management, I want to clearly illustrate how I gave up the kind of control Jenkins describes and what I’ve replaced it with.

For a moment, consider the rules and consequences listed at the beginning of this chapter. I used to live by these. In the my-way-or-the-highway days, a student caught chewing gum more than once was asked to come after school and clean gum off of desks – a revolting punishment that I stood firmly on, even when challenged one time by an angry parent. Entering my room in pants with holes in the knees was grounds for dismissal to our Student Management Room. If a cell phone rang, it was immediately taken and turned into the office. Disruptive students were shouted at and told to see the principal. Notes were sent home, parents were called, and formal referrals were written and placed in permanent records.

Today, I have no rules and I don’t raise my voice. Students chew gum if they like, wear jeans with holes and use cell phones and iPods regularly. My bathroom policy is simple: students go when the need arises. I talk to those who leave too frequently and explain the value of being in class. “I don’t want you to miss any important discussions, reading or time you might be working on a project,” I say. “Remember, your group members are counting on you.” The key is emphasizing the value of class – not admonishing a kid who may legitimately be answering nature’s call.

Forcing students to ask for permission for natural acts like going to the bathroom or getting a drink of water is a further demonstration of teacher control. These are the kinds of teachers who are seen as authority figures, rather than as facilitators of learning. If you suggest that you want students to have autonomy, yet you enforce insignificant rules and policies, you risk undermining the freedom that you say you want students to have in a results-only classroom.

Consider just how powerful not enforcing silly rules is, when it comes to creating a comfortable learning environment. The majority of my students spend three-fourths of their school day being told “no” or “don’t” by adults. No gum, no candy, no cell phones, no torn jeans, no leaving your seat. Don’t go to the bathroom, don’t talk to your friend and don’t you dare walk in without a pencil. Then, they come to the results-only classroom and are met with an uncanny freedom. You might think they race in and start blowing bubbles, jumping up and down, shouting and sending text messages by the dozens. Quite the contrary.

There is a remarkable respect for the ROLE. Since I’ve spent so much time coaching intrinsic motivation, cooperative learning and community building, my students buy in. Believe it or not, almost all of them just want to do things right.

Jenkins, N. (Designer). (2011). Shut up and teach. [Web Graphic]. Retrieved from

http://prezi.com/j_wkwyalz-lx/shut-up-and-teach/.

Don't miss ROLE Reversal: Achieving Uncommonly Excellent Results in the Student-Centered Classroom, due in early 2013 by ASCD, the world's top educational leadership organization