june 2016 instructional leader -...

2 1 9 S o u t h V i c t o r y , l i t t l e R o c k , A R 7 2 2 0 1 w w w . t h e a a e a . o r g 5 0 1 - 3 7 2 - 1 6 9 1

• Using Nearpod Lessons

• Robotics is Real World Page 3

• Creating Assets Through Assistance Page 6

• Coding Page 9

• Challenging Gifted Students Page 10

• It’s STEM! Page 11

• Thank You to Contributors Page 25

JUNE 2016

In This Issue

Sharing BestPractices

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Instructional

http://www.theaaea.org


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Sharing Best Practices

Using Nearpod Lessons to Increase

Engagement in Learning

Nearpod is an educa.onal website that allows teachers to create interac.ve lessons. Students may work on Chromebooks or other devices alongside their teacher, learning and reviewing material. A group of third-‐grade teachers at Alma Intermediate School experimented with the free trial version of Nearpod in their classrooms during the 2015-‐2016 school year. These teachers u.lized Nearpod for Social Studies, Language, Reading, and Science lessons. Alma Intermediate School includes 720 students in grades 3-‐5.

Embedding technology in a way that “fits” naturally into their already rigorous curriculum is a goal in the Alma School District. Interac.ve lessons from Nearpod seemed to be one of the best ways to incorporate technology seamlessly into the curriculum. In previous years, teachers created flipcharts on Ac.vInspire, soSware associated with Promethean, as a way to use technology with students. Although this was interac.ve, a limited number of students could use the board and teachers desired to increase

students’ hands-‐on use of technology. By con.nuing to u.lize the Promethean boards and adding Nearpod to lessons where it naturally fits, every student can par.cipate in every lesson, and the level of student engagement remarkably increases.

The free version of Nearpod is a great tool to use to get acquainted with Nearpod. With heavy use, the storage space provided for free will reach capacity, but subscrip.ons for Nearpod with addi.onal storage provide reasonable op.ons for expansion.

Teacher Collaboration

A few third-‐grade teachers learned of Nearpod in a professional development workshop facilitated by Katelyn Ferguson, an art teacher from the Fort Smith School District. Teachers began using the program in their classrooms and monitored results. More teachers became interested in learning about Nearpod as word of the

interac.ve and engaging lessons spread. Teachers in grades four and five are also using Nearpod, but we’ll focus here on our applica.on of the technology in third grade. Third-‐grade teachers u.lize common planning periods to incorporate Nearpod lessons into their curriculum. Teachers, who have experience with the program and have implemented lessons in classroom, use planning periods as a way to share their knowledge about the program and train other teachers.

Third-‐grade Literacy teachers are currently developing Nearpod lessons for each big standard they teach throughout the year. They use the “divide and conquer” approach, where each teacher develops a lesson and then shares it with the others. This helps promote consistency of instruc.on that all third graders receive.



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Student Engagement

Adding interac.ve Nearpod lessons as a supplemental resource in the curriculum helped ensure all students were ac.vely par.cipa.ng in lessons. Students can follow along with the lesson by looking at their own Chromebook. Every student is able to par.cipate in the prac.ce ac.vi.es that go with the lesson, instead of watching each other one at a .me at the Promethean Board.

A visitor entering a third grade literacy classroom during a Nearpod lesson would see a group of students whose eyes are glued to Chromebooks as they await the next interac.ve slide, which might include anything from a quick mul.ple choice ques.on to a challenging open response item. Students’ par.cipa.on might include illustrated responses, quizzes to check understanding, poll ques.ons, and wri\en responses.

Student responses to Nearpod lessons have been overwhelmingly posi.ve. If a week goes by without a Nearpod lesson, students ask when the next one will be. One student who receives special educa.on services through inclusion said, “I think it’s be\er to use Nearpod because you can have fun while you’re learning.” All students, even reluctant learners, are excited to do Nearpod. During ini.al lessons using Nearpod, a nine-‐year-‐old boy, who struggles to respond orally or in wri.ng, completely surprised his teacher because his digital responses were some of the first responses sent to the board.

