Dr. Amy B Hollingsworth Berkhouse

Sample Scripts for Talking to Your Child About In-Person Class and Remote Learning in "The New Normal"

8/4/2020

Parents across the nation are faced with an enormous challenge this school year. In addition to the yearly pep talk (This is going to be a great year! You will love your new teacher! You're going to get to do some cool things now that you're at the middle school/high school/new grade), parents must now explain to their child how the school year is going to look different, and may change as the school year goes along.

So, how do we talk to our kids about school, when we aren't sure what school will look like yet? And even with as much information as the school has provided, the very first hour of the very first day will likely present challenges that no one could see coming. I want to help parents start the conversation with their child now, so as not to induce anxiety as the school year begins. If you as a parent are anxious, panicking, scared, apprehensive, or negative, your child will pick up on that, and may begin to worry. It's important to talk to your child calmly, on their level, seriously, but not put unnecessary fears in their head.

The first place I would start is with explaining that the school is doing everything in their power to keep kids safe. Whether going to the physical school, staying home with remote learning, or gathering with a small pod of students who work together and practice risk-avoidance, it's important to assess your child/children about signs of illness. You might say, "This school year is going to be different than other school years, because it's very important that no one go to school if they are sick. Not just sick with strep throat or the flu, but with an illness that is currently making a lot of people sick. Not only do I want you to be healthy, I want to make sure other kids and your teachers and the school staff stay healthy too. School is very important, so I am going to talk to you every morning about whether or not you may feel sick. If you have a cough, fever,body aches, loss of taste or smell, or nausea, we will keep you home, monitor you, and you can work on your school work from home. I will also check your temperature to make sure you don't have a fever." Then, I would keep a thermometer by the door where your child stores their backpack or shoes.

This thermometer is great because it is non-touch, meaning you don't have to clean it with alcohol swabs between uses. It's also accurate and instant, so you don't have to wait with a thermometer under your child's tongue. You can also scan them if they are sleeping or not feeling well.

Parents should also talk to their child about what they should do if they notice a classmate is sick, or even if the teacher is sick. "You might notice, when you're at school, that one of your classmates appears sick. Maybe they are coughing, sweaty and red, or they appear pale or sick to their stomach. If it's one of your classmates, tell your teacher right away. The teacher can help get them to the nurse, who can assess whether they are sick. If your teacher appears ill, tell another teacher or your principal, so they can get help. It's going to be very important that you stay healthy, but also that you say something if someone else appears sick." We all know that sometimes kids go to school, even if they are sick. We also know that teachers do not want to miss school, because they are dedicated to the kids. But part of stopping the spread of the virus is monitoring your own health, and being aware of people around you who might be ill.

In almost all in-person schools, students will be required to wear a mask. For some students this will just be annoying. They may want to mess with their mask, touch it, move it up or down their nose, stick their finders under it. But for other students, their mask may cause anxiety. They may have trouble breathing, they get hot and sweaty (and break out in acne or get mask rash), or the feeling of claustrophobia. But we know we have to wear them, so start practicing now. One ingenious friend on Facebook suggested that any time her kids are allowed to watch TV or use electronics or games, they have to wear their mask. No mask? No electronics! Go outside and play! I also spoke with a friend who is a medical doctor, and she suggested mask desensitization training.

So you might say to your child, "Hey, I know this is going to be different, and maybe a little weird, but everyone is going to have to wear one. We're going to start practicing now, so that you will be able to wear it all day. Doctors and nurses sometimes wear their mask for 14 hours at a time, to keep their patients away from germs, so we know you can do it. Just remember to breathe normally, not to huff and puff, and to just take it easy. Don't touch your mask during the day, but if you do, you need to wash your hands. Hand washing is going to be a big priority now. I want you to be washing your hands multiple times a day - and not just after you go to the bathroom. If you sneeze or cough into your hands, touch your mask, eat something, or touch something that a lot of other kids have touched, go wash your hands."

Another thing you might mention is that your child needs to be responsible for making sure they are packed with their own supplies for the day, their own bottle of hand sanitizer, an extra mask, a water bottle (no more drinking fountains allowed), and their own charged-up device. They are not going to be able to borrow a pencil from a friend, share books or laptops, and they should be hand sanitizing quite often (but hand washing is better! Sanitizer kills germs, but it doesn't wash the germs away like a good hand washing does).

Besides these physical considerations, there are also mental health and social emotional well-being discussions that should happen. You may find that your child has anxiety about their desks being kept 6 feet apart, teachers wearing masks and maintaining physical distance, and eating lunch in the classroom. They may be worried that they are not in a class with their friends, and might not see them at all during the day. They may be worried about being stuck in a class with someone they don't get along with, a bully, or someone who bothers them. I would definitely suggest talking with them about how these fears are normal, and that you can talk about this with them, to a teacher, to a counselor, or to someone they trust.

