The Digital Classroom: The Ideal Plot

Every year, I spend a good portion of my summer contemplating the upcoming year. A lot of that time is usually spent working on my personal website, reworking lesson plans, and organizing files; however, this summer was a little different. Because I had spent the previous year piloting two amazing programs (StudyBlue and Edmodo), the new year was going to change the way I approached education. Edmodo would serve as my digital classroom (posting assignments, answering questions outside the classroom, and adding digital notes) and StudyBlue would serve as my digital media (outlines and flashcards for studying purposes). With the two combined, I had an arsenal that could sustain the full year if need be.

Internally, things will not change compared to years past. As normal, I will continue to nourish the development of independent, critical, and inquiring thinkers (possible future link to Independent Thinker BLOG). However, with a push for technology to be fused into the classroom, my secondary approach will be altered slightly. Knowing this, I was required to think more about the procedural issues over the summer as compared to personal productivity. Nonetheless, I want to develop a process that is easy to follow and tolerating for months on end. I recognize students appreciate consistency; therefore, I feel that simplicity will have to be the answer.

Thus, when students read (goal 1), I will have them do one of two things (goal 2): In math, students will handwrite their notes unless they choose to type them. In information technology, students will be responsible for the latter. Either way, some form of note taking will take place.

Afterwards, students will then be responsible for taking their notes and converting them into flashcards (goal 3) using StudyBlue’s interface. Preferably, students should upload their notes to increase efficiency (that means scanning if they handwrote them); however, I will not require them to do so. Assuming their notes are accurate, this will be the 3^rd or 4^th time in which they’ve seen rich content – imperative for the brain to start saying, “Hey! This material is important!”

Lastly, students are expected to study their flashcards on a routine basis (goal 4). This process will continue throughout the chapter helping students prepare for the chapter assessment. What’s more, I spiral all chapters; therefore, their personal resources will be crucial for each subsequent chapter starting with week 1. Within a few weeks, students should find their routine and I’ll add checks and balances along the way to avoid complacency.

Free,

Daniel Rothrock

Disclosure: Daniel is a user and Teacher Advocate for StudyBlue.

The Digital Classroom: The Real Scoop

Technology is a revolution that cannot necessarily be reversed. Without a doubt, there have been countless measures to which technology has allowed humans to do more. Unfortunately, some use technology (sometimes unknowingly) in ways that could potentially hinder their own personal performance and education.

As I previously stated in “The Digital Classroom: The Ideal Plot”, I had several goals that my students were to meet. As I discussed these goals with my colleagues, I found myself under fire with questioning such as, “What will you do if a student shares their flashcards with another? Do you know that students can copy and paste? What about stealing information off the internet?”

While all of this is true, I reassured my peers that I would continue to hold discussions with my students about integrity, model students how to achieve earnest success, and supply evidence on how retyping your own notes is beneficial. But what if all of this wasn’t good enough? Would all be lost?

This is where I put myself into my students’ shoes.

In particular, I teach at an IB school where students are on a collegiate block schedule – a 2 day rotation that includes 4 – 90 minute classes a day. By their junior year, students have room for one elective (which is typically another IB course) and they’re all competing for various awards and scholarships. By the end of their senior year, students will need to have amassed a total of 24 points and a satisfactory completion of three compulsory core components. Needless to say, the tension is high and their personal time is low.

Therefore, when I was asked these questions, my secondary response was a little rhetorical; “What is our ultimate goal?” In my opinion, it’s two-fold. First and foremost, I want my student to master their IB exams for my class. However, beyond that, I want to develop life-long learners that are eager to learn in the field of their interest. As with many times in life, we often find ourselves short on time; therefore, we do the best we can with what we have. If a student feels the need that they have to copy and paste their notes into their flashcards, then they’ll have to recognize where they need to make the difference up – either reading through their notes an extra time or studying their flashcards more often. Either way, I will continue to nourish their development and stress the importance’s of doing things through a proven method. Regardless, if a student copies their notes yet aces an IB exam, I have to ask - did it really matter?

We all have a limited time to do the very best that we can. I suspect my students will want to make me proud and when time runs out, they’ll continue to rise to the occasion.

Free,

Daniel Rothrock

Disclosure: Daniel is a user and Teacher Advocate for StudyBlue.

