2019 One Word: Resolve

Sometimes my career feels like a battle. As an instructional technologist, I don't feel like my role has ever just been trying to help willing teachers integrate technology but also to be an evangelist or even prophet about the future of education and the impact technology can have. About this time every year,  I begin to feel a wee bit weary. I feel fatigued from having to defend educational technology which is always odd to me that this has become part of who I am.

I look back over the past few years and see a theme:
2015's one word was "Let's"
2016's one word was "Beta"
2017's one word was "Brave"
2018's one word was "Perspective"

This year as I tried to decide which one word to choose to help me as a professional, I found myself feeling less joy about what I do because of the weariness of having the same old conversations year, after year, after year. Every year, choosing one word in January gives me a sense of where I have been during this school year and a focus on where I want to be at the end of May.

So this year my one word is RESOLVE. After a year of diligently trying to look at and balance perspectives of others, I am ready to own who I am. I am an instructional technologist who currently is in the role of Director of Instructional Technology and Innovation. This year I am resolved to stand firm in sharing the virtues of educational technology with the educators, students, and parents that I come in contact with day in and day out. For me, this means that I will stand firm in touting the importance of students having the skills that support the ISTE Standards for Students for their futures.

I have been toying with the one word, "Resolve", for a few days now. This morning I felt affirmed in that word as we read the scripture from Mark 6: 1-4 in church:

Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples.2 When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.

“Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? 3 Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph,[a] Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” 5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 He was amazed at their lack of faith.

Now, I'm no Jesus but these words resonated deep within me this morning. Jesus's own family and friends in his own hometown didn't believe in him and the things he was sharing. One of the hardest things about my role is that I am often asked to speak at other schools and educational conferences but my fellow educators in the school I've been at for 15 years push back the hardest. My insecurities imagine what they say "Who is she? She was just an elementary computer teacher?" "How could she possibly think she could tell me better ways to teach my class?" "She knows nothing about my subject matter." None of those things have been said to me, mind you. Then my pride gets in the way and I'm convinced I do know best sometimes (hence the chosen word "perspective" last year to make sure I was being balanced.) 

But here I am today choosing "resolve," not to push my ways on others but to stand firm on believing I have an important role at my school to be an evangelist and prophet about the future possibilities of education. My prayer is that just like Jesus in the scriptures we read this morning, I can do it with humility (this was his second time to go to his hometown and try to reach them). I want to have the resolve to bravely share concepts and ideas based on what I have learned might be helpful regarding technology integration.

What will this look like immediately?

• Explaining the analytics data of digital testing inside Canvas and how it can benefit or students and teachers when creating assessments.
• Explaining how we are in an era that has never been before: we can now have immediate feedback after a lesson and adjust our teaching to that feedback to best meet our student needs.
• Harking the benefits of rubric-based assessing so that students can share their learning in ways other than a paper/pencil/digital assessment of questions.
• Explaining that Canvas is a learning management system that our school can "grow into"  as we consider mastery paths and learning outcomes associated with our questioning of students.

Applied Learning in a Test-centric World

It was 1990 and I was one semester away from graduating with a degree in Accounting. I was taking Tax Accounting in the summer and everyone knew that was crazy. Taking one of the hardest classes in my major in a 6-week class was no joke. I felt like I never left the library that summer. There were groups of us there studying our hearts out day in and day out. I remember sitting at a table with a friend that was also taking a class. One day another student came over and asked us a question about the law and I answered immediately. I had memorized everything well. Reading over it again and again.

I will never forget when the professor announced the first exam. We could use our tax book and write any notes we wanted to inside that book. I thought I had it made! I wrote itty bitty tiny all through the book and felt prepared as possible. I was an A/B student most of my life and while memorizing didn't come easy for me, I could do it. I remember sitting there looking at the first exam and thinking "Oh dear goodness, I'm going to flunk this!" And I did. And the next one too. I was shaken to the core! I had studied like crazy, to the point where I was the one other students would come to ask questions but I wasn't ready for everything I studied to be applied as actual case studies. I didn't know how to convert my information into knowledge that would actually help people on their tax returns. I pulled a D in that class and I was mortified. I cried like a baby. How could I be an accountant if I couldn't really understand how to help people? Side note: I actually already was working for a public accounting firm and had my own clients at age 21. And, I was fairly good at it.

But the truth is I was 21, about to graduate college and for the first time in my educational process, I had to apply what I was supposed to have learned not just regurgitate facts like I usually did. Maybe I had to apply my learning in classes sometime before that along the way of my k-12 and higher ed journey but I had no recollection of it. My point is, I didn't know how to apply my learning because my educational testing was always about repeating facts back to the teacher. I really don't have very much recollection of critical thinking as part of the educational process.

Actually, I think that the professor was ahead of her time. Allowing students to take an open book test and apply the information that was in there. This was before the internet existed but she knew that every tax accountant would have that little book or something similar that they could easily access as part of their career. She wanted to know if we knew how to apply the book to situations.

Fast forward to 2018 and I think about the fact that education still often looks like the regurgitation of facts for many classes but today's access to information is even easier than ever before. So do we as teachers just give our students access to that information during exams and have them apply it in ways that seem authentic? Some do, others are still asking questions that can be googled in 2.7 seconds. How are we preparing our students for those applied learning moments?

• How are they learning about history in a way to prevent it from happening again instead of knowing how many soldiers died in what battle?  
• How are we teaching students how to balance a bank account (something everyone should know how to do) instead of word problems that ask how much of his $50 John has left after he spent $27.45 at the grocery and $6.52 at the cleaners?
• How are we teaching students how to write for others when only their teacher sees their writing but being able to write a blog post is considered a skill needed for today's workforce?
• How can the scientific method be relevant when the lab experiment is so prescribed that everyone gets the same answer? 

Applying the learning given to students thru the textbook, website, or teacher's mouth is the next step to knowing learning has actually happened and that the learning has led to something students can articulate through action. Assessment should be changing because it is not really showing the teacher or the student the value of what they are memorizing. You want students to get excited about what you teach? Make it purposeful. You want students to not cheat in your class? Assess them in ways that apply the things they can easily google. 

