I’m in Kingman, Kansas attending a one-day LoTi Administrator Institute led by Dean Mantz. USD 331 in Kingman is hosting us. I have been aware of LoTi and heard its creator, Dr. Chris Moersch, for at least the past five years. These are my notes from our morning session. This is a two day workshop we’re doing as a 1 day face-to-face experience and a follow-up Moodle experience. (required to complete in the next 45 days)
My part 2 / afternoon notes are also available.
For content filtering Kingman is now using “total traffic control” by Lightspeed
– were tired of dealing with Two Trees as a content filter, when they asked to unblock a website the IT folks at Two Trees were asking “why?” and requiring them to justify the unblock as the tech content company
– does support differentiated content filtering (different filtering for students and teachers)
– gets Windows userid and filters based on that
– does show reports of where laptops have gone online, even when they are home and off the school network/content filter
– they don’t have this tracking turned on for teacher laptops
– this cannot be integrated into the parent student informational portal at this point
when you track laptops based on MAC address you have double duty: both wireless and ethernet MAC addresses
– this is a disadvantage of tracking via MAC address
In one of the schools represented here (small, near Wichita) they’ve had 5 PCs in each classroom for 15 years, but teachers still just use them primarily for email and as student rewards after their work is done
– perception of teachers is, “we just have 5 computers, but I have 20+ kids, so I can’t do much with them”
– teachers score very low on LoTI survey of technology use, don’t know how to use computers to emphasize higher order thinking in their lessons
Kansas has adopted ISTE-NETS for Students and Teachers also, like Oklahoma has
– there are NOT any separate tech standards for Kansas for technology
– Kansas SDE endorses LoTI
This LoTi Administrator Institute is normally a two-day workshop, but this time we are doing a blended model
– 1 day today face-to-face
– the rest will be done on Moodle
Scott Carter, superintendent in Kingman
– scarter on Plurk
– starting with grades 6-8 netbooks this year (WinXP, have 20 MB Internet connection for district of
– smartboards grades k-5
– moving to netbooks k12
– hopeing to get administrators good info to make these technology investments worthwhile
– goals for LoTI: change the learning culture, where we are using technology as an instructional tool, provide tools for those conversations betw
Rick Henry, principal
– rhenry on Plurk
– looking for a systematic way to evaluate technology integration in individual classrooms
– looking for a way to speak the
Bill Kelly, athletic director at Kingman HS
Deena Walrich
– elementary principal in Kingman
– want to see more active, engaged classrooms
– more interaction, not just teacher standing at the front, not just the typically quiet classroom – a healthy, active classroom
Dean references Lisa Parisi has a great example of project-based learning, healthy, active classrooms
Leon Albert, assistant supt in Kingman
– always looking for ways to improve quality of instruction, improving the instructional process
– are seeing a big focus now on student engagement through technology
Max Clark, elementary principal in Kingman (PK-5)
– lots of challenges in elementary level, how does technology use become as expected as the use of a pencil and paper
– have teachers remembering we have to teach kids how to read, write, and do math
– have to educate parents, ref that conversations with the active, engaged classroom
– sometimes have parent complaints because they perceive an active classroom as a chaotic environment, communication with that parent is important but parent communication with their own children is important too
Brent Garrison, middle school principal in Kingman (6-8)
– are getting Netbooks in the classroom this year
– want use of the netbooks to be effective, have had computers in students hands a lot
– I want to be able to note better instructional practices of what is appropriate use (dealing also with down times, games, a “filler”)
– I want it to be effective instruction
Dean references some other districts that have gone 1:1 but just
Melinda Tilley from Greenbush Education Service Center
– mtilley on Plurk
– school improvement specialist, based in Topeka in NE Kansas
– see lots of connections
– facilitated tech-rich classrooms, used LoTi model with teachers to focus on the learning, higher-order thinking
Kim Davis, instructional technology director for Wichita Public Schools
– are wanting to see stronger integration and use of technology
– here to get ideas to get technology a more integrated piece of what we do
– new supt in districts seems very tech oriented
– wanting to see technology not just viewed as an add-on
Jackie , assistant supt in Wellington, KS
– working with tech director, want to help our administrators look at effective practices for tech integration and not just state assessments