One of the best things you can do, whether going to school in person or online, is to create routines and stick with them. Students who are attending virtually need to know if they are expected to attend live sessions, or whether they will be watching pre-recorded videos and doing assignments. Ask your school for contact information for teachers, counselors, or other school connectors. Schools may have a designated point person who helps students deal with the way COVID has disrupted their lives. The CDC provides great resources for understand how stress affects your life, and coping techniques.

Parents should always keep the lines of communication open with their children. Kids may hear a lot of discussion on social media about the virus, which might be true or false. Snopes has an entire section about debunking COVID myths. When in doubt, go to a reputable source like the CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics, or your local health department. Make sure your child knows that there is always someone they can talk to about their fears or concerns. The safety of students is everyone's highest priority right now.

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How to Set Up "Learning Stations" in Your Home During Remote Learning

8/3/2020

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There is no doubt that the number of students learning from home, whether it be online learning lead by a live teacher, watching videos, completing online assignments, working in workbooks or from packets, or some combination of these, which will be completely unlike the school year before. Many schools weren't prepared for the pandemic when it hit in March, with some schools finding that students would not log in, did not have access to the internet or a computer, or never completed their assignments. So remote learning is likely to present schools and families with new challenges.

Having a dedicated place for your child to work from home is crucial to their success in classes. As a parent, you might have a vision of your child working from a desk in their bedroom, at the dining room or kitchen table, or an actual study or office type of area. There are pros and cons to any space - can the child be focused? Are there people or pets walking through the room? Are there distractions such as video games or the TV? Can they be adequately monitored? Do they have access to all the supplies they need? If you go to Pinterest, and look for "home school class setup," you might just nudge your anxiety out of control, thinking you need to recreate the perfect Pinterest classroom in your home.

Thinking about your setup can be daunting - you want to do it right, you want it to be perfect for your child, and you want it to be a stable place so they aren't wandering around the house all day. You don't want their school work to be left on the kitchen table during meals, or for food to be coating their Chromebook. What is your tolerance for seeing school related items around your house? You don't want video games or younger siblings to be a constant distraction. You also want to be available so that if your child has questions, is off task, or needs something, you can easily help them. The space where they work doesn't have to look like a classroom, but it does need to have certain aspects like a flat surface to spread out and work on, comfortable seating, good lighting, and a space to store supplies or file their work.

When the pandemic sent me, my son, and my husband home to work, we struggled a little bit at first, as to where to put everyone. I was live teaching through Google Meet to four classes of students a day. I needed a place where I could sit, with my headset, and talk to classes, streaming video, using my computer, and looking through notebooks for the lessons I was teaching. I ended up working at the formal dining room table, where nobody sits (we have a kitchen table where we eat). My son needed to work online, occasionally attending live virtual classes, but mostly reading and answering questions or doing projects online. He chose to sit on the floor next to me, and made a little cubby where he had a blanket, his Chromebook, his papers and notebook, which was under a window with good light.

My husband moved all around the house, depending on what he was doing - he'd sit on the couch and make phone calls, sit at the kitchen table to type, sit on the porch when he'd be listening to meetings, or sit near me when I wasn't virtually teaching. He said I am way too loud when I use my teacher voice. What places were not used at all for the three of us at home? No one worked in their bedrooms, and no one worked in the office. None of us liked being all alone in our rooms, and nobody wanted to be isolated in the office. We liked working separately, and having our own spots, but also liked being able to talk to each other, asking questions, talking about what we were working on, and taking little breaks to talk to each other. One item we found to be most valuable - Apple AirPods. They help you focus on the computer, provide excellent sound, help you speak clearly if you are teaching or talking during a meeting, and can easily be taken out when not being used. They are bluetooth, so they pair to any phone or computer. For younger children, this over-the-ear option with a microphone is great.

So as you craft your learning space, remember that what works for one child may not work for another. And just because you think they need a desk, they may be able to work best on the floor, on a comfy couch, or in a beanbag chair. My son was much happier on the floor than at the table with me, so we just figured it out. We kept his spot a dedicated spot, so he had all his supplies nearby. He walled himself off from the dogs by putting stacks of books and chairs around his area, almost like the old-school forts I used to make as a child. For many kids, just having a simple spot to sit, without distractions, is all they need. For other kids, they need to personalize their area with posters, stickers, a blackboard, a plant, a fish, or other things they find inspiring.

Talk to your child about what they think will work best. Do they have a preference? Talk to them about what kinds of work they will be doing (computer, virtual classrooms, streaming video, doing assignments online or on paper, looking up things in a textbook, reading library books, doing science experiments, playing outside) and talk through the scenarios. One piece of advice that I know from experience is that if your child is going to be expected to be on video, find a place where there isn't too much distraction in the background. Have them seated near a wall, so that you or your family members or pets won't be walking around behind them. I had a student who was working in the kitchen, and I could see every time one of his family members walked behind him to go to the bathroom or go to the refrigerator. I've seen mishaps where someone didn't know that the child was streaming video, and they walked through wearing little clothing (yikes!!!).