The thing that scares us as teachers: Not all students have the ability to transfer the information being told to them in class to authentic issues. I was proof and I was a good student! BUT, if we start transforming the educational process now, students will start learning how to look at a problem through a design thinking lens or value the need to memorize facts because the test is going to ask them to apply those facts in new ways. Applied learning isn't easy but a world of thinkers that are regurgitators is even harder. 

What is Cheating in the Digital Age?

For the past few weeks, I've heard the laments of teachers worrying about cheating. For some, it's because they are actively aware it is happening in their classrooms. For others, it's because they have heard it is happening in someone else's classroom. As I hear what others are saying I am appalled by some of the blatantly sneaky cheating that is going on by students but I also am aware of a gray area that seems to blend the lines between right and wrong. So I ask, what is cheating in this digital age? The following blog post isn't about me saying that cheating is ok, it is about my view on why it is harder than ever before to keep a student that wants to cheat from cheating. Here is my opinion why it seems more acceptable to students to work the system:

• Hacking is acceptable and seen as a skill. Today we are training students how to code starting in preK because the future wants this skill in the workplace. According to the Techopedia website, hacking is the ability to break into a system (https://www.techopedia.com/definition/26361/hacking) but every single day as an instructional technologist I sit at my desk and wish for different educational platforms to be able to do certain things they cannot and I look for add-ons (or hacks) to make it happen. For instance, at our school, we use the LMS Canvas but it doesn't inherently lock a student into a quiz tab while taking a quiz so we have bought the "hack" known as Respondus Lockdown Browser as an add-on to do this. There is a little bit of irony that the hack is to prevent cheating but in this case, Respondus is what is known as a non-malicious hack that adds value to a product and the product readily accepts it. But do you see the irony? 
• We are teaching students to find tools to help them in their learning. Today's students have not ever lived without the Google search engine. This means that today's students are not dependent on their teacher to pour information into them. Part of teaching today is helping students discern tools that aid their learning. Maybe it's Khan Academy for a math concept or as I type on this blog, maybe it is Grammarly. Grammarly is a writing assistant that helps you correct grammar mistakes as you type. To me, even the free version is one step beyond the red squiggly underlines of word processing software. With one click, I can add Grammarly as an extension on my Chrome toolbar and I have a benefit the person sitting next to me does not. AND if I happen to have $12/month the benefit for the paid version can truly change the way I write by leaps and bounds. But what if a teacher is grading my grammar on an essay, is this cheating or is this using the tools available to me?
• Everyone else is doing it. Yesterday I had a conversation with a super vigilant parent that works hard to create safeguards for his children not to access parts of the internet that can lead to moral degradation. After realizing his boys were accessing gaming time more than he had set up to allow through their Disney Circle he dug a bit deeper. His boys had downloaded an app that allowed them to bypass the VPN blocks so that they could play Fortnite longer than their father deemed healthy. When asked how they knew what to do..." everyone at school does it." The father said to me "and I have good kids!" and he does. If this is so rampantly accepted by this generation how do we harness it? How do we protect ourselves from ourselves? Or more importantly, how do we protect our children as they are developing their frontal lobe from themselves?
• There doesn't seem to be ramifications. Kids aren't getting caught. This week I heard of two students laughing in the hallway about turning in a slideshow they had pulled off the web, changing one page and then turning it in and getting an A for it. I also heard about some students cheating on exams in a classroom on a regular basis since the beginning of the school year. If it seems like people are getting away with it then the effort to do right seems pointless. Of course, this opens the door for a lot of edge-pushing discourse. Perhaps the concept of grades need to go away? Or what feels like high stakes testing? And then there is the fact that our school's average ACT scores keep going up so if students are cheating but those type of scores continue to go up where is the disconnect? And is it that the students see the disconnect better than the educators do? I realize all those questions could be read as heresy but like I said, this blog post is to help me put all the cards on the table and honestly look at what is happening.
• The rules of plagiarism are harder to distinguish. Not just for the student but for the teacher as well. My college-aged student just finished a class in British Literature where she made a 50 on a project because the teacher said she plagiarized. That being said, she still doesn't believe she did because she had sources on every slide. Quite honestly, I'm not sure she did either. And there is the rub. The ease of access to an abundance of information makes it harder and harder for teachers to distinguish the work of their students from someone else. It also makes it harder for students to discern if that was an original thought they just wrote in their paper or if it was something they read in the last 2 hours when perusing one well-written article after another during their research phase. 
• Access to information makes some tests seem irrelevant at best. And this is the bullet point that will get educators ruffled more than any other. Are we still testing our students as if they didn't have access to technology? In my lifetime of learning, there was value in rote memorization questions but if I can google an answer in 2.7 seconds is our question relevant in today's world? Perhaps it is time for us to evaluate our evaluations. Can we assume students will always have access to information and test them in a way that shows they have turned that information into knowledge? Critical thinking questions based on information readily available. Or authentic learning opportunities, project-based learning, inquiry-driven learning etc...all seem like buzzwords but we are in a time in education where discerning if learning is actually taking place is getting harder and harder to do. How do we change our method of operation to meet the needs of today's student so that cheating doesn't seem like the most logical way to deal with a test at hand. How do we change our questioning to force students to think about their answers instead of googling their answers? 
• What happened to honor? How do we instill in students the virtue of being honorable in regards to testing integrity? What digital citizenship lessons need to be talked about in every classroom to show the level of importance we place on this? What expectations need to be placed on the student? What ramifications? And while we are at it, what expectations should be placed on the educator to do their part in creating an environment where integrity and honor are both expected and monitored for? 

What is cheating in the digital age? It might seem black and white to you but to our students, it is becoming more and more of a gray area. We can't ignore this. Important conversations need to be happening so that important outcomes can be produced. 