– has been involved with Prairie Grant that did some assessment, but that was not sustained after grant funds expired (that was 10+ years ago)
Kay Tibbs, tech director in Wellington and instructional
– started at Wellington last year
– tech integration is my passion, used Palms in the classroom
– was one of those teachers who got accused of not teaching because kids were all over the room learning
– students did so well, my last year of teaching 5th grade students earned “standard of excellence” achievement
– students were given instructions on what to do, when they would ask questions I would ask them questions back
– using Palms, students learned to think for themselves, weed out information that wasn’t right or needed, etc – it certainly did
– working with Palms gave students lots of confidence themselves
– they had to collaborate with each other
Address for our Moodle: http://www.loticlassroom.com/
– we have 45 days to complete the Day 2 activities
– resources that are available for us
Today we are going over LoTi Sniff Test
– current instructional practices
LoTi surveys are being validated (formally) this month (Aug 2009)
HEAT: Higher-Order Thinking, Engaged Learning, Authentic Connections, Technology Tools
– you will hear us say, “ignore the technology when you do the HEAT survey, focus on the the learning”
– new survey is mapped to Marzano, Webbs(?), Daggett Partnership for 21st Century Skills,
Cool Tools from Intel (free)
– Seeing Reason Tool
– Showing Evidence Tool
– Visual Ranking Tool
Kingman did 40 hours of training with Intel (Teach to the Future)
– last year all inservice had two foci: PLCs and Intel
– dedicated 100% of our inservice time to that
– I know we need to collaborate (that is what PLCs are)
– since we bought all our teachers laptops last year, we wanted them to have a framework for using those laptops
– Intel provided an initial framework
– we are looking at LoTi going beyond that and continuing that learning track for teachers
In past this was “Levels of Technology Implementation” – now it is “Levels of Teaching Innovation”
– want teachers to see technology as a tool, not a separate add-on
TONS of video examples available on the LoTiClassroom Moodle
Video 212 degrees talking about “The HEAT”
– from website simpletruths.com
Comments on this video from participants
– this needs to be our mindset (for every teacher)
– our kids deserve this
LoTi framework comes in to help you reach the next “degree” with all the demands coming in at us
– LoTi is there to help guide you
Some classroom teachers in Kansas have just taken the LoTi surveys but not used them at all after that, to get where they want to go
LoTi Framework:
0- nonuse
1- awareness
2- exploration
3- infusion
4a- integration: mechanical
4b: integration: routine
5- Expansion
6- Refinement
LoTi HEAT:
– Higher order thinking
– Engaged learning
– Authentic connections
– Technology use
Kids in schools tend to be very focused on: what do I have to do to get an A, to get out of this class?
– focus is often NOT on learning
Student is suing her college for 70K because she hasn’t gotten a job yet
– where is the ownership there?
Aside: to tweet this I was able to bypass our local school filter using Hootsuite 🙂
LoTi Observer 2.0 for iPhone and iPod Touch
5 C’s of Instructional Leadership:
– Cultivation
– Courage
– Creativity
– Commitment
– Communication
GREAT question for administrators:
– Is there a correlation between the level of student engagement and the level of student achievement on standardized tests?
we recommend choosing a focus for a strategic plan, and then taking it on for three years
Question for discussion following two video clips:
– What is 21st Century Learning?
[MY THOUGHTS ON THIS IS THAT GOOD LEARNING IS ONE AND ONE, COLLABORATIVE, JUST IN TIME, CONSTRUCTIVIST. IT IS NOT INSTRUCTIONIST. THAT PART AND THE NEED TO CHANGE IT IS NOT “21ST CENTURY.” THE OVERLAY OF DIGITAL, COLLABORATIVE TOOLS IS WHAT CAN MAKE LEARNING “21ST CENTURY”
a participant is saying “we have to maintain rigor and relevance” (William Daggett)
information, media and technology skills
– information literacy
– media literacy
– ICT literacy
Book recommendation: Brain Rules by John Medina
Life and Career Skills
– flexibility and adaptability
– initiative and self-direction
– social and cross-cultural skills
– productivity and accountability
– leadership and responsibility
[AGAIN I UNDERSTAND HOW MANY PEOPLE SEE THESE UNDER THE BANNER OF 21ST CENTURY SKILLS. I AGREE WE HAVE WORKFORCE NEEDS TO PREPARE GLOBAL COLLABORATORS AND COMPETITORS. MANY OF THESE LIFE AND CAREER SKILLS ARE TRANSCENDENT AND HAVE DEEP HISTORICAL ROOTS, THO, THEY ARE NOT “NEW” TO THE 21ST CENTURY.]
From a participant: the students graduating in 2010 will have never known a world without the Internet
In Kansas, in some schools the tech-rich classrooms are really the exception to the rule
– because of high stakes assessments, many teachers are just treading water
Question: what is the temperature of teaching and learning in your school?
