Rejection: The First Step to Success

Get ready to make a difference.

I want to challenge you to find a request that will result in a no. I want you to find a request that is valuable to you, that you think would make a difference if it was a yes, but you are certain would be a no. How far do you have to reach to get to that question? Does the idea of actually making the ask strike a little fear in you?

How certain are you that your request would make a difference in the world? Do you have evidence to support your assertions? Now, here is the challenge... go to the first person that would have to approve your request and make the ask. Go now, before it’s too late. This article will be here when you get back.

6 Keys to Fostering Quality Online Discussions

If there is one thing I know about fostering quality online discussions with students, it is that thinking about having them won't make them happen. Creating an online discussion that is more than just functional has been a quest of mine for several years now. I started four years ago with a high school video production course. Every year since then I have worked to develop the quality of the discussions, and I have been willing to shift platforms to find exactly what I want.

 Fostering a continuous, quality online discussion requires these six key ingredients:

• Relevance
• Teacher involvement
• Student involvement
• Schedule
• Expectations
• Commitment & Patience

Relevance

The most important part of an online discussion is holding a discussion on something that is both relevant to the course and relevant to the students. Teachers should avoid creating online discussions just for the sake of doing it. Why hold a discussion online if it could be completed in five minutes in a classroom? Students are much more interested in participating when they are interested in the topic and there can be a lot to say about it.

Teacher Involvement

Fostering quality discussion also means modeling quality discussion. While trying to create an online forum for most of my classes, I find that I can burn out quickly in trying to be part of every discussion. Instead, I find a balance that sustains the conversation and sustains my participation. I do this by trying to read everything (Edmodo makes this really easy) and by only replying when the conversation needs a boost or when there is a direct question I should reply to. Three things to remember:

1. Don't get in the way.
2. Ask good questions to foster more thoughts and discussion.
3. Respond as needed, focusing on student questions, misguided responses, and items of interest.

Student Involvement

Students are often only asked to be involved in the discussion through posting responses to the teacher's questions. To enrich students' participation, the teacher can hand over the reigns of developing online discussion to the students. Ask all students to develop questions, pick out five favorites, then let students decide on the top ideas each week. This can be done through online polling, response systems, etc. The teacher can also have a student or a group of students responsible for moderating a discussion. This technique is particularly effective after students have had some experience with online discussions, and is great to experiment with later in the year or in courses that are offered at different levels (i.e. Web Design 1, Web Design 2, etc.)

Schedule

If both teacher and students are new to online discussion, they will find it is like flexing a new muscle. Creating a schedule of discussions and keeping to it can make a huge difference in the quality of the discussions. I highly recommend requiring participation be complete within one week. Also, try to keep to a schedule that includes posting a new topic each week. Getting it down to a habit will keep the students coming back!

Expectations

Establish clear expectations in the beginning. If the discussion is not required, some students who may actually love getting involved could end up never logging in. Have a clear set of guidelines that indicates if participation is graded, how it is graded, and what is considered participation.
Things to consider are:

• How students initially respond
• How they respond to the ongoing conversation
• How they use the Internet to find resources, post links and even videos. 

I grade each weekly discussion on a ten point scale. I give up to eight points for student initial responses to the topic of the week, and up to two additional points for how a student engages with classmates in further discussion. Teachers should experiment to find what works best for their class.

Commitment and Patience

Have a clear commitment to fostering quality online discussions. Allow for the patience to struggle, fall down, and most importantly, get back up. Each time this happens it will be a valuable lesson to carry forward. It took me two years of discussions with the same course content before I felt confident enough to expanded to all of my courses. Everyone takes a different path. Those who are committed to online discussion as a tool for improving learning AND have the patience to try different things will have the most success.

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Choosing a Platform

There are several platforms that people use for online discussions. I am currently an avid user of Edmodo. In the past, I have tried Google Groups as well as Yahoo Groups. I also know other teachers who dedicate space on their websites through Moodle or a wiki, such as Wikispaces, to hold online discussions with students. These are just a few.

Summary
Today I have three different discussion groups going with three different courses I teach and they continue to improve and expand. Just last week I had a student feed a tweet into our discussion by using our class hashtag (a commonly used technique among those who use Twitter.) As my experience with social media expands and the boundaries breakdown, the future of online discussion becomes brighter and the possibilities become endless.

The Web is My Website

I started my first website for teaching when I got my second job as a teacher. It was 1999 and I had just started in Massachusetts as a middle school math teacher. I wanted to post my homework, and so I did. Within two years I had several teachers joining me (somehow it still lives!)