Digital Testing Safeguards

In 2013 I wrote my first blog post on managing technology usage in the classroom. The fear of off task behavior still seems to be one of the main reasons teachers are hesitant to use technology five years later. While the devices may vary, the concepts on how to teach students good internal management of appropriate use has not changed. It starts with intentional boundaries being placed on students anytime technology is in their hands from pre-K forward.

I believe wholeheartedly that classroom management of students on devices is a digital citizenship issue. We are teaching students how to manage their impulses by setting expectations of appropriate usage. I also believe that if we are requiring students to use technology in our classrooms, we also need to be teaching students how to use it wisely and timely. Expectations are important for appropriate usage.

As our high school is moving forward to prepare for exams using Canvas for objective assessments my mind has been thinking on various ways to prepare the testing environment and test itself for integrity purposes. Below are my thoughts on this subject:

• Classroom seating setup- make cheating hard but make monitoring easy for you. Exams don't take forever, move your desks or your students to help you monitor better. I work with a teacher in the elementary school that has her students sit on one side of their desk when she is giving instructions and then when it's time for them to work on the computers she has them move their chairs to the other side of their desks so she can quickly see their screens when she is working with small groups in the back of the classroom. Another option might be setting up your room for the task at hand by setting up desks in the following ways that allow you to quickly move around your room as you proctor an exam:

• Question banks/groups -By creating Question Banks in your learning management system you can very easily differentiate a quiz to students by allowing the system to choose questions out of a question bank. Basically you are telling the Question Group how many questions you want on the quiz and it will randomly select questions from your pre-created banks. When creating question banks for randomization purposes it is important to create banks that have the same level of critical thinking within the groupings so that the quizzes will be equitable in rigor. Use Canvas LMS? Check out these links to help you:

• https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-13000-415250747
• https://www.uwb.edu/learningtech/canvas/canvas-for-faculty/quizzes/question-banks#using 
•  https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-12979

• 1. Access Codes- Codes serve as a safeguard that students cannot access exams when you are not ready for them to access it. Giving students the code right at exam time and then changing the code once everyone is in is a way to make sure different sections you teach are not accessing the exam when they are not in your presence. This can be set on the detail page of any quiz/exam you make in Canvas. 
• 2. Filter IP Addresses- Many learning management systems have the ability to only allow a quiz/exam to be taken on campus. By choosing to filter the IP address you can prevent students from possibly accessing or finishing an exam at home without a proctor. This can also be set on the detail page in Canvas. Be aware that sometimes if a device is being managed by a VPN students will not be able to take the exam due to this setting. 
• 3. Change feedback setting - One of the beautiful things about accessing digitally is that exams are graded immediately and teachers can spend more time on other things. In Canvas there is a setting for students to see question feedback right after taking an exam (in fact, it defaults to this setting). For testing integrity purposes, I would suggest changing this setting to a time after all of your students have taken the test so that you can be more assured that students aren't sharing their results with each other. 
• 4. Shuffle answers - In most robust LMS options there is an option to shuffle the answers inside a quiz/exam with one click. When this is utilized to automatically it is important not to have answer choices like "both a & c" because it will randomize the answers and this answer will not be correct. 
• 5. One question at a time - By choosing the option for students to see one question on a page it keeps wandering eyes from looking over and seeing another student's page of answers. The downside to this is that many students find it cumbersome when taking a test. Think of it like a hand covering the last question as the quiz taker moves along the test. Easy access is eliminated.

• Lockdown Browser.  Using a lockdown browser so students cannot take screenshots or navigate off the tab they have open is another option. This is not a built-in option for most LMS options. Any time add-ons are used there is sometimes an added level of opportunity for things to go wrong. Keep in mind that you may have to troubleshoot this in your classroom as well. This document gives our teachers an overview on how to use Canvas with the Respondus lockdown browser as well as showing them how students will use the software depending on which device they are using. 

The above list give teachers various ways to create quizzes/exams that ensure testing integrity. Teachers can pick and choose things that seem most beneficial to them but the value of test proctor movement is invaluable in both digital and non-digital assessment. It is also the easiest management tool. 

The last thing I want to share are ways to overcome students getting kicked out of a Canvas exam  and not being able to continue taking it after accessing it again. This could happen due to a connectivity anomaly or due to a student just needing extended time for testing purposes. The easiest way to handle this is to not assign a "available until" time when creating a quiz/exam. This allows the test to remain open until the student submits the exam. To monitor this well we suggest these steps:

• Use an access code (as soon as all students have accessed the test change the code).
• At the end of the class period have any students who have not completed the exam come to you and physically watch them exit the exam. This way they cannot continue the exam except when you give them the new code. This prevents students from finishing up a quiz/exam in study hall with access to information to help them.

What's In Your Elementary STEM Lab?

Often when people come to visit our lower school STEM lab they ask "how did you know what to put it in?" The truth is, we didn't, but we learned along the way. The first thing I would suggest to a school system wanting to create a STEM lab is not to try to buy everything in the beginning. Don't let the tools dictate the learning. Buy as you see needs and desires. I wish we had done this a bit more in the beginning.

This is what we currently have in our lab now that we are 3 years into the program:

• Wonder Workshop Dash and Dot Robots. These are our "go to" robotics for elementary students. They work with 4 different apps- Wonder, Blockly, Go, Path...the various apps meet different levels of coding ability. Their durability is amazing.
• Wonder Workshop Cue Robots. These robots even allow students to toggle between block coding a javascript.
• Sphero Robots. Sturdy for use by young children and can even get them wet. 
• Ozobots Evo and Bit. Start with color coding and move to block-based coding. 
• Makey Makey. Inventor kit that allows students to turn everyday objects into keyboards using the concept of electric circuitry.  
• Cube-lets. Small cubes that connect magnetically to create a larger simple robot. 
• Merge Cubes. Hologram enabled Augmented/Virtual reality ability.
• Legos. Great for engineering lessons. 
• Magnetic building sets. Great for engineering lessons for younger children. 
• Little Bits STEAM Student Sets. Tools needed for invention ideas in the student inventor book.  Each set can engage 3-4 students at one time. 
• Little Bits. Circuits that snap together. 
• LEGO Mindstorm EV3Robotics. Allows students to build, program and command these LEGO based robots.
• LEGO Education WeDo kits. Curriculum, software and STEM, discovery-based project kits.
• Makerbot 3D Printer. Ways to make 3D designs. 
• 5 Lenovo Laptops. 
• 5 iPads.
• Class Set of Chromebooks.
• Microscopes
• Safety Goggles
• Beakers
• Extra large "LEGO" like building blocks. Large enough to set up different areas in the room by creating walls for separation
• Markers
• Glue Sticks
• Glue
• Glue guns
• Tubs
• Scissors
• Aluminum Pans
• Containers
• Duct Tape
• Construction Paper
• Yarn
• String
• Paint
• Other craft type supplies