So before school starts, and before you begin buying everything to make a perfect home school classroom for your child or children, talk about needs and preferences within your family. Maybe you don't need to buy a new desk and bookshelf. Maybe you need a wheeled storage bin to keep all the folders, books, and papers organized. Over-the-door plastic shoe holders can be the perfect place to keep calculators, pens and pencils, art supplies, and tons of sticky notes.

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Sign Up For More Info About School Pods

7/28/2020

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As we are learning about the remote learning options in the district, and trying to plan for the upcoming school year, many parents are concerned about sending their child to a large school building, with the possibility that their child may come into contact with COVID 19. I share those same concerns

- How many different people will my son come into contact with, during the school day?

- What if one of his classmates is not showing symptoms, but is spreading the virus to his peers or teachers? Could he bring it home, and infect a member of the family?

- My child needs socialization with his friends, peers, and teachers, but what if they don't follow the same safety protocols that we follow in our family?

- What if his class is quarantined, and he suddenly has to go to remote learning? Can he just pick it up seamlessly, or would it be a major disruption?

There are so many questions, and every parent is trying to do what is best for their child. There are concerns about safety, social-emotional issues, child care, and academics. Different parents choose remote learning, or in-person learning, based on the needs of their family. One family will not necessarily have the same concerns as another family. I have one son who will be attending remotely, and will be in a pod at our house. I will be monitoring him, as well as my two step children, by going through their assignments, and making an online work plan. Another parent may have both parents working, be a single parent home, have a child who needs tutoring only, or need to have their child supervised all day. I am working to coordinate this in our community.

For further information, please fill out this survey, so we can begin planning for your child to have the best academic year possible!

Parent Survey

If you are a teacher, tutor, learning coach, or parent who would like to work with students pods, please let me know more about you!

Remote Learning Coach

The upcoming school year will not look the same as any school year we've ever witnessed. There will be twists and turns, and changes that may happen quickly. As a parent and educator, I'd much rather plan now, than scramble at the start of the year. I believe pods are the best way to engage students, use the district provided curriculum and teachers, make sure everyone is mitigating risk, and plan the best we can. I will be happy to answer any questions you have!

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Remote Learning and Socialization "Pods"

7/28/2020

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Hello moms, there has been a lot of talk about schools and remote learning and worries about socialization and isolation. I researched a ton about this idea, looking at ODJFS guidelines for child care, ODE recommendations, what Green has released about returning to school, and the discussions I've had with other moms who want to know their kids are getting the best education possible. I finally was able to sit down with my husband last night and come up with a plan of how this could work.

Please feel free to ask questions, PM me, or tell me concerns your family is facing with the upcoming school year options.

Depending on how Green structures their online program, this could look a few different ways:

Option 1: Cohorts at homes (AKA pods, micro-schools) - a designated group of students (less than 10 per home) are dropped off each morning at the home, either as parents go to work, or before “live teaching” begins. They are picked up “after school ends” or parents can make arrangements.
1. The Remote Learning Coach will wear a mask when directly interacting with students (per social distancing guidelines of wearing a mask if you will be in contact with a child for more than 10 minutes and less than 6 feet away) .
2. The first floor of the home will be available for students to choose where they work best - they can sit at the dining room table with the coach, in the living room or family room on the couches or the floor, or work on the porch if they want to be outside. I even have a standing desk. They must position themselves at least 6 feet apart while working.
3. School providing internet hotspots for students who have slow or no access to internet? This is a question for Green - if the internet signal can support all the devices on a network.
4. Students should bring their Chromebooks, any pens or paper that they like, their own water bottle, packed lunch and any snacks they prefer, a favorite blanket (in case they get cold), and any sports equipment they would like to play with (I have a basketball hoop, and they can play baseball, or whatever they like).
5. The Remote Learning Coach will make a work plan with students each morning, so that they can plan for live teaching, breaks, time outside, science experiments together as a group, art projects, and independent learning projects (each student will develop a project about something they are interested in, and we will research together). Each student’s pace and classes may differ, and we will have different grade levels, so it’s vital to have a work plan with due dates for assignments, progress on work, communication with teachers, and any concerns they have so that the coach can help them solve problems (for example, if they need to communicate with the teacher because they don’t understand an assignment, didn’t receive the correct grade, they need more time for an assignment, or are having trouble with any peers).
6. If the student has an IEP, 504, or other special need, the coach will monitor the student to ensure they are receiving the services they need. We can also accommodate students with illnesses such as diabetes or epilepsy, or who take medication.
7. We have security cameras all over the house. The Coach can “check in” on students who are in other rooms from my computer, so if they are asleep or there is a problem, we can always go back and review the video. If parents have any questions or concerns about the day, we can view the video together.
8. Students can have their phones, and can listen to music (as long as they have headphones), but there may be times the coach asks them to put them away so they can focus. They can do social media during breaks, at lunch, or after the coach verifies they have completed their work, but they can’t be staring at Tik Tok while they are supposed to be doing live learning.
9. The coach will check each student’s temperature with a scanning thermometer as they arrive in the morning. We will ask that each parent “self certify” their child each morning that they haven’t been sick, no one in their family is sick, and that they haven’t been exposed to the virus. If one of the students does get sick, we will ask all to self-quarantine for two weeks. We will also ask that parents sign a waiver.
10. Parents can check in on the student work plan for a daily report. If there are any concerns, we can reach out to parents via phone, text, or Facetime.
11. I am still unsure of pricing. I am looking at the costs I will incur, along with typical camp, child care, and tutoring costs. I want this to be affordable and cost effective. - I’ll be asking ??? per week, with discounts for multiple family members, essential employees, or financial hardship. If only attending three or four days a week, it will be ?? a day. I believe the service I offer will be very valuable in that your child will be monitored, in a safe home, with a former teacher and professional who has run an entire online school district, who can help them learn and navigate remote learning, is not going to be in a building with 400 students, but will still have a fun, active, socially active, low stress environment.
Option 2: Remote Learning Coach - I will be actively monitoring your child from wherever they are working. We will come up with a weekly schedule, and I will check in on their completion of their work plan daily. I would be available online, via phone or text, or I can FaceTime them. I will make sure they are logged in every day, completing assignments, know when assignments are due, and helping them talk to their teachers about any issues or concerns. I will provide a parent report each day. No more emergencies to deal with homework when you get home from work, no more whining and crying, and no more nagging! This option would be ??? a week, with discounts for multiple family members, essential employees, or financial hardship.