Teachers have observed a higher level of performance on their classroom assessments since using Nearpod lessons. Carmella, a third grader said, “Every person gets a turn and not just the people you call on. You get to learn from your mistakes and see what you have done wrong so that you do it right in the future.”

Data and Feedback

During Nearpod lessons, teachers can see immediately how their class and individual students are performing on the interac.ve slides. Every student response is visible to the teacher, as well as charts and graphs showing the level of performance for each ac.vity. This allows teachers to intervene or correct misunderstandings quickly and then con.nue with the lesson. The same is true if the whole class does poorly on an ac.vity slide. The lesson can pause, the teacher can reteach, and then the lesson can con.nue following further assessment.

Summary/Steps Forward

Teachers have seen significant improvements in student engagement and performance on learning tasks since the increased implementa.on of Nearpod. An oSen repeated statement in Alma is, “Just because something can be done with technology doesn’t mean it should be done using technology.” Our resources and efforts should focus where technology accelerates learning, and increases crea.vity and engagement.The use of this hands-‐on technology tool has directly impacted the learning of all students who use it, and we look forward to con.nued success as we expand the use of interac.ve and collabora.ve technology in our classrooms.

Using Nearpod Lessons Continued...

Ar#cle Wri*en By:

Shea Klomp, 3rd Grade Teacher

Meredith Maestri, 3rd Grade Teacher

Jim Warnock, Principal

Alma School District



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LEADERInstructional


It is a cross between Pit Row at a NASCAR race and an Operating Room in a teaching hospital. Young people are in constant motion, time is of the essence, and the tools and techniques are very similar to those used by world-class surgeons. Welcome to the world of competitive robotics.

In 2014-15, Alma High School teacher Jeana Parker and some students from her AP Physics students began building robots to compete at VEXⓇ events around the state. Alma Schools invested in robot kits, a practice field, training for Parker, and laptops to write the code to run the robots. Students began studying robot design, learning how to write computer programming code, and learning about the different rules in the VEX game.

VEX robotics creates a new “game” each year. In 2014-15, the robots had to stack pegs and cubes in order to earn points. In 2015-16, robots had to shoot foam balls into a net and lift their partner robot to score points. Next year, in 2016-17, robot alliances will work to toss stars (large foam jacks) and bean bag cubes over a fence into their opponent’s area to score points.

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To see a two-‐minute YouTube video of the 2016-‐17 VEXⓇ game, check it out at:

hAps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t2zstQ84Tw



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t2zstQ84Tw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t2zstQ84Tw

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This changing challenge, keeps the competition fresh, and constantly challenges students to learn new aspects of engineering, computer programming, problem-solving, and team-work. At a typical competition, a team will participate in six to ten matches. They are ranked based on number of wins as well as strength points. It is here working as a team to solve a problem that fuels students fire for an enthusiasm for math, computer programming and other STEM related subjects.

In the first year of competing, the Alma High School Robotics team made it to the finals at the State Competition in March, ending with a 5th place rank. It was a huge success for a team starting from scratch. When the 2015-16 school year started, several team member returned as seniors. They had been designing and planning all summer. As an additional boost to the robotics program, Alma High School had partnered with the nation’s leading STEM curriculum provider, Project Lead The Way, PLTW. Students now had class time during the school day to work on the robots, as well as lessons from Mrs. Parker in basic engineering as part of their coursework.

In November, the Alma High School Robotics team took three robots to the “Nothing But Net” competition at Muskogee, Oklahoma. At the end of preliminary play, Robot 8384B was undefeated. Even though 8384B lost in the finals, ending with a 2nd place rank in a field of 60+ robots, they won the most prestigious award of the competition. At each VEX competition, not only are robots ranked based on wins, they are also judged on engineering design and skills challenges.