At the beginning of the year we added one item on each grade level supply list for the lab:

Pre-K -1 pack of popsicle sticks

Kindergarten -1 package of sticky notes

First- 1 pack sandwich baggies

Second- 1 package drinking straws

Third- 1 package toothpicks

Fourth- 1 roll masking tape

Fifth- 1 roll scotch tape

Some of our tools are "go to" items. The robotics and coding platforms are used across the curriculum to teach in classroom concepts regardless of the subject matter. Our students code robots to show learning in everything from language arts, bible, science, math, and geography. The time our students spend in the STEM lab directly supports the integrated units in our lower school. It is taking science, technology, engineering and math and making it actionable.

Holding the Tensions of Opposites

A few weeks ago I sat in a meeting discussing funding of our STEM program and the discussions got more personal. Sharing of beliefs and conflicting beliefs that one person described as “holding the tension of opposites.” As I sat and listened to these two men talk I realized fully that this idea is something I strive for all the time. I had just never been aware of the phrase.

After leaving the meeting I couldn’t get the concept to leave me, and after a very hard week the thought hit me again. Holding the tension of opposites isn’t easy. In fact, it often creates a tension inside me that seems like tipping scales. My recent tensions include:

Believing that technology can have a great positive impact on education 
and also
Believing that technology can have a negative impact on education when people lose their balance and perspective


Believing that preparing students for a world of technology usage is an important part of every educator’s job
and also
Believing that technology doesn’t inherently equate to good teaching 


Believing that my views of innovative practices could enhance creativity and a culture of open mindsets 
and also
Believing that agendas or forcing innovative ideas on others to carry out will not have a positive impact on culture


Believing that integrating technology in the classroom through balancing student’s use between creation, consumption, curation and connection is imperative for the innovation era which is their future
and also
Believing that the age old concepts of Socratic dialogue and other non-tech teaching is just as effective for learning 


Believing that innovation is the intersection  where need and passion meet. And that it doesn’t have to be technology to be innovative
and also
Believing that technology has a way to tear down the walls of the classroom and allow teachers and students to know more than ever before


The problem with living with these tensions is that it is intellectually draining at times. The word “tension” itself shows the demand that is being placed on oneself by choosing to grab hold of opposite ends and allowing the shock waves of conflict to battle within us.

The positives of choosing this way of thinking is that it creates a space inside us that critically considers both sides of a tension. By accepting them to coexist inside us we are more open to being flexible in our thought patterns. It is easier for us to see the benefits of both sides. We become less dogmatic about the things we truly lean towards and willing to be flexible when we grab those tensions.

It is when we give over to one idea completely, whether it be because of conflict, bullying or realizations that our rigidness makes us less approachable. It is when we feel in conflict with someone that doesn’t appear to be holding the tensions themselves that we become more lopsided in our discussions.

The holding of the tension is necessary for critical thinking. Yes, it’s hard but all good things usually are. Recently I feel this ongoing tension about our school’s choice to do all objective assessment through the LMS Canvas. I see the work and the “learning things the hard way” that our teachers are pushing through. I appreciate the ones that accept the challenge placed before them. There are days I look at the tensions regarding this decision and think “is it worth it?”

Today, due to a question a teacher had about regrading a quiz question I saw once again the analytics that teachers have the ability to see regarding each question they create. It was in that moment that I was reminded again of the why of this tension. If a teacher chooses to use that feedback to grow their curriculum, the opportunities for school, teacher and student growth could be exponential.

Hard things take time. Research shows that 3 months into any implementation is the hardest because of the outlying pressures and learning curves associated with the change. We are there at that 3 month mark. I pray I can ever be mindful to hold these tensions dutifully so that I can best serve in the role before me. Some days I cry from the tension. Some days I rejoice in the feedback. Everyday is hard but good things are hard. We don’t let our students give up when it gets hard. I won’t either.

Teacher Tips for Canvas

As our upper school has started to robustly use the learning management system Canvas, I have a few tricks and tips that might be helpful on the educator side of things:

• Things to be aware of when creating digital quizzes (here is a video explanation of information below): 

• Options for shuffling answers. If you create multiple choice or true/false questions in a Canvas quiz, the correct answer will always default to the top answer (a) unless you do one of the following:
• When creating a question you can manually pull the arrow that points to the correct answer down in the question so that you are randomizing the answers yourself. OR....
• When setting up the quiz, choose the "shuffle answers" box so that the quiz itself with automatically shuffle the answers for you. The downside of this is that you can't use answers like "all the above" or "both B and C" because it may look different for your students. 
• Allowing for extended time on tests. If you are a teacher that sets an amount of time for a quiz or a time availability (a close time) when you assign a quiz that quiz will automatically be submitted when that time is up. If you want to allow students extended time for tests, don't use the availability but require an access code. This way once the class is over, the students can access the quiz afterwards as well. For this option I would suggest changing the access code after each class for integrity purposes.

• Using Calendar Events for non-graded assignments for students (here is a video explanation of information below). There is one way to add things to the students's calendars that does not impact grade book. (You can also create an assignment that is labeled "no submission" and it will allow you to put a grade in for it and will show up on your grade book. This might be a good choice for dressing out in P.E., or journal checks):
• Create an event. Choose to click on the calendar link on your blue vertical navigation toolbar. 
• In the top right corner of the calendar view click on the + to add an event.
• Title your event that lets your students know what the expectation will be. You can add more details by clicking on "more options."
• The event will default to being added to your personal calendar, so make sure you use the drop down box to choose the class you want to share the event to.
• Click submit. (The event will now show up on the students's calendar and "upcoming" list). 