Thank you for all the interest and questions! I want the next school year to be awesome for my kids, and all the students and families navigating this "new normal" that is not so normal!

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Epic Lip sync and Rube Goldberg Machines

12/11/2014

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Pittsburgh’s North Hill’s High School used every inch of its campus and every student to tape this energetic lip dub of Avicii’s “Wake Me Up.” It is truly epic, brilliant, and such a positive motivator to get these kids excited about school. Essentially, this one student had a dream - getting every student involved in a massive lip sync. He choreographed this with each student club, by choosing two members from each club to do "their part" for the video. His timing is impeccable. He had a dream, and figured out how to make that happen. And the results? You have to see this.

This video reminded me of some of the CRAZY awesome Rube Goldberg machines I've seen. What's that, you ask? A Rube Goldberg machine, contraption, invention, device, or apparatus is a deliberately over-engineered or overdone machine that performs a very simple task in a very complicated fashion, usually including a chain reaction. The expression is named after American cartoonist and inventor Rube Goldberg (1883–1970). Mashable even did a compilation of " 13 Crazy Genius Rube Goldberg Machines." Here is my favorite:

Like the bride and groom who performed one of the most amazing entrance in the history of weddings (in my humble opinion) and has close to 80 MILLION views on youtube:

Or the brilliance of a flash mob (A flash mob is defined by Wikipedia as "a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and pointless act for a brief time, then quickly disperse.") (Mashable again did 15 Fab Flash Mobs)

Synchronizing people in these ways is amazing. Something that seems nearly impossible happens when humans put their mind to it. Or, is synchronicity evolutionary? Teamwork keeps some animals alive. If animals can work together and collaborate, maybe it's all in our genes, to come together to solve a task.

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Common Core - Fight Against It, or Overcome It?

11/28/2014

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“When you challenge other people's ideas of who or how you should be, they may try to diminish and disgrace you. It can happen in small ways in hidden places, or in big ways on a world stage. You can spend a lifetime resenting the tests, angry about the slights and the injustices. Or, you can rise above it.”

Carly Fiorina

Every teacher has probably said, at least once in their career, “If you spent as much time studying for your test, as you spent trying to cheat on this test, you’d have gotten an A.” Unfortunately, many teachers now spend copious amounts of time complaining about Common Core and standardized testing. I have seen enormous amounts of time devoted to bashing the CC, bashing the department of education, bashing testing, and bashing reform. Instead of teachers putting all their energy into improving their lessons, some are putting all their energy into the negativity around the Common Core.

In this article, We Need to Do More than Talk about the Goddamn Test, by Jim Horn, he says:

Since 2002, standardized tests have been used to label, demonize teachers, sort and culturally-sterilize students, and shut down schools to benefit the education technology complex and the low-life losers of the charter industry.

By the way, where the hell are the hackers when we need them provide copies of the tests that Pearson and Cuomo keep secret? Where is Anonymous and their commitment to fairness and democracy??

Obviously, Jim is frustrated with testing. I can completely understand why he thinks the ways he does. I happen to view the Common Core and standardized testing another way. I think the Common Core standards and standardized testing give teachers a clear curriculum path, prioritize disciplinary knowledge instead of “play time” in the classroom, and are giving us valuable data about what works, and what doesn't work in education. Charter schools are giving families choices about which schools they feel are right for their children.