Vulnerability into Credibility: Introducing New Technology in the Classroom

After learning about StudyBlue.com, I immediately went into action. I knew that I had found something worth sharing to my students; however, I also knew that this would be a fairly large risk if I honestly expected every student to be apart of this learning process. Because it was late in the year, I had to develop a simple system that did not intimidate my students but instead gave them an alternative learning style that felt and appeared natural. The following is a general overview of how I introduced StudyBlue with the end in mind:

How to introduce technology into the classroom:

1. Do the research! Before I ever introduced StudyBlue to my students, I had a sound understanding of who the company was and what they represented. Just as important, I knew how to complete many of the common tasks that all of my students were going to ask assistance with. For example: How do I enroll into your class, Mr. Rothrock? How do I create a flashcard? Can we share resources?
   
2. Have a plan! Because I only had the last 9 weeks to really get students engaged, I decided that I would introduce StudyBlue as a mini-project (my plan). I knew that if I left the integration process as optional, as many as half the students may not have participated; therefore, involvement was mandatory and feedback would be part of the assignment. I really had to know whether or not this would be something I wanted to continue in years to come.
   
3. Communicate! Elementary sounding, but my students needed to know exactly what I was thinking and more importantly my expectation of them. I was willing to communicate as much information as I could afford. Everything was out on the table. When things went wrong (and they did), I wasn’t afraid to admit a mistake. Ultimately, my vulnerability paid off and gave me credibility.
   
4. Stay consistent! Once the mini-project was introduced, I had a routine check that was completed on a weekly basis. I also brought it up in causal conversation just to remind them of my expectations, which I feel ultimately helped them participate in the overall project. They knew that every week I would be checking for their production.
   
5. Find the value! We all do this last one. We invest in the things that we see value in. My students weren’t any different. I had to sell the value in their education. StudyBlue offered me an alternative learning method through technology. I wanted my students (even the ones who hate technology) to see that value. In doing so, I shared with them how they could search for other topics outside of my math class and integrate their findings into their own flashcards. I showed them how to jigsaw a chapter using 4-5 students so that not everyone was re-creating the wheel and then share those resources to each other. And lastly, I showed them how consistent studying using their flashcards helped them perform at a higher level on a mock exam.

Free,
Daniel Rothrock

Disclosure: Daniel is a user and Teacher Advocate for StudyBlue.

The IB Profile and My Class!

Back in 1995 I enrolled in the first ever International Baccalaureate (IB for short) program at High Point Central High School in High Point, NC. Now, 16 years later, my life has come full circle because I get to “pay it forward” to approximately 150 IB students every year. While teaching has always been the ultimate career for me, teaching through technology is my passion.

If you’re not familiar with what IB is and what it stands for, I recommend you reading these two articles:

1. What is IB
2. About the diploma program

Every student and teacher of the IB program follows a simple guideline that we call “The IB Learner Profile”. This profile is broken into 10 separate characteristics that we all (teachers included) strive for. After thinking back to my high school days and who impacted me the most, I came to the conclusion that being an inquirer was one of the most important characteristics for me to follow. And after recently traveling to Rice University for an educational conference encompassing technology, I found a new website (StudyBlue.com) to add to my repertoire.

With so many up-and-coming websites out there, I have to carefully choose what I’m going to invest my precious time in. First and foremost, I’m a family man who has to juggle my time between my wife and two kids. Afterwards, I am the teacher/mentor/facilitator/motivator; therefore, it’s all about “hitting the target”. If I waste time on projects that have little to no meaning, I end up losing quality time at home and potentially losing students in the classroom. Subsequently, everything I do must have a purpose.

So why did I choose to integrate StudyBlue.com into my class? Three concrete reasons: One, it’s simple, easy, and FREE (all a must). Two, it absolutely, without a doubt made sense. And three, it supports my research with brain-science.

With little to no learning curve, I was able to jump right in and start my classes with little effort. I think I had all of my classes setup in less than 5 minutes and immediately designed a structure for how I wanted my students to be involved with the website. One particular attribute that must be mentioned is that the information is all online, accessible from any computer once you login. Therefore, it really didn’t matter if my students worked on their flashcards at home or at school (either in the media center or from the portable laptops), they were able to access their material. Even more, students with an Apple or Android phone were able to download the free app and study right from their phone. This really got my students’ attention when they found out that they could use their phones in class for studying purposes.

And speaking of purpose – I truly believe through research and independent studies, students who study more frequently on a consecutive basis outperform students who “CRAM”. StudyBlue.com gave me the perfect opportunity to motivate students away from cramming and into a more consistent approach to studying.