• Deleting the MISSING label after something is turned it late (here is a video explanation of the information below). I feel like this is something Canvas should fix automatically but if a student turns in an assignment late and you put the grade in, you will need to:
• Click on the across arrow inside the assignment box for the student in question.
• When the sidebar pops up change the assignment to either "None" or "Late (blue)" based on your needs. This will remove the missing label in your grade book, the students view and the parent view. 
• It is helpful to look over your grade book occasionally to see if their are any pink boxes and whether they need to be fixed. 

• Moderating a quiz. There are times when students might need an additional attempt at a quiz (here is a video explanation of the information below). As a teacher, you can click on a quiz a student needs to access and then in the upper right corner clicking on "Moderate this quiz," then click on the pencil next to the student you want to moderate the quiz for. This allows you to:
• Give individual students multiple attempts at a quiz
• Give immediate access to individual students take a quiz without having to go through the process of reassigning the quiz to the student.

• Communicating with students inside of Canvas. Students are getting use to receiving information about their courses through Canvas. If you are in a situation where you need to communicate important information to your students quickly you have two options (here is a video explanation of the information below):
• You can create Announcements for your course that you can assign to all your classes or to individual classes. It could be useful if you were absent one day because you could actually delay when it is posted after creating it and allow your students to see it as they enter the classroom. You can also allow them to reply to an announcement if you need feedback before the next class meeting or ask them to "like" it to show that it has been read. To use announcements:
• Go to Settings in your class and move Announcements up for students to view.
• Click on Announcements
• Create the announcement and assign it to the class based on your needs.
• Using the inbox inside of Canvas allows you to send messages to whole classes, individuals or groups. This is a very quick way to get students use to going to one location to receive information from you instead of going outside of Canvas to check their emails. To send messages to your students:
• Click on the INBOX on your blue vertical navigational toolbar.
• In the middle top of the next page, click on the paper with the pencil icon.
• Create the message you want to send (you can even attach files or videos that you might want your students to be able to access) 
• Make sure you choose the correct course or people you desire to communicate with via Canvas email.
• Press send. 

Educating in the Moment of Urgency

Lately I've been thinking about the impact urgency has on the educational process. There are times curve balls are thrown at our otherwise normal day and we have to adjust to move forward or to help others move forward. It seems there are three big categories that cause a sense of urgency to come out:

• When things fail. Whether it be the wifi going down, a lesson plan flopping, or a student dealing with a broken relationship. Failure often brings on an immediate need to educate differently. 
• When things need a quick response. Sometimes it is a deadline, sometimes it is a waiting student or boss, other times it is understanding of a potential issue that needs resolved before it becomes a failure. 
• When people procrastinate. We want the quote "Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part" to be true but honestly it just isn't. Part of life in the world of education is dealing with the crisis of procrastination.

This year as I have worked to aid our teachers in implementing the Canvas LMS I am realizing that much of what I do happens because of a sense of urgency. This sense of urgency changes who I am as an educator. When I have time to sit and develop a process or idea, there is more substance and value to what I create or think up. When I am constantly feeling the need to put out fires, I never feel truly in control of myself or the path of my day. Truthfully, it is the nature of the beast right now but I've had this huge realization of how it impacts educating our students. 

When things don't go as planned, the teacher has to kick a field goal when they were really hoping for that touchdown. While it is still possible to win a game with field goals, the task is harder because you are still going through all the same motions but making less points at the end of the possession. (Forgive the football analogy but it is football season and I am a fan). A field goal feels like a letdown to the coach much like a change in lesson plan feels to a teacher. 

There are times we are not in control of the urgency in our classrooms or school systems, we feel reactionary at best. No one wants to remain in that sense of internal conflict but how we respond to urgencies impacts the culture for those we come in contact with as well. If I moan and complain because I don't like something, I'm influencing others to feel the same. If I'm constantly pushing back and refusing to make a quick response, the stalemate can cause a snowball of repercussions. When I am just not preparing enough for a situation I am forcing others to succumb to my frazzle. 

None of us wants to have to make decisions that are not well thought out and that is what urgency can lead to. Finding ways to minimize urgency in education is the ultimate goal but to also set concrete goals when finding ourselves in that frenzy is helpful as well. Here are 3 things that help me when I am in a situation that I did not sign up for but can't be ignored:

• Enjoy the punt. There is beauty in the kick. Something didn't go as planned? It was a big giant flop for the day? I give it 10 minutes and if I can't fix it in that time, I go to plan B...whatever plan B might be. But always remember there is value in your plan B as well, plan B's can win games. Don't get so caught up in what didn't work that you miss out on what does work. Always strive to fail forward. 
• Weigh the outcomes. When I was growing up, my mother had these decorative brass scales that sat in our living room (the room for company) and no one was allowed to touch them. When I need to make a quick decision I think of those scales. Against my mother's wishes I mentally start placing the pros and cons in the appropriate side of the scale and I weigh the consequences of my decision. I know there will be things I didn't consider but sometimes I just need to know I have done my best at discernment and I make a decision after thoughtfully weighing the choices. 
• Be the hero. Procrastination of others that impacts you can be frustrating because there is a face associated with the issue- someone we can blame. I've often found that procrastinators live in a constant level of panic that I can't even fathom. If you want to feel like you are a super hero, help a procrastinator in the midst of procrastination. Most the time they realize their lack of planning doesn't have to be fixed by you so they are very appreciative of your willingness to drop things to help them. 

After a few weeks of being in my new position, I can tell you that there is a lot of satisfaction in helping others in the midst of educational urgency. I can also tell you that I want to do everything in my power to get people out of that kind of culture or reactivity. I believe we are better educators when we find our balance between urgency and getting stalled in overthinking. We all fall somewhere along the spectrum and learning how to move one direction or the other and discerning how best to react in situations benefits not only us as educators but our students as well. Educating in the moment of urgency has ripple effects that can cause lasting impact. 