In The New York Times piece that Jim refers to, “We Need to Talk About the Test,” by Elizabeth Phillips, she voices similar frustration. She puts forth a real concern about standardized testing:

I’D like to tell you what was wrong with the tests my students took last week, but I can’t. Pearson’s $32 million contract with New York State to design the exams prohibits the state from making the tests public and imposes a gag order on educators who administer them. So teachers watched hundreds of thousands of children in grades 3 to 8 sit for between 70 and 180 minutes per day for three days taking a state English Language Arts exam that does a poor job of testing reading comprehension, and yet we’re not allowed to point out what the problems were.

What do standardized tests really mean? What is their purpose? Why are they necessary? Every educator has witnessed the decline in the rigor of education over the last 30 years. Do you remember a point in your own education where you stayed up all night studying for a test, creating flashcards, making notes, reading the textbook, and collaborating with peers in cram sessions? Do you think students do these same things today? Are they even willing? The only hints our teachers used to give us were "Read the chapter." I remember once sitting down to read a whole chapter of my Intro to Biology textbook that weighed 15 pounds. I highlighted, I took notes from it, I did the questions at the end of the chapter. I went to the library. Now, students want a video summary of the chapter, so that they don't have to read.

Where are the places that our students live, that allow them the time to focus on studying? In stable households, where a child can devote time and energy to studying. These are generally middle or upper-class households. I was successful in high school and college because I had two working parents who could provide a stable house, a car, utilities, a desk to study at, and the materials I needed. I wasn’t hungry or malnourished, as are many children living in poverty. I wasn’t distracted by siblings screaming and fighting in the background, by a child of my own, or by parents who were in desperate need of money, or they’d lose the family home. Both of my parents were college-educated, and could help me with my homework, and suggest ways to study. Many students these days are not as lucky as I was, but should we not even TRY to educate them in a rigorous fashion? Many teachers have to deal with IEPs, home life problems, gang problems, poverty problems - they feel like they have to prioritize keeping their students alive, and not teaching. And that makes me sad.

As it became required that every student be given a chance at a high school education, some teachers may have become more lax so that students "like them." "Popular teacher, and "hard teacher" aren't words students often mutter together. Many teachers teach things that their students enjoyed, instead of covering the entire curriculum. They began offering study sheets, which helped the students get better scores on their teacher-generated tests. The teacher-generated tests showed no consistency between teachers in the same schools, in the district, or in the state. You knew which teachers had easier tests or were more fun, and you clamored to get that teacher. Teachers found they enjoyed teaching so much more when they didn’t have students complaining about how hard their tests were, so they might have told students what exactly was going to be on the test, allowed an open book test, or even allowed students to take group tests. Is a "good teacher" the one parents and students like, or the one who completely teaches the discipline? I'd like to argue that teachers should be both. Both rigorous, and kind. Both thorough, and thoughtful. Both challenging, and fair. I believe all teachers can meet the objectives of Common Core, while keeping their creative flair.

Teachers, like Jim, who was first mentioned, wish they had a cheat sheet for the test. But in essence, they do. They have the standards. What is going to be on the test is thoroughly outlined. Teachers are free to teach their discipline to the best of their abilities, with their own creative flair, as long as they meet or exceed the bare minimum that Common Core requires. The reason Common Core emerged was because there was no consistency in education across America. Good teachers were frustrated with their students, and began dumbing-down the curriculum. Good students were frustrated by their home lives, peer interactions, and hormones, and put less and less energy into their studies.

Standardized testing points out the gaps in educational quality. Just as a doctor does a blood panel during your yearly physical, and then knows where your levels are at, standardized tests tell us what level our students are at, compared to other students across the country. As Elizabeth points out, “yet we’re not allowed to point out what the problems were,” teachers KNOW where the problems are. We know that students come to our classes unprepared from previous grade levels. We know students transfer from other districts, where they received inadequate teaching. We know students are passed on to the next grade, “because they are sweet,” and not because they are smart. Social promotions are part of the problem - letting a child pass on to the next grade level, even if they didn’t master the concepts, because it seems cruel to hold them back.

I would like to challenge every teacher - Instead of spending your precious teacher-energy complaining about the tests, every teacher in every school should vow to spend all their energy helping these kids pass (as many already do). They should research each lesson in their lesson plan and make it better, by identifying the standard it is meant to teach, and increasing the rigor of their lessons (Make one of your lessons better TODAY. Then, make one better tomorrow. Then one the next day…). They can spend their time helping the entire class, instead of leaving the class sitting and waiting, while the teacher attends to one problem student. Teachers can flip their class, so students can watch lectures at home, and teachers help the students through activities or projects during school. And, teachers can turn to experts to help them make more valuable lessons, deal with students in a way that encourages growth and success, and improve themselves as teachers by reading sites such as edutopia and The Teaching Channel.

I witness so much energy wasted, complaining about the tests. I observe teachers getting burnt out. I feel these students being anxious and frustrated. I see parents angry at the schools. And I see a way to fix this. I worked with The UT Austin. Charles A Dana Center “Professional Teaching Model (PTM).” The premise of the PTM is that teachers collaborate to look at what children should have learned in the previous grade, coming into their class. They identify what the children should learn in this grade. And finally, they assess what children will be learning the next year. Here is a worksheet, that shows how this works. This is an amazing model, because it utilizes teachers as the professionals that they are. It fosters collaboration, and constant improvement. And it accomplishes what we all want - more student success.

