Holly Clark's New Year's Resolutions

Here are some educator's New Year's Resolutions that I want to adopt!
                             Click here to see Holly Clark's blog
Holly Clark @HollyEdTechDiva has more than 5,000 followers on Twitter and she posted these resolutions  (and challenges to educators).

Holly's goals, with my comments in red:

1. As educators we will begin to give students more voice in their learning. (Let's give students voice in their writing, choice in their reading, agency in their learning, and options in demonstrating what they've learned.)

2. Teachers everywhere will make a pledge to teach without students in rows and without standing in front of the class for one month. (For only a month? Flexible furniture facilitates re-configuring classrooms, group work, circling desks, and other configurations.)

 

3. We will begin to re-evaluate the “data” we get from multiple choice tests and look to find more formative and imaginative ways to assess learning. (I'm reading Common Formative Assessment (Kim Baily & Chris Jakicic 2012). Admin has promised that we will talk about assessment this semester and I want to be ready!)

4. Students will be allowed to connect with other classes, and teachers and administrators will stop being afraid of YouTube and Twitter. Instead, teach kids how to critically think about these forms of media. (I'm using Chatzy.com as a backchannel during films and discussions and searching for other seniors that blog so we can comment on their blogs. Twitter is blocked by tech.)

5. In 2014, Digital Citizenship won’t be simply a discussion about cyberbullying, but rather about teaching students how to be savvy online learners and collaborators. (Yet to teach this, but I must.)

6. When using a computer in the classroom, teachers will find more ways to integrate technology other than online research or writing a paper – try a Mystery Skype, Google Helpout, or collaborative reading with Subtext. (Used Subtext last year. Trying to use tech for innovative learning.)

7. Students will begin to house most of their work in digital portfolios. This will help them build and understand the importance of their web presence and allow them to share their learning purposefully with a wider audience. (My student's blogs are like a one-year portfolio. But I'd love to organize multi-year digital portfolios school-wide.)

8. When designing lessons, teachers will ask themselves, how will this “impact student learning” and how will this get students “ready for their future?” (Teaching seniors, I design everything for college readiness. But is that enough?)

9. Educators will stop asking students questions on tests that they can google – and instead ask rich questions that require real critical thinking to answer or solve. (Love this! No more regurgitated answers! Only thought-provoking questions!)

10. Don’t give students questions to answer  -but allow them to ASK their own questions and creatively find the answers – even the wrong ones. (Click Right Question Institute and read Make Just One Change for a systematic way to have students generate their own questions. I observe a lot of teachers, and even Socratic questions have the teacher directing the conversation. I've tried Socratic Circles and student-led discussions with good success to make students less dependent on the teacher, make more eye-contact with other students rather than addressing all remarks to the teacher, and give students more responsibility, agency, and independence for discussions and their own learning.)

 

Let 2014 be a breakthrough year for all of us teachers!