Why an LMS? Why Canvas?

During the last school year our school announced that our upper school teachers would be required to use the learning management system (LMS) named Canvas in 3 significant ways forward:

1. All objective assessments would be delivered through the Canvas LMS
2. All students have the option to turn in papers digitally
3. All grades would be done through the Canvas grade book

With any change comes push back and fear. For us, all stakeholders have had to learn a new system- teachers, administrators, students and parents. Below are the benefits each group of our stakeholders can experience from using Canvas:

Benefits to Administrators: 

• Analytics- By creating expectations for students to take assessments using Canvas, we also have the ability to start to see patterns of each student's learning and possible gaps in mastery of concepts. While we are not a full fledged competency-based school in the way we teach, we now have a place where administrators can quickly have access to class averages on assignments and even dig deeper to see individual student results. 
• Compliance- In some ways using Canvas diminishes the silo effect that education can sometimes cause. When administrators can only get into a classroom for a few observations a year, Canvas allows admin to take a quick glance at assignments and quizzes to make sure all teachers are compliant to the goals and expectations put upon them for their curriculum.
• Scalability- We are in a school system where we have multiple educators teaching the same course to grade levels. By having those educators work together to create their Canvas-based curriculum it takes workload levels off everyone and allows systems to be in place regardless of the size of classes. Blended learning works well with Canvas. In our middle school math program we have been able to effectively increase class size by using this platform for students to navigate their daily needs. 
• Accountability- The realtime aspect of Canvas allows administrators to immediately see if lesson plans are both accurate and up to date for students with just a click of the mouse. 

Benefits to Teachers:

• Mobility and Accessibility- Students now have the ability to access their assignments easily as long as they have access to the internet. Being a 1:1 school with 100% at home connectivity (one of the upsides to living in Chattanooga, TN- home of the fastest internet in the country), this means our students now can access things without the excuses of "the dog ate my homework, I lost it, or I didn't know I had homework." 
• Deliver Content Instantly- Teachers now have the ability to deliver information to students instantly. Perhaps a classroom discussion spurs a teacher to remember an article they want to share. Utilizing an LMS allows the teacher to quickly upload it to the course for immediate and future reference. 
• Personalization- Canvas allows educators to assign things to individual students, give individual students multiple attempts to take a quiz, share different resources with different student groups, all without other students knowing that differentiation is taking place. This allows some students with IEPs to feel less self aware of their learning issues because others aren't aware that any accommodations are taking place. Have a student that can breeze through the curriculum? With mastery paths being utilized within Canvas, teachers can meet those needs by creating deeper learning or allowing those students to go further with their learning.   
• Multimedia Learning- The use of Canvas allows teachers to share videos, audio recordings, as well as continue robust face to face engagement with students that might be graded outside of a computer-based assessment. Sometimes students may not grasp a concept during a lecture but a teacher can upload a video of themselves or someone else teaching the concept and students can stop and start the video to make sure they have the concepts before moving on. 

Benefits to Parents:

• Transparent view- Parents have the ability to see exactly what their students are seeing by pairing with them. They can view the courses, the calendar due dates, and grades all from one location. In a world of constant connectivity, parents have the ability to know 100% what the expectations are for their child's classes because it is all listed in their Canvas courses. Nothing can be placed in a grade book without first being added as an assignment in Canvas.
• Click thru to assignments- Parents have the ability to see a grade or a "missing" label and then click directly through to the assignment to see the details. They can see everything their student can see, they just can't complete the assignment with their parent account. 
• Parent portal for accountability- Parents can set up to receive notifications regarding their child's account. If they choose to use the Canvas Parent App, they can have the app push them information straight to their phone about course grade levels, missing assignments, when a grade is above or below a threshold they deem important to know, and any announcements about a course. If they use the web browser access, they can set themselves up to receive emails for the same types of information in order to hold their children accountable in their learning process.

Benefits to Students:

• Single sign-on- One of the things we wanted to streamline for our students is giving the ability to go to one place and have fewer log-ins and passwords to remember for their educational process. Canvas allows our students to use their Google accounts for single sign-on capabilities. There are no longer multiple platforms and passwords to remember because all information and access goes through Canvas for our students. 
• Consistency- Students now know they can go to Canvas and click on "calendar" to see all the things due on any upcoming date that has already been assigned for any class they are taking. Students know that their "Upcoming" section represents a week glance. Students know that their "to do" list means things that they need to get done. Students now have one platform to go to see information shared by their teachers. While each class may look differently, based on how the teacher set their own courses up, the student experience remains significantly the same for access and turning in assignments. Now students aren't sharing a document  via Google Drive in one class but uploading to an LMS in another. Their experience and the expectations feel more the same from class to class. 
• Collaboration- Canvas allows for discussion boards and it connects with the school Google suites account for all students. This allows students to work together on a Google doc or slideshow, for instance by adding information or comments. Students also have the ability to participate in "peer grading" through the Canvas LMS platform. 
• Communication- Knowing that a teacher is communicating through one platform helps students to realize the importance of checking for communication more often. Canvas allows the students to expect all communication in one localized place- the place where they also see their assignments, turn in their assignments, and take assignments. 
• Immediate Content-  Canvas allows students to place their virtual hands on content quickly and efficiently based on teacher sharing. Students no longer have to go back to their locker to get a handout or call a friend because they lost the details of the homework assignment. Students can immediately access the content of their courses as long as they have access to the internet. 

With any digital plan, there are sometimes bandwidth issues, accessibility of device issues, quirks, and a learning curve for all users. It's not all benefits but as we are now a month into the school year, the benefits of this endeavor seem to quickly outweigh the detriments for our students. 

Becoming a Proactive Voice in a Reactive Society

We are in an era of technology changing so quickly that it's hard for anyone to stay abreast of the topics and concerns. One thing that continuously tugs on my inner moral compass is the way we (society in general) seem to adopt the next best thing like lambs being led to slaughter.