– can look at survey results at individual level, campus level, district level
Knowledge level activities/expectations do not typically “have much HEAT”
Knowledge level action verbs:
Comprehension level action verbs
– explain, describe, summarize, associate, discuss, distinguish, extend, express, defend, restate, generalize, paraphrase
from Bloom’s taxonomy critical thinking wheel
– from mentoringminds.com
[I HAVE HEARD OF THIS BUT DON’T HAVE IT. GREAT TOOL]
Analysis level action verbs
– analyze, differentiate, classify, distinguish, compare, categorize, examine, separate, subdivide, separate, point out
Thinking about Bloom’s, watch this video and create two questions (using the sticky pad) which are ones you’d ask your students about that video
In Wichita Public Schools, the union is so powerful there is NO WAY that the teacher observation and evaluation instrument used by administrators could be changed to utilize something like these questions from LoTi
[WOW. I WONDER HOW MANY SCHOOL DISTRICTS ARE IN THAT SAME BOAT WITH THEIR UNION?]
Now we are doing a “question makeover” activity after viewing a video clip from Spider Man
[THIS IS A GOOD ACTIVITY GETTING TEACHERS (AND IN TODAY’S SITUATION ADMINISTRATORS) THINKING ABOUT BLOOMS]
I THINK A LOT OF THIS LESSON REDESIGN STUFF TO FOCUS ON HIGHER ORDER THINKING SKILLS (HOTS) IS IDENTICAL TO THINGS WE SEE GIFTED/TALENTED (GT) TEACHERS DOING AND LEARNING HOW TO DO IN PD, BUT THE POINT HERE IS THAT ALL STUDENTS SHOULD BE DOING LEARNING TASKS LIKE THIS– NOT JUST “QUALIFIED GT KIDS”
Video from ALI of hotel design
– may be “creation level” on Bloom’s, but just a LoTi level 3 or 4 based on how much choice the students have in the learning task (is it all scripted or pre-definied, or do students have some choices about what they do)
What is the difference between student engagement and student involvement?
– with student involvement, they are defining many pieces of how they are going to do something
engagement and involvement can be two different things
– Kay discussed how “student involvement in the learning process” can mean students being involved in even creating the learning tasks, having choices with what they are going to do / how they are going to represent their learning
terminology here is very important
– what is being enthralled in a lesson?
– what is being involved?
– what is being engaged?
you can be involved but not thinking (compliant, active)
Now watching a video from “Legally Blonde” on complex thinking, original video on YouTube is 7 min 38 sec, Dean’s version with Tubechop is 1 min 41 sec.
[I WISH THE LAST SLIDE DEAN SHOWED HAD NOT GONE BY SO FAST]
Now looking at authenticity
shared “Learn & Live: Engaging in Real-World Projects” video from EduTopia
Here is an EduTopia article providing more backstory about this video: Connecting School to Work: Preparing Early for a Career
At Shorecrest High, these two students joined the school-to-work program — with some outstanding results.
Now analyzing Allison Berry featured lesson on Promethean’s website
“it makes learning fun, meaningful, and active”
This is an example of video analysis where something held up as “best practice” which really is not
do not ASSUME anything when watching and analyzing these videos
Now watching “Dollars and Sense: Kids Invest in Funds — and Their Own Future” from EduTopia. I saw Chris Moersch share this at NECC 2009 in his session, “Teaching 2.0: Engaging the Interactive Generation”
Lunch discussion:
Dr Jeanne Patterson at Wichita State University doing a lot of oral history
– at one time Parsons had its own black school
– doctoral field study group is going to Parsons and collecting a lot of stories
[I NEED TO FOLLOW UP ON THIS WITH DR PATTERSON! WE NEED TO GET A CELEBRATE KANSAS VOICES PROJECT GOING!]
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On this day..
- 4th Grade Virtual Tour of a California Mission in Minecraft – 2013
- Oklahoma STEM Updates from Jeff Downs (August 2012) – 2012
- Identifying Barriers to Creativity in Schools #blackfootETC – 2011
- Online Learning with Montana Digital Academy #blackfootETC – 2011
- Filtering the Information Flood: Strategies for Effectively Teaching Online – 2011
- Dr Tim Tyson on our need for visionary educational leadership – 2010
- Notes from LoTi Administrator Institute led by Dean Mantz (afternoon) – 2009
- Congrats to Scott Hudson: Eagle Scout at age 36 – 2008
- Great day with Oklahoma A+ Schools – 2007
- DOPA actions? – 2006