Therefore, I’d like to see myself as an innovator who is curious, critical, and open-minded to trying new things. In this case, I was looking for a piece of technology to engage my students. I found it. I tried it. And most importantly, StudyBlue.com met and surpassed my expectations and needs as a fellow-teacher.

Free,

Daniel Rothrock

Disclaimer: I am a member of the Teacher Advocate program initiated by StudyBlue.com. I am paid a compensation for my discussions and advertisement of the company.

How to tweak the brain for optimal performance!

If you stop and think about it, our brains are one of the most complex organs in the universe. At any given second, we're sending thousands upon thousands of signals to our body. Just to type this message my brain had to capture memory on how to spell the words that I'm thinking, signals to my eyes to focus on the screen, and signals to my hands and fingers to use muscle memory and recall the correct keystrokes to type. In essence, it's the most complex "multitasker" known to man.

As a teacher, student success is often linked to one's ability to perform on a test. So why is it that some students can perform well on a test with minimal studying while others have to work so hard just to stay afloat? Although there many variables involved, here are a couple ways (in my opinion) to tweak the brain for optimal performance:

1. Get adequate sleep! While my body only requires 6-7 hours of sleep each night, most students require more. Your bodies are growing. Your brains are expanding. Believe it or not, just because you're young - YOU STILL NEED SLEEP :) Ever had a day where you didn't have anything to do so you just slept in? Chances are - you felt amazing the following day. That's your body saying a big "THANK YOU". Your brain is no different considering it's the one thing that decided your attitude for you.

2. Eat with balance in mind! Ever heard the statement, "You are what you eat"? There lies some truth to that statement. Food has a major role in affecting our attitude, our attention span, and our ability to recall information in a short-term manor. If you're not convinced, go eat a large bag of (insert your favorite candy) and wait 15 minutes. I guarantee you'll be ready to catch some Zzz's before the man on the moon has risen. Instead, eat small portions of a balanced diet as frequent as your schedule will allow. Keep the food colorful and leafy if possible. Mix in some quality protein and you'll be one a force to deal with in the classroom.

3. Study smarter - not harder! You've probably heard that by now, but what does it mean? Well, for starters, it means that just like every other muscle in your body, you can't grow a strong brain overnight. Here's a quick question to consider.

Q. Do runners compete in a full marathon (26.2 miles) their first time out?
A. Absolutely not!

They start off by running small intervals working up to the big race. Power-lifters don't max out their first trial. They work up to their maximum weight. We have to start treating our brains in a similar fashion. We've all heard of "cramming" for a test. While cramming has provided a marginal service, we really only proved that our short-term memory is functioning properly. What we really want is a conversion to long-term memory. And there's only one effective method to this... Practice! Practice! Practice!

Just as I said we need to eat small meals often, we need to study in small portions as well. Our brains perform better when we input knowledge in short bursts followed by a recovery time better known as sleep. Subsequently, there are many paths to complete the journey and one utility that I want to share is StudyBlue.com.

StudyBlue.com is one of several resources that I've come to love, not to mention - it's 100% free. In particular, this online resource offers my students a vehicle to study smarter and not harder. In short, one could sum up what they offer into three categories: 1). Online/mobile flashcards; 2). Online notes; and 3). Personalized quizzes which I like calling my own "quality-check". Add the ability to access all of this from an Apple or Android smartphone, and you've created your very educational healthy-choice meal.

The online flashcards are by far some of the most user-friendly I've encountered. The easy-to-use interface has little to no learning curve, leaving that much more time for you to study. Simply start typing notes on one side and answers on the other and you're off to building a digital masterpiece. BUT.... you can't stop there. You have to go back and review these flashcards often. Not just once. Not just twice. 3 still isn't enough. I recommend seeing these flashcards for at least the next 5 consecutive days for only 5-10 minutes total. By rapidly viewing the material over those next 5 days, you're essentially telling your own brain, "Hey! This information is important, so don't lose it". Afterwards, it's routine maintenance. Come back to review once a week followed by once a month. Your brain will feel like a well-oiled machine just off the assembly line!

Oooooh.... there's so much to say. I'll pause for now, but I'm just getting started. Tune in for more details and secrets on using StudyBlue.com.

Yours;

D. Rothrock

Disclaimer: I am a member of the Teacher Advocate program initiated by StudyBlue.com. I am paid a compensation for my discussions and advertisement of the company.