Over the years, my use of a single home-base website has had its ups and downs. There have always been some teachers that I look up to who create and maintain immaculate websites. Mine, on the other hand, has always tended to be a mess of links to documents and maybe a calendar or two. I recently added my Twitter feed. While I still have a website, and it still has important documents, I don't know that it serves a major purpose in my suite of online classroom tools anymore. Instead I find that I am finding several different tools to fill several different needs.

Edmodo (link): Currently I use the site Edmodo.com as a homebase of sorts. While it does not provide me with a face for the public, it does give me a great online launching spot for all of my classes. I post assignments, related documents, classroom discussions and much more. My online presence doesn't stop there.

Google Docs (link): I also use Google Docs. I now create all my new assignments in Google Docs. I am slowly uploading and converting all of my old assignments. From Google Docs, I can share whatever I want and I can grant editing access to various people, students included. The collaboration and interactivity are what make this tool so enticing. I also use it for the free storage. The tool continues to grow and is now getting integrated into other websites. See Edmodo's latest integration

SchoolTube (link): All of my video students have accounts with SchoolTube.com and all of the videos they upload fall under the umbrella of our school channel on that site. It is one more place for students to post and for me to observe, comment on, and enjoy the growth of my students. I moderate everything they post. If I don't like something, I block it, have a discussion with the student, and have them resubmit the video based on the outcome of that discussion.

Twitter (link): Twitter is allowing me to interact with professionals from all over the globe. I can share thoughts with people who have similar interests in education and in technology. It is an amazing platform that is only becoming more powerful. Two years ago I was ready to dismiss it as a fad, yet it is not. I strongly encourage others to check into Twitter. I have integrated my Tweets into Edmodo so students can see tweets relevant to our discussions. I keep it professional, and it is not always on topic for students, but it is a great way for them to see me as a professional.

Blogger (link): This blog is a place where I can voice my thoughts and people can read or not. This is a natural tool to transition technology into the classroom. Students can create blogs, write stories, summarize learning, share insights, and comment on other blogs. Whether it is Blogger, Edublog,  Wordpress or some other platform, the interactivity of these writing spaces is raising the education bar. Students are reading, sorting, and developing critical thinking skills when the tools are applied properly.

CONCLUSION: I have accounts on dozens of websites for various purposes. Many are educational, some can be educational if I wish, and others are just for personal or entertainment purposes. What has been lost in the abundance of quality options, is my classroom website. I am not ready to abandon it just yet. There are still a few things that work about it, and when a parent wants easy access to my expectations and grading policies, all the information is right there. However, reality says it is only a matter of time until I abandon it for something better and more fully featured, something that makes me say "That's what I've been looking for!!" Until then, the web is my website.

PDPs Come in Many Flavors

While doing some research on how to earn PDPs for my own recertification, I came across the Massachusetts DESE webpage that describes every option in great detail. Please check out their complete list with full details on each option. What I have decided to do here is to give you a rundown of what they say in bulleted form. You might be surprised by what you can do and what the limits are for each. The amount of PDPs available for each is in parentheses. note, maximums (max) are either per event, per year, or per five (/5) year period.

Learning Options

• Courses - audited, undergraduate, and graduate per credit hour (7.5 to 22.5)
• Doctoral Dissertation (90 /5)
• Master's or CAGS Thesis (45 /5)
• Performance Assessment - currently being developed (120)
• Content Test - looking to add to your certifications? (90)
• Participate in district, collaborative, and state initiatives  (10+)

Observatory Options

• Mentoring (15 max)
• Peer Coaching (15 max)
• Peer Assisting and Review (15 max)
• Cooperating Teacher (15 max)

Teaching Options

• Deliver presentation at a professional conference (30 max/5 - first time only)
• Develop school based activity for students, parents or teachers (30 max/5 - read carefully)
• Professional Development Series (3 session minimum) (24 max/5)
• Accreditation (30 max/5)
• Accreditation leader (30 max/5)

Creating Options

• Book (90 per book)
• Chapter in a professional book (30 per chapter)
• Professional journal (30 per article)
• Published results of action research (30 /5)
• Curriculum Development (60 max/5)

Continuing Education Units

• Continuing Education Units ratio - 1 CEU = 10 PDPs

For details on which PDPs count toward content and which toward pedagogy, please visit the Mass DESE website. This list is being written in the Spring of 2012 and is subject to change at any time.