Alma High School’s 8384B won the Excellence Award which according to VEX is the “team that exemplifies overall excellence in building a well-rounded VEX robotics program. This team excels in many areas and is a shining example of dedication, devotion, hard work and teamwork.” This qualified the team to travel to the National Competition in Council Bluffs, Iowa in April.

8384B is an 18x18x18 robot that has multi-directional movement through the use of holonomic wheels. It uses fly-wheels that are similar to those in a baseball pitching machine to shoot more than 20 balls per minute into the net. It is programmed to run a fifteen second autonomous program, then is driver-run for the remaining minute and forty-five seconds of a match. The programmer has included the ability to whistle and sing simple tunes (like the intro of the Stars Wars theme song).



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In April, the eight-man team that designed and built 8384B traveled to Iowa. There, they spent three days competing against over 200 teams from the United States, Canada, and China. While they did not bring home any awards, they brought home a wealth of experience and information that they will utilize to make Alma High School’s program even more successful in 2016-17.

Parker is planning for the next year of robotics competition and is adding an all girls robotics team that will meet mainly after school. In the Engineering department, only 9% of students were female. By developing an all girls team, Parker hopes to encourage and motivate young women to pursue a future in STEM. Also, the Alma High School team will be hosting a Robotics Camp for incoming 6-8th graders during June of 2016 to recruit and foster a community of students that see STEM as their future college degree and career. Alma Schools will also be introducing VEX IQⓇ to students in 3rd-5th grades to engage students at a much younger age and develop the skills necessary to be successful throughout the different phases of competitive robotics and STEM.

This Article was Composed By:

Jami Balkman

&

Jeana Parker

of Alma High School



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Creating AssetsThrough Assistance

Written By:

Spencer Watson,

EAST Initiative

Few would argue that a public school provides an asset to society as whole by contributing to the creation of a better educated, more cultured populace. But for the purist idealizing only the immediately tangible, defining the community benefit of the collective investment in an individual school or classroom is perhaps trickier. Sure, they can offer a very real sense of local bonding, and that is all to the good, but does the school add value beyond its walls?

Part of the goal of the nonprofit EAST Initiative is to create such manifest community assets by establishing classrooms filled with students doing things, real things, that might not otherwise be attempted, much less completed, any other way. They accomplish this by applying cutting-edge technology to project-oriented, STEM-focused learning that serves — and benefits — their community.

Results often speak for themselves.

Two years ago Alexa Donley, a recent graduate of Fountain Lake Charter High School, was diagnosed

with anorexia. She spent her senior year, her fourth in the school’s EAST program, developing and coding an app to help others fight such eating disorders by taking the numbers out of the struggle.

“When you have an eating disorder, most people get very hyper-focused on numbers like calories and weight. So it becomes less about what’s healthy and more about how low you can get these numbers,” she said.

That’s hard, she added, because recovery is often focused on numbers. “During recovery you have to eat more, and if you put that into calories, it can be really triggering. You’re used to eating only a couple hundred calories, but in recovery you could be eating a couple thousand.”

The app, called Fulfill, has users input a dietary plan outlined by a nutritionist with daily servings of dairy, protein, etc. Once done, users simply record a meal when they have one, noting servings in each category, and the app represents that input on a gauge that moves from empty to full based on their plan’s requirements. No numbers, no triggers.

Donley, who taught herself to use the Xcode development platform and the programming language Swift to make the app, said she wouldn’t have had such an opportunity without EAST.

“EAST is the only class where you have that freedom, if you’re really passionate about something, to just go for it and really make a difference. You can’t do that in any other classroom. This wasn’t something assigned to me that I had to do; I just had a passion for it.”

Alexa Donley, EAST Initiative



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She plans to make Fulfill available for free as an app or website (or both) later this year, but in so doing has created a tangible result with significant value for others both inside and outside her school.

Likewise, Hot Springs Middle School student Miles Hermann, age 14, has also turned his classroom into an asset; in his case for the city government. For more than 100 years, Hot Springs has battled flooding in its downtown. This year, Hermann developed a viable solution that had thus far eluded trained engineers, consultants, students and anyone else who had studied the problem.

“We found out very quickly that moving the water would be a bad idea. We made our first 3D model in a program called Sketchup and the idea was to transport the water via a pressurized tube to a lake almost six miles away. We talked to the city engineers and found out that this simply would not work.”

So instead of moving the water, Hermann modeled a different solution on his computer that allowed for the temporary storage of overflow water that would otherwise flood out into the streets. He tracked the flooding to a downtown tunnel that, due to its historic designation, cannot be altered in any way. He measured the tunnel and compared its size and capacity to the flow rate of past flooding events, then calculated how big a retention area would need to be to account for the overflow. He also used the scale model to figure out successful placement of his design right next to the tunnel.

While his model has yet to be adopted by city legislators, it has the full backing of the city governmental staff, including city stormwater engineer Max Sestili “Denny [McPhate, director of Public Works] and I have already seen this and we really believe it’s actually something legitimate and possibly something to pursue with some additional engineering,” Sestili told the local newspaper.

Without final engineering, it is not possible to know an exact cost, but the best guess for materials and construction of Hermann’s plan is close to $12 million. Previously proposed ideas, none of which proved viable, were estimated to cost twice that.The last major flood event more than 25 years ago cost the city more than $5.3 million in losses and damage.“Crunching numbers, by all means, was the most challenging part. I’m a numbers person, but these were the hardest numbers to work with that I’ve ever seen,” said Hermann. “Numbers like the flow rates and watersheds; you’ve gotta account for all these different factors that represent the tunnel itself.”

Miles Hermann, EAST Initiative

Creating Assets Continued...



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The result, however, is a student with an acute interest in engineering and architecture and a city with a tangible benefit hailing from one of its local schools, truly a win-win situation. In projects like these, which are indicative of the quality of work EAST students are doing throughout Arkansas (and beyond its borders), EAST classrooms are cementing themselves as an integral part of the community infrastructure. In this way, they provide a direct benefit to the various shareholders they can realistically call community partners.

Indirectly, though, a larger benefit is accruing. A network of more than 19,000 students in Arkansas ranging in age from elementary grades through college are mastering technology, problem solving, civic engagement, and, most importantly, education as they take on these projects that benefit the communities in which they live. These students are not just the promise of the future for educational attainment and economic development, they are the proof of the present. They will be the leaders that take our state into the next century, and they’ve already begun their journey. Like many things these days, the future is now, and it is in very capable hands.The ongoing mission of the EAST Initiative is to continue to advocate for the advancement of the EAST model of education, currently numbering 241 programs, as well as to illustrate the broader benefits

of what can happen when schools are seen as more than a tax liability — particularly by members of the community who may otherwise have little reason to engage with them. Such results are valuable in a very real sense. To learn more about how to establish an EAST program in grades 2-12, including what grant funding may be available from the Arkansas Department of Education, contact Tami Baker ([email protected]).

Beyond directly cultivating such value through EAST programs, this year the EAST Initiative also unveiled its next wave of professional development, called Education Unleashed. It allows teachers of any subject in any school to apply many of the best practices that have been honed in the EAST classroom (technology integration, project-based learning, advanced Google training, and soft skill development, among others) to other classrooms, furthering community benefit. During last summer’s pilot phase, EAST staff provided technology integration training to teachers from more than 100 schools. To inquire about this professional development for your teachers, contact Lori Canada ([email protected]).

EAST Initiative

Creating Assets Continued...



mailto:[email protected]




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With all the recent hullabaloo about computer science in

Arkansas, I felt we needed to look at the role the G/T community

can play in the incorporaDon of coding into the classroom.

Governor Hutchinson first brought this topic up when he was on

the campaign trail. You may remember his lovely granddaughter,

Ella Beth, and how she taught herself “basic computer

programming.” Ella Beth and her desire to learn helped spawn

House Bill 1183 (now Act 187) by RepresentaDve Gossage, which

mandated a computer science course be taught in every public

or public charter high school in the state. Some of you who don’t

teach at the secondary level or work with high school students

are thinking “I’m glad I work with elementary kids.” However, this

is an issue which is not limited to secondary schools. If we are

truly working to prepare our students for jobs that do not yet

exist, we must provide them with the foundaDon they need to

embrace computer programming.

With that end in mind, earlier this year I aXended a workshop on Coding which was led by B.J. Brooks, the Director of InstrucDonal

Technology at Cabot. I want to share a few things from that

session, which I feel can make people feel more comfortable with

Coding. I would first encourage every administrator to visit two

websites: code.org and khanacademy.org. Both of these website

offer step-‐by-‐step tutorials on how to code. Whereas, Khan

Academy focuses on using Java Script, Code.org covers a number

of different programming languages. I should take this moment

to point out both of these websites are FREE! They can also both

track student progress through the curriculum.

Let’s say you don’t have enough devices for every student to

have access, or your teachers don’t trust their students with

Chromebooks or iPads. Don’t worry! Code.org contains quite a

few “unplugged” acDviDes to lay the foundaDon for future online

programming challenges. All they require is paper, pencils, and

scissors. These acDviDes are very simple logic-‐based acDviDes,

which train students to look at and create paXerns. Rather than

throw students into a language immersion seang, these services

are designed to help them understand how a computer responds

to commands. Once students have mastered those steps, they

can move on to learning specific language skills in Java, Java

Script, and even HTML.

I know there are many of you out there who do not believe you

have the technical experDse to teach this to students. That’s ok!

You do not have to be an expert at coding, what you have to do is

be willing to invesDgate and play. Let your kids see that you want

to have fun and play with the materials, and they’ll respond in

kind. If you aren’t sure you can make Dme for this in your

schedule for the year, I understand; but take some Dme for

yourself. Create an account at one of these sites, and play around

with it. During the 2015 school year at Cabot we introduced

computer science skills, using those two sites, to all 3rd and 4th

grade G/T students. Our ulDmate goal is to have our students

familiar enough with these skills and confident enough in their abiliDes, that they won’t need the standard computer science

course. They’ll need an Advanced Placement course or another

higher level opDon for them.

During the 2016 school year, we’ll join many other districts

around the country in providing the new AP Computer Science

Principles course. It’s important for school officials to remember,

they are instructors and administrators of P-‐12 students, we are

not Mark Zuckerberg. However, we may just have the next great

programmer in one of our districts. Let’s make sure we are giving

them the opportunity to develop skills that will benefit them in

the 21st century.

CODING

Article Written By: Aaron Randolph

Director of GT, Technology Support Chair for AAGEA,

Advanced Placement, & Federal Programs for Cabot School



http://www.code.org

http://www.code.org

http://www.khanacadmey.org

http://www.khanacadmey.org

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While on the surface it is understandable how gifted programs can be viewed as elitist and exclusionary, but the services provided to our gifted population can be felt community-wide. Challenging and motivating our gifted and talented students impacts the regular classroom environment and initiates social facilitation for everyone to rise up and better themselves. GT students are typically club organizers and class leaders who directly contribute back to the school culture and community involvement. For example, Arkansas Governor’s School (AGS) services nearly 400 rising seniors from across the state every summer for six weeks with the mission of developing the “rigorous creative and intellectual skills that will be critical to their leading the ideal ‘life well lived’ and for making positive contributions to their communities and to society at large” upon their return. Students come home for this amazing experience ready to give back to the community both inside and out of the classroom to share what they learned and make a positive impact.

One of my highly gifted students and AGS-alumnus made a documentary for his National History Day (NHD) project detailing the history of GT in Arkansas (see link below). He presented his documentary at the Arkansans for Gifted and Talented Education (AGATE) Conference this past February. During his presentation, he made the observation that there isn’t any single solution to fixing all of the problems in public education, but that Arkansas is uniquely a leader for growing the gifts and talents of our student population. He accredits the challenges and experiences gained through participation in the GT program as vital for his own educational development. His documentary is an advocacy piece for not only continuing to push for GT programs and options but also for thanking the thousands of men and women across our state who devote their careers to the pursuit of educating our youth despite the many challenges we face.

As we move forward in thinking of ways to fix problems in education, let’s not forget about what we are currently doing that is right and successful in education. To paraphrase an early pioneer of GT education in Arkansas, “There is nothing wrong with our education that cannot be fixed with what is currently right with it either.”

The Case for Our Gifted StudentsChallengingWritten By:

Dustin Seaton, GT Coordinator, Prairie Grove School District&

Roy Mckenzie, Graduate, Prairie Grove School District

There are several buzz words in education today that offer students and their parents choices regarding their public schooling. What needs to remain the focus of all the “innovation” talk, however, is the impact on student learning. Students at both ends of the bell curve have a civil right to be properly serviced to meet their individualized needs.

Arkansas was and remains to be a leader in challenging our gifted and talented students with the legislative mandate and funding for identification and servicing some of our state’s best and brightest. Recently, however, talk has shifted to “teach all students as though they are gifted” and “we do not need a GT program anymore” with the call for AP and/or GT waivers from schools of innovation, charter schools, and even regular public school districts. This should be alarming to everyone.

Check This Out Prairie Grove Senior Roy Mckenzie’s NHD

Documentary

“History of GT Educa#on in Arkansas”

hXps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R497zqfeunk



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R497zqfeunk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R497zqfeunk

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It’s a Pirate!

It’s a Superhero!

It’s



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What do pirates and engineers have in common? Ask any stakeholder at McRae Elementary in Searcy School District, and his or her answer will likely be STEM or engineering related. In October, second grade students and their families enjoyed a fun-filled Pirate STEM Day exploring the engineering design process by designing their own pirate boats, sails, and air cannons. With the help of math and science specialists from Harding University’s STEM Center, the Wilbur D. Mills Cooperative, and specialists from across the district, parents were able to engage in problem solving processes alongside their children. The children enthusiastically kept track of their designs and data related to their design improvements in their engineering design log books. As a result, many mathematical connections were made throughout the day. Students measured, recorded, and compared speed, distance, and weight. Not only were children using creativity and problem solving in authentic ways, but they were also applying their skills in data and graphing to compare results!

Additionally, many life lessons were learned. The specialists interacted with students by continually emphasizing the fact that engineers, scientists, and mathematicians are no strangers to failure and, in fact, frequently make great discoveries as a result of failures. Continual improvement was also expected. Once students created a design, they were required to test that design, analyze the results, improve that design, and test again. The cycle continued until time was up (approximately 30 minutes per rotation). Students worked with partners or in groups, just as engineers often do, and were encouraged to communicate and collaborate with one another by offering ideas as well as listening and respecting the views of their peers.

Even though the air was filled with laughter and light-heartedness, make no mistake, much learning was happening even among the adults. As students worked through these challenges, parents and teachers alike were coached in ways to support students as they engaged in productive struggle. They were encouraged to ask questions that would lead to solutions without giving solutions, and at every opportunity, connections were made to the way we interact with mathematics instruction at home and in the classroom. There’s no doubt about it. High quality, job-embedded professional development for teachers was taking place and supportive, long-term partnerships with families were being formed.

It’s STEM Continued...



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LEADERInstructional


It’s STEM Continued...What do pirates and engineers have in common? Ask any stakeholder at McRae Elementary in Searcy School

District, and his or her answer will likely be STEM or engineering related. In October, second grade students and their families enjoyed a fun-filled Pirate STEM Day exploring the engineering design process by designing their own pirate boats, sails, and air cannons. With the help of math and science specialists from Harding University’s STEM Center, the Wilbur D. Mills Cooperative, and specialists from across the district, parents were able to engage in problem solving processes alongside their children. The children enthusiastically kept track of their designs and data related to their design improvements in their engineering design log books. As a result, many mathematical connections were made throughout the day. Students measