- Raffaella Borasi
- Professor of Education and Director of the Center for Learning in the Digital Age
- UR Noyce Master Teachers Program: Preparing Highly-Qualified STEM Teacher Leaders for Urban Schools (Phase II)
- http://urnoyce.org/
- University of Rochester
- Zenon Borys
- https://www.warner.rochester.edu/facultystaff/who/borys
- Assistant Director of the Center for Learning in the Digital Age
- UR Noyce Master Teachers Program: Preparing Highly-Qualified STEM Teacher Leaders for Urban Schools (Phase II)
- http://urnoyce.org/
- University of Rochester
- Cynthia Callard
- https://www.warner.rochester.edu/facultystaff/who/callard
- Professor and Executive Director of the Center for Professional Development and Education Reform
- UR Noyce Master Teachers Program: Preparing Highly-Qualified STEM Teacher Leaders for Urban Schools (Phase II)
- http://urnoyce.org/
- University of Rochester
- Dave Miller
- https://www.warner.rochester.edu/facultystaff/who/miller
- Associate Professor and Associate Director for K-12 Education in the Center for Learning in the Digital Age
- UR Noyce Master Teachers Program: Preparing Highly-Qualified STEM Teacher Leaders for Urban Schools (Phase II)
- http://urnoyce.org/
- University of Rochester
- Michael Occhino
- https://www.warner.rochester.edu/facultystaff/who/occhino
- Director of Science Outreach
- UR Noyce Master Teachers Program: Preparing Highly-Qualified STEM Teacher Leaders for Urban Schools (Phase II)
- http://urnoyce.org/
- University of Rochester
Public Discussion
Continue the discussion of this presentation on the Multiplex. Go to Multiplex
Raffaella Borasi
Professor of Education and Director of the Center for Learning in the Digital Age
Crises can be catalysts for innovation - so it is important that we take the time to reflect on our instructional experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and consider what long-term changes they may suggest for K-12 education.
The teacher stories we shared in this video are evidence of how the pandemic indeed spurred some valuable instructional innovations that should not end when we go “back to normal.” Yet this is not a given, given the strong inertia that characterizes most education systems…
We are eager to hear what you think about the examples we shared, but even more importantly we hope they will invite you to share YOUR OWN experiences with instructional innovations caused by the pandemic – so we can all learn from them.
We are especially interested in your thoughts about the following questions:
Anne Kern
Professor
Hello University of Rochester Team,
Aren't teachers resilient! They are true professionals-creative, responsive, and accountable!
The biggest issue I heard about "schooling" this year was from parents not knowing or perhaps understanding what their "students" were doing. Many said it looked like their "kid" was playing games on the computer; that is when the cameras were even turned on. How did your teachers deal with the parents, or did they?
Best,
Anne
Michael Occhino
Director of Science Outreach
Hi Anne,
Thank you for your comment on teachers and their resourcefulness! We agree.
Our teachers dealt with parents as professionals deal with any person that they are serving and we mostly have believed it important to be patient and extend grace. While I do not have stories on this parent connection from every fellow, based on what we know, this is the stance most have taken.
Anne Kern
Professor
Hello Michael,
Thank you for your response, and I do not doubt at all that your Noyce Fellow were highly professional. I think I need to pose my question a bit differently-In going to an online platform, did any of your fellows or their master teachers have a meeting or training session with the students' parents to explain how things would go? I can only imagine how difficult it was to react to spur-of-the-moment changes. I know the teachers I worked with in Idaho had to keep changing their curriculum to meet the changing school schedule (i.e., face-to-face, online, hybrid). It was insane!
Cheers,
Anne
Zach Mbasu
Student engagement is at the core of all great teaching and this very well articulated in this video. I like the range of student engagement strategies utilized by the teachers. I can see how these strategies could increase participation, attention, curiosity and interest. Increased engagement means increased student motivation and, in turn increased student learning.
Student 'voice' is a new practice that I have experimented with my math classes during the pandemic. Students need to be heard and involved with their learning. I have learned it is important that students are questioned, listened to and that their ideas are acted upon. Student ‘voice’ can be gathered at key points in a lesson so they feel they have some involvement in their learning or a ‘say’ in how they feel about particular things. This can be administered through questionnaires, online question polls, gathering of responses to a question posed in class.
Michael Occhino
Director of Science Outreach
Hi Zach,
Thank you for your feedback and we agree wholeheartedly that deep engagement fosters deeper learning.
You summarize the idea of privileging student voice and certainly, these teachers had to find new and novel ways of doing so in a remote environment. Sounds like you have also!
Troy Sadler
How do you think the skills and technologies developed/learned will be leveraged by your teachers as we move out of the pandemic and the unique schooling circumstances that it created?
Raffaella Borasi
Professor of Education and Director of the Center for Learning in the Digital Age
Troy, I'd like to add that this is a question we are very interested in investigating moving forward. It will be interesting to see which schools and teachers will be open and able to leverage the pandemic as a catalyst for innovation, versus just trying to go "back to normal" - and what contextual and/or personal factor may make a difference
Michael Occhino
Director of Science Outreach
We think that leveraging the tech innovation will persist with these teachers and the colleagues that they influence as leaders (formal and informal). They start with reform-minded STEM teaching practices, in particular, fostering student discourse and then layer on the appropriate tool (digital or not) for that practice. As reflective practitioners we also know that they are in spaces where that question is being asked in their local context. Many are in PLCs or departments where the question -- what methods, strategies and practices should persist post-pandemic -- is being posed now. We (our leadership team and our fellows) imagine this being an opportunity to take the best tools for engagement and think creatively and innovatively as to how and why they could be used in face-to-face settings.
Ann Cavallo
Assistant Vice Provost and Director, CRTLE
Very nice project. Student engagement has been one of the greatest challenges of online learning during the pandemic and all have struggled to find innovative ways to do so. The ideas presented are great examples! Are the applications mentioned freely available? Also, how were the project based learning modules disseminated to other teachers and do you have information on the extent to which they were used by other teachers?
Michael Occhino
Director of Science Outreach
All the apps that our fellows used are available in a free version, but some have an associated cost to them to unlock certain features.
Thank you for your kind words and your questions!
Most of the modules that were showcased were at the school building level so they impacted departments (e.g. an upper school math team). The kindergarten teacher developed and facilitated her PL sessions with both building level elementary teachers and district level teachers.
Ann Cavallo
Raffaella Borasi
Professor of Education and Director of the Center for Learning in the Digital Age
Ann, I would also like to add that you can find more information about the specific innovations showcased in this video on this webpage: http://k12digital.org/resources/covid-19-k-12-r...
What is in the video is just a "teaser" for additional reflections and artifacts these teachers created to share with others, which was best display on a webpage.
Ann Cavallo
Tami Lunsford
Thank you for highlighting the resilience and innovation of teachers during this time! Many of us found tools that worked well this year and will continue to serve us and our students well in the future. Finding a few silver-linings during this incredibly difficult time is an important step toward everyone healing and moving forward. Congrats to your team and the amazing teachers with whom you worked!
Michael Occhino
Director of Science Outreach
Thank you Tami!
It is so true that a focus on the silver-linings can help healing and create a sense of having learned something new. This can be instrumental in fostering change going forward.
Elizabeth Allan
Professor; Secondary Science Education Program Coordinator
Thank you for the great examples of teacher innovation. Are there plans to follow up and see how/what is moved forward to the next year and how successful they are?
Michael Occhino
Director of Science Outreach
Most of these wonderful educators are still in our sphere of teachers with whom we still work closely. As fellows we tap them for various projects and leadership opportunities even as they continue to develop their own teacher leader practice. For example, Marie will be co-facilitating a PL institute with me this summer. That would be anecdotal follow-up.
A further answer to your question is that we will be engaging in Noyce Track 4 Research grants both now (currently we are part of two) and in the future.
Elizabeth Allan
Professor; Secondary Science Education Program Coordinator
Thanks Michael- I look forward to hearing more about your project.
Toby Baker
As a teacher and co-presenter, I know that Jamboard is awesome. I have used this to increase student engagement. The kids love it!
Michaela Marino
I agree. Jamboard has been the closest thing to having a "conversation" utilizing a digital tool. I have used for both students and teachers in my work!
Michael Occhino
Director of Science Outreach
I agree, it can be a great tool to foster collaboration and bring out student voice in a lower risk space.
Rose Kendrick
Thank you so much for sharing this work! Now that this school year is almost over, your video serves as a continued reminder of the importance of reflection in the growth process. I'm looking forward to reviewing some of the shared links. Are you using any specific strategies/protocols to help teachers reflect on the innovative strategies used this year from the perspective of carrying specific strategies forward so that we don't return to "normal" from a professional learning perspective? Although this past school year provided many challenges that we want to move on from, there are many "new learnings" that we can improve upon for an even better experience in the coming years. Looking forward to hearing any reflective strategies you may be considering.
Zenon Borys
Assistant Director of the Center for Learning in the Digital Age
Thanks for the question, Rose. As simple as it sounds, it's still a tough one for us and the teachers to wrap our heads around because as settled as next year sounds, there's still a lot we don't know about what the day-to-day will look like. For example, will hybrid be part of the school/district model? Or, how will students who want to stay remote be handled? The logistics from the decisions around those details make us all hedge a bit, but we have had some great discussions and articulated some powerful lessons learned. They all start with an analysis of what has worked this past year? followed by a was it better? What unique advantages were there in the strategies that teachers used? And then, is it worth keeping? If so, what's the best way to work that strategy/resource/routine into the class culture? And what would it look like face-to-face, or online, or blended? The imagining of scenarios and weighing their demands and benefits in different settings has been the main approach. No answers yet, but we're all excited for those.
Cynthia Callard
Lindsay Palmer
Amazing examples of teachers adapting to a pandemic! I hope that some of the strategies and technologies used during this period of online teaching can be incorporated into in-person teaching as well!
Michaela Marino
Lindsay. That is what our focus has been over the last few weeks. What have we learned from this pandemic teaching experience that we should carry over because it will enhance our in person teaching. Sifting through all that we have done and differentiating between what enhanced our teaching and what was an emergency band aid will be crucial in determining how to approach teaching in the the upcoming school year(s).
Raffaella Borasi
Professor of Education and Director of the Center for Learning in the Digital Age
Thank you for your comment, Lindsay. Several of the master teacher fellows in our program indeed explicitly stated that what they learned from using technology when forced into remote teaching during the pandemic will stay with them, and inspire different uses of technology even when back teaching in person. I encourage you to read the more extensive reflections on this regard that the three teachers featured in our video posted on the previously mentioned webpage at http://k12digital.org/resources/covid-19-k-12-r... .
Sue Allen
Great video, thank you. I really like the way these leaders integrated formative assessment into the student engagement - that kind of embedded assessment is so powerful. I also appreciated the way jamboard was used not just to collect student thinking but to support them commenting on each other's thinking. And all of this can be done if they have their cameras off!
Zenon Borys
Assistant Director of the Center for Learning in the Digital Age
Thanks, Sue. We agree. The fellows have developed some great strategies for assessment, with and without cameras. The tension we are reflecting on now is deciding what to keep and bring into next year. For example, the jamboard assessment strategy is great in that all voices are heard and all students get to participate simultaneously. It also assumes each student is at a laptop/device. How would this strategy need to evolve to be as effective in a setting when all students are together again in the same room. Lots of potential, lots of ways to use it.