It's a fine line for me- as an instructional technologist I don't want to wait so long to adopt a worthy concept that we are creating more work for our teachers and students than need be but I also don't want to just accept something as new and great without spending a little time "looking behind the curtain."

I have weighed the pros and cons of voice user interface (VUI) in the classroom on and off, again and again over the last 3 years. Through a series of unexpected events I've created a network of VUI programmers by speaking at the Alexa Conference last year in regards to what educators want from VUI. Because of this opportunity, a few programmers from across the country have remained in contact with me and have reached out to me via social media when Amazon Alexa has created safeguards for student privacy. I am so thankful for this new network of people because there is no way I could have remained as well informed about updates to the Alexa Echo without their help.

This school year our campus has been given the opportunity to pilot the use of 5 Amazon Echo Kid's Edition devices with remotes thanks to the generosity of Dave Isbitski, Chief Amazon Alexa Evangelist. Dave and his wife heard about my desire to use Echo dots with remotes in ways that kept student privacy issues at the forefront and they personally bought our school 5 devices with 5 remotes. I was blown away by the generosity and encouragement I received from a man I have never even met before.

While I always try to stay on the edge of technological innovation, I will never be an educator that just adopts sites, apps, or devices without doing research first. I don't want to be seen as a reactionary innovation leader but one that has been mindful of all the details that are associated with any new platform or device before blindly accepting usage.

That's why I have been patiently waiting to place these Alexa Echo Kid's Edition devices in the classroom. I wanted to do some trial work with one on my own first- which I did last year. This year we have 4 devices in our elementary school and one in our high school to try out. The reason I was ready to make the jump into implementation was 4 key things you can now do:

1. I can delete history at anytime from the device- daily, weekly, hourly, monthly. 
2. I can use a remote with the device that turns it off completely when I am not intentionally using it in the classroom setting.
3. I can set it up so it does not "learn" voices.
4. Turn off the ability to purchase things from Amazon using the echo.
   

Our pilot teachers all have their devices in their classrooms but just being 2 weeks in they have done very little implementation. As we move forward, I am thankful for the opportunity to share with the educational and VUI community ways to proactively use voice in ways that put student's needs first. We will spend this year addressing potential issues, analyzing the effectiveness of VUI in the classroom, and constantly reviewing concepts of good student privacy practices. Stay tuned as we trail blaze  forward within boundaries. We hope to represent a well thought out use of voice interface in the classroom for others to consider. 

Changing the Conversation about Technology: A Teenager's Attempt

A few years ago a new family moved into our school community with a young elementary son named Daniel. I noticed immediately he was wise beyond his years. Now, as a high school student he chooses to be different than his peers when it come to social media. He knows balancing is a weakness for him. I asked him to write a guest blog for me because his perspective needs to be heard by those of us teaching students. We, as educators, need to be speaking to students about using technology for human flourishing and the pitfalls of mindless surfing. This is a digital citizenship issue. Hear Daniel's words and heart on the subject:

I have an app that tells me how long I’ve spent on my phone each day, and when I first downloaded it, I was shocked by the results. It was routine for me to spend 3 hours on my phone each day, and not uncommon for that number to grow to 4 or 5 hours. What could I have been doing with that lost time? I don't even want to consider it. Before I got the app (which is called Moment and is free on the App Store), I thought that I used my phone much less than the average high schooler, and that may in fact be true. I think my peers would be as surprised as I was to learn the ugly truth: Americans with smartphones, and especially young Americans with smartphones, spend a gratuitous amount of time on their devices. Lives are being spent in rooms on beds with phones in hand. This is my generation’s life, and it is really no way to live.

What is the solution to this problem? We need to be actively discouraging overuse of personal devices. Of course, parents and educators do call on their children and students to be wary of their tech use. But the caution is tepid. Kids are often told that tech is dangerous because it gives us access to bad content, but rarely do adults tell us that the thing in our pocket is dangerous because of how much time it consumes. I wish I had been warned of that sooner. Pornography and violence is one kind of moral wrong, but I would contend that a life spent scrolling Instagram is another.

I was once hailed as “the G.O.A.T. of Instagram” (the Greatest Of All Time for those who aren’t familiar with the acronym). My posts were clever and funny and occasionally artistic. I would check my phone every minute after posting to see how many likes I had received. I came to find a small piece of my identity in my skill at the social media game and therefore put a lot of effort into my online appearance. One time, while I was curating my Instagram page and looking through others’ profiles on the family lake trip, my cousin asked me a probing question and one that I am grateful for to this day: “How much time do you spend on Instagram?” Instead of being satisfied with my half-hearted answer of “I don’t know,” he told me to check my data usage and see how much I used it. I begrudgingly opened my settings app and was embarrassed to see that Instagram took up most of my data. How could I spend so many of my waking hours on a photo sharing app? I was humiliated when the exact number was revealed to the family and I promptly deleted my page in what seemed like an erratic decision. I have never gotten my Instagram back and I have never regretted my choice.

Since that time, I have had brief flirtationships (one of the advantages of social media is the creation of words like “flirtationship”) with other social medias, most notably Snapchat and Twitter. Snapchat lasted for a matter of weeks before I realized I was slipping into my old habits. Twitter lasted for only 4 days. Thanks to my cousin, I am honest with myself about my lack of self-control where social media is concerned. More people my age should have this awareness but do not because nobody has spoken into their lives about their lack of balance. My cousin harangued me when I was the tender age of 13. I fear that it may be too late for my friends who are nearing high school graduation.

I wish other people had relatives or teachers or friends who could embarrass them enough to inspire change, and I’ve been left to wonder why more people don’t speak out against tech overuse. I believe it is because technology as a concept is a very positive thing. It has taken us to the moon, given us our sight back, increased worldwide food production, and given millions of people jobs. It connects us to the rest of the world and expands our horizons, and it certainly has a place in our homes and classrooms. But just because there are many positive aspects to the mass generalization we call “technology,” that doesn’t mean we should ignore the many places in which personal technology has come to control our lives. Encouraging your student to use Snapchat less is no threat to the scientists at NASA. Technology is not a monolith that can somehow be damaged when I cut down my phone use.