If every teacher in every school improved one of their lessons every six weeks, instead of hating the standards, can you imagine the leaps and bounds education would take forward?

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Using Big Data and Social Media to Predict Student Success

10/15/2014

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The basic premise of this TED talk was that scientists can look at the data from Facebook about what you “like,” and then make predictions about you. In the case Golbeck presents, many smart people have “liked” curly fries from Arby’s. (I also happen to love them!) So, which came first? Do more smart people like curly fries? Or did one smart person, who hangs out on Facebook with people who also happen to be smart, like those curly fries, and then their smart friends saw their like, and liked also?

Jennifer Golbeck: The curly fry conundrum: Why social media “likes” say more than you might think

Do you like curly fries? Have you Liked them on Facebook? Watch this talk to find out the surprising things Facebook (and others) can guess about you from your random Likes and Shares. Computer scientist Jennifer Golbeck explains how this came about, how some applications of the technology are not so cute — and why she thinks we should return the control of information to its rightful owners.

I began thinking about big data, and predicting student success. It’s not just “evil corporations” who would have access to our data. What about the universities, or the government? The movie, Minority Report, was grounded on the premise of the government being able to arrest murderers, before they committed the crimes.

Let’s say a college, who has its students go “like” their Facebook page, could do a data analysis of all the students on it’s Facebook site. That school could then categorize their students into those who complete their degrees, and those students who fail out or quit. Maybe there is a certain pattern that successful students take, and a certain like pattern that unsuccessful students demonstrate. What if liking Starbucks was an indicator of student success (drink more coffee, study longer) and liking the local bar (take out stress, let’s go drink!) was an indicator of student failure?

It’s often been said that the SATs, the ACTs, or GPA do not adequately predict who is going to be successful in college. What if social media data patterns DO tell us who is successful or not?

To take it a step further, what if schools made it so part of your college application package was to HAVE TO like the college page? Then, the school could collect data about you… What if the school sees a pattern in your Facebook likes that is that of an unsuccessful student, and then never lets you in? What if you didn’t know your data was being used in that way? What if the data shows that minorities have patterns of unsuccessful behavior? Could social media data discrimination be the next big outrage?

Or, what if this data was put towards helping students already enrolled? If the college sees a students starting a pattern on Facebook that shows distress - end of the semester complaining, substance abuse, withdrawing from friends - what if the school then stepped in to intervene? Just like in 1997, when I was in undergrad, the Resident Assistants would report you to the student life department if they thought you showed patterns of failure (sleeping late, missing classes, drinking, filthy room, not showering), what if Facebook is now used to look for patterns?

The data is there. Big Brother is here. My question is, should we not let scientists analyze our data? I might be HAPPY if Facebook reported to the college that I was showing a pattern of failure I didn’t recognize myself, and then got me help. I might not be happy, however, if my Facebook showed a pattern of failure, and the school kicked me out, because I was no longer worth “the investment.”

What if my employer could analyze me to see if I was worth hiring? (WHOOPS! They are already watching you at work)

What if doctors could predict which patients would comply with their directives? (WHOOPS! Neuroscientists already can)

What if Target could predict I was pregnant, and then send me coupons? (WHOOPS! Target already figured out a teen was pregnant, before she told her dad)

Here are the top ten movies that predicted the future, before it actually happened.

Chilling, thought-provoking, and raises more questions than it answers. What if I applied to a college, and they told me, “We analyzed your social media patterns, and those patterns show you only have a 23% likelihood of achieving your degree. Therefore, you don’t get in.” What if I could be in that 23% who DID succeed? Shouldn’t I be allowed to try? Or does the college know IN FACT that I CAN’T be successful, and won’t let me waste my money? Or does the school let me in, and THEN use my data to shape me, mold me, personalize my education to MAKE ME a success? Who gets to decide - me, Facebook, or the university?

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Educational Technology, Time Management, Being Humble, and Amazing Microscopes

9/8/2014

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http://mashable.com/2014/04/03/sesame-street-microsocope/

“True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” — C.S. Lewis

1. Ed Tech

Amy - When I was a teacher, I was a (sigh) hoarder. I knew to stock all the copier paper, construction paper, pens, markers, glue, and knick-knacks available at any time, because if I didn’t, it wouldn’t be there in the future. This article talks about the ways educators can do more with technology in the classroom.

Article - 5 Ways To Do EdTech On A Shoestring Budget

If teachers ran the government, we wouldn't have a national debt. Teachers are frugal. Very frugal. I’m not saying I reuse dental floss or anything, but the lengths I’ve gone to save money are amazing. This is because the money I’m saving is often…mine. Still, sometimes a teacher has to spend. I buy tons of pencils, papers, documentaries, resources, and other things each year. What I really want is unlimited access to the types of technologies my students find most engaging. Sometimes I feel this is way outside of my budget.

The five ways to do tech on a budget are 1. BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). 2. Purchase Carefully (Will students use this? Will they look forward to using this or will it be a burden? Does it fill some need or make life easier?). 3. Stream (Amazon Prime and Netflix). 4. Bring Tech to the Students (Labs are expensive. Bring the tech TO the students). 5. Go Paperless

2. Time Management

Amy - I use time-tracking software at school. It tells me where I am spending my time, and if I’m spending my time doing the “productive behaviors.” I use RescueTime. It helps me to stay productive, keep from getting distracted, understand my daily habits, and to balance my work with my busy life!

Article - Time is of the essence, so you better track it well

My story of how I learned to embrace time tracking software has very little to do with efficiency and creativity more of an appreciation and awareness of my working hours. Who gets your time? By tracking, I was shown an ugly truth – that precious minutes of my day were being spent unwisely on financially and spiritually unrewarding endeavors.

At these moments, I would go on Facebook to see friends’ familiar faces and have a Gchat with old colleagues from my journalism days. These crutches weren’t doing me any favors in terms of getting me acclimated to my new job.

Once I tracked them, I realized that I was spending time avoiding tasks because I was nervous about taking them on and failing.

If you’re honest with yourself, you’ll get a true audit of your day. If you can’t face all the time you spend on social media or watching YouTube videos to avoid your work day, then you probably need more than just time tracking software.

3. Being Humble

Amy - Really helpful advice for people like me who are teachers, need to work with teams of teachers, and need to work with students. This very concept is described in great detail in "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill. That teams want to work with leaders who don't brag, are positive, are kind, and who push the team in the right direction.

As a Biologist, I sometimes struggle with "experts in the field" who are arrogant and have lost sight of their beginnings. They don't believe that their accomplishments were luck, they believe they are smarter than everyone else. Very elitist, and very belittling to the people they are supposed to help. I always strive to be a better leader, to be kind to my students (even when they make me nuts), and to help as many people as I can.

Article - Why the best entrepreneurs and creators are humble

In an age where social media runs rampant with humblebrags and constant barking, humility grows scarcer every day. While this trend may not appear to have any face value, it holds significant implications for your personal achievements, your team building and relationships, and a more realistic projection of the future.

Embracing humility, and being humble, doesn’t mean never talking about your achievements and accomplishments. As 19th century author and preacher Charles Spurgeon eloquently explains it:

Humility is to make a right estimate of one’s self. It is no humility for a man to think less of himself than he ought, though it might rather puzzle him to do that.

It’s futile to brag about things that haven’t happened yet. Instead, remind yourself that these future events aren’t set in stone — and success isn’t the only possible outcome. Be grateful that you have someone to listen to this and keep you accountable. Whether it’s between friends, or collaborators and colleagues studies show humility to be a trait we value in others.

Humility pushes you to achieve more, Humility builds better teams, and Humility will be the downfall of arrogance.

4. Microscopes

Amy - As a Biologist, I have LOVED looking at the microscopic world. From viewing bacteria, parasites, pond water, macroinvertebrates, and all kinds of little things, the microscopic world holds many of the answers to the questions we ask. We can diagnose diseases. We can find out what’s hurting our ecosystems. We can figure out how systems work. Whether your microscope is a stereoscope (that magnifies up to 40x) or a SEM (scanning electron microscope that can view up to 12,000x) or a TEM (transmission electron microscope that can view up to 50 million times!) Unlocking the microscopic world has given mankind an amazing portal into another universe.

Article - 5 Common Objects That Look 300x Cooler Under a Microscope

A microscope can reveal the fascinating world hiding in everyday objects.

If you paid any attention in science class, you know that tiny cells and molecules form the building blocks of most things. Everyday things can look completely different — even otherworldly — when magnified.

SEE ALSO: 5 Fun Science Experiments for Kids

Sesame Street's triangle-loving monster Telly stopped by Mashable's #5facts to discover the mysterious unseen intricacies of ordinary objects.

http://thenextweb.com/entrepreneur/2014/04/06/best-entrepreneurs-creators-humble/#comments

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Is a Student Emotionally Ready for Dual Credit Courses, if They Are 15 Years Old?

4/15/2014

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I was recently asked for my thoughts on dual enrollment at my school. Dual enrollment is where students are taking a university course, that counts as credit for both high school and college. While I think this is an awesome opportunity for students - giving them access to college, getting them college credit, making one course count for two similar purposes - there are some drawbacks.

I spoke to Sherri Coon, who wrote the article "Is Dual Enrollment Right For Your Teen?" She interviewed two teens who were helped by duel enrollment, another college professor who talked about the difference between Advanced Placement courses and Dual Enrollment Courses, myself, and a parent. The article is very detailed, and provides a lot more info than I could post here (you should read it, if you are thinking of putting your child into dual enrollment courses).

Here was my response to her question "What should people know about Dual Enrollment courses?

Dr. Amy B. Hollingsworth is an instructor at The University of Akron, who works closely with dual enrollment students in her biology course. "One of the known issues with dual enrollment (DE) is that students don't feel like they belong in either high school or college," Dr. Hollingsworth says. "A student who is 16, and in a college course, may have trouble relating to the other students in the class, which can make them feel isolated. In my lab course, where my students work in groups, I have seen 16-year-olds feel very uncomfortable when the others are talking about drinking or going to fraternity parties," she adds. These students may not feel that they belong in high school, either. "While I feel it is an advantage curriculum-wise, I don't think students are truly emotionally prepared for college at 15 or 16. Unless they are in a distance-learning situation (where the college course is broadcast to their high school via the web or on a screen in a lecture hall) or have excellent counseling, first generation students may feel isolated," she shares. "The word we use for it is 'liminality.' This is where they are at a crossroads between being a teenager and being made to skip the crucial years of understanding oneself, and going straight into college without the emotional maturity," Dr. Hollingsworth adds.

I think back to all those things I learned during high school, that were not part of the curriculum. Learning to be a social person. Learning to navigate the school system. Learning to drive, playing in the band, being a cheerleader, working with my peers. And then, I think about college. During that time, I took courses, learned to live on my own, learned about credit cards (ouch!), went to parties, joined a sorority, worked as a waitress to pay my bills.

Maybe students NEED these two sets of experiences (high school, and college), in order to work their way through their young adult years. If you do high school and college at the same time, you skip some experiences from both high school and college. In order to give students more academic experiences, are we forgetting about them just needing TIME to grow up?

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How Not to Be a Jerk to Your Students - Using Kind Canned Responses

4/13/2014

1 Comment

I've always found that anything worth achieving will always have obstacles in the way and you've got to have that drive and determination to overcome those obstacles on route to whatever it is that you want to accomplish.

Chuck Norris

One of the biggest obstacles students face in being successful in college is learning that there is a whole new set of rules, which are much different than in high schools. These rules often trips up students who did not attend a rigorous high school, still think they are in high school, or are just (sadly) clueless.

Instructors are challenged daily by these students, and their misperceptions of “how school works.” There is a certain intersection where each instructor must say, "I deal with my students in context, and I expect my students to understand the reasons for my course being organized as it is, as well."

An excellent instructor explains WHY things are the way they are. I have a giant Google Doc I keep of "canned responses" that are both informative, and kind. When a student asks me about extra credit or makeup exams, I can tell them what the answer is, and why. Sometimes, the answer is that I can't do whatever they ask me, because I can't do it for the 640 students in my class also. Here are some of the canned responses I use:

1. When asked if I can override the school's class limit (usually so they can get into a lab that meets at a different time) - I respond:

"Hello student,

I wish I could help you. The labs for this course are capped at 40 students per section, because each student needs to be seated at a lab station. If this were a lecture, I could help. But I can't for the lab.

My best suggestion is to check back for the course registration daily, so that if someone drops the lab, you can grab it. Otherwise, there are other labs that are still open.

Thanks, and good luck!

Amy"

2. Then, I am often asked if the student can bring a friend /their child/some random stranger to lab with them. I respond:

"Dear Student,

Unfortunately, only the students registered for the lab can come into the lab. Part of this is due to our university liability insurance. The other part is that the TA for the course needs to know exactly is in the room, so they can make sure people don't get hurt. If everyone brought a person to lab with them, that would be 80 people in the lab, which is dangerous.

I appreciate you asking me first. I'm sorry I can't let any additional people into the lab.

Thanks,

Amy"

3. Another is on missed quizzes. Usually, students miss a quiz or two over the course of the semester (they have a weekly quiz). Many ask to make them up. We don't allow makeups (partly because the quizzes are given via computer), and they have the whole week to take them.

"Dear Student,

If you check the syllabus, you will see that there are no makeup for the quizzes. You are lucky that you are allowed two dropped quizzes for the semester, so missing this one won't affect your grade at all. Just make sure you keep coming to class, taking the quizzes when they are open, and studying for them.

If you end up missing more than the two that I drop, please send me the doctor's excuse, and you can take the quiz on paper during my office hours.

Thanks,

Amy"

If we explain to the students WHY we flip the class, why our syllabus is set up as it is, and why we have the procedures and rules - we have the chance to be fair, be kind, and be firm. We all know that students are students, and they are learning to navigate this game called college as well.

I dislike courses where the professor is a jerk, and is mean because they don't like students asking those silly *questions*. Like, how dare these students not *get it.* What if they've never encountered the change to "get it?" You can be kind in explaining your pedagogy, and every educator should improve their FAQs regularly. I post a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) for my courses, and I find it is really helpful. Having a detailed syllabus is also helpful.

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Using Big Data and Social Media to Predict Student Success

Educational Technology, Time Management, Being Humble, and Amazing Microscopes

Is a Student Emotionally Ready for Dual Credit Courses, if They Are 15 Years Old?

How Not to Be a Jerk to Your Students - Using Kind Canned Responses

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