Let’s be honest about the ways in which we take advantage of the wonderful gift of technology. Most of our tech use is simply not productive. I am all in favor of people operating social media pages that promote their small business or advertise their school club. I understand that LinkedIn helps professionals and that Twitter connects leaders to the people, but we immoderately use our phones and excuse ourselves by saying that technology is a good thing that helps people. Of course it does. Now stop sending pictures of the floor to your friends on Snapchat.

Educators and parents have arguably the biggest role to play in not only helping young people spend less time on their phones and laptops, but also helping them use their time on technology well. With the guidance of several teachers, I am hoping to transition our school newspaper online this year and any time I spend on a computer to design and update the website will be, by my estimate, a very good use of time. Not only am I helping to get school journalism out to more people than we could in print, but I am also reducing paper use and increasing the amount of articles that student writers can produce. It is an example of a time when technology is beneficial, productive, and worthy of my time.

I have no illusions, however, that my aspirations for the school paper utilize the same kind of technology as I do when I’m in bed scrolling through iwastesomuchtime.com (not a typo). There are good and bad ways of using technology, and I simply want us as a society to be able to distinguish between the two and cut out the bad technology use like cancer. People my age need help with this. So I am calling on teachers, parents, friends, and relatives to direct the young people in their lives away from their overused personal accounts, where they post self-glorifying images, and towards healthy tech use, like reading articles and trying new recipes and writing papers and learning how to make kombucha. But above all, I am calling on us all to use our phones less. I don’t have any social media, so the thought that I could spend 5 hours on my phone was ludicrous. It is important to note that even if I was using my phone to read interesting things and learn about new places or ideas, I was using it too much. The first step to real change is self-knowledge, so I strongly encourage everyone to download Moment, so they at least know how big a role in their life screen time plays. I was shocked, and my shock has turned into a determination to get better.

If there’s one thing the spread of the smartphone has accomplished, it has been the complete destruction of any semblance of balance in our lives. I want others to live a more balanced life just as I want balance for myself. Smartphones have also tainted the positive aspects of technology by supplanting them with pictures of avocado toast and beach vacations. Technology can be productive and refreshing, but it can also be wasteful and soul-sucking. Let’s get better at knowing the difference.

Confessions from a Former "Grades Driven" Helicopter Parent

Our school has a student information system (SIS) that allows parents to receive notifications via email for a variety of things: grades, missing assignments, etc. Being what I thought was a diligent parent I signed up to receive emails when an assignment was missing and weekly grade updates for both my girls when they attended CCS. My thought was "Wonderful! Now I can make sure my girls are towing the educational line."

For years, I would greet them with a "Hello! How was your day? Why did you not turn you assignment in during Science today?" If your familiar with the Seinfeld episode about the "Soup Nazi," I was definitely the "Grades Nazi." As somewhat of an overachiever myself AND an educator I would find myself at a boiling point when a "bad grade" got placed in the grade book for either of my children. Sadly, I must confess that as an educator at their school I often let my pride get in the way and was even embarrassed when they didn't try. I told you in the title this is a confessions blog!

Year after year I found my relationships with my daughters becoming more and more strained- especially with my oldest. Grades weren't the only reason but I allowed them to be a key impact point of conflict on a weekly basis. I always had high expectations academically for my girls and I wasn't afraid to let them know that; until my oldest daughter was a junior and my youngest was in ninth grade. On a day of complete exasperation I sat down with my husband and said, "I can't do this anymore. It's ruining my relationship with my girls and I am stressed all the time!" At this point my husband, whose philosophy in college was "C's get degrees" took over. Just like the savvy business man he is, he immediately changed the expectations. He placed the onus of reporting on the girls. Even though he was still getting all the emails, he expected them to send their grades to him each week. It was a non-negotiable. When they sent them on Saturday or Sunday he would look at them and sometimes ask them questions about them, and he would explain his continued expectations.

Washing my hands of the daily notifications and stress was both freeing and scary! What if they quit trying? What if they didn't get into a good college? What if...? And then my oldest took the ACT and I did a little "whew," she then got into the college she wanted to go to and I did a "woohoo," and last December she graduated early from college with a degree. From an educator's view I wasn't even sure she would make it through college based on her high school grades at times. But that's when the revelation hit me...you're only given your kids for a season! Yes it is your job to help them be the best they can be but sometimes, we as parents, sweat the small stuff in the big scheme of life.

I always tell my oldest I'm sorry because we were learning on her. There is definitely a bit of continued tension about that in her and I hope as the years go by I can overcome that and she can see me for what I was...a first time mom muddling through parenthood to the best of my ability! I think back to when I was in k-12 schooling. My parents received a progress report and then a report card. They had no idea what my grades were like except for 2 grades in a semester. My sister and I survived! In fact, I would say we are both fairly well adjusted and responsible adults.

I share all this because there are about to be some changes in the way we will be sharing grades at our school for next year. In one sense it gives the parents more information because they can be observers within the course in our learning management system (LMS) but they will no longer be able to sign up for email notifications. The notifications go to the students. The parents can download the Canvas Parent App and look anytime they want, but they won't get that email 20 minutes before the kid gets in the car like I did in the past (or so it seemed to my children everyday).

I suspect we will have some upset parents over this. I suspect we will have some parents that it won't impact at all...but from a former "Grades Driven Helicopter Parent" my prayer is that families will be able to find a system for themselves regarding grades that helps them balance their need to know with their need to be a caring parent. I wish I had done it sooner. Just because you can know information doesn't mean you always need to know. (Honestly I can't believe I even typed that, but I do mean it now.) I do know every kid is different and each student has to be treated differently to grow them into responsible adults, but looking back now as a "seasoned parent" I wish I had not spent so much time talking about grades while my kids were under my roof. Oh, and my second daughter...she's thriving in college right now....just ask her. I now know there is a fine line between accountability and responsibility that parents need to be hyper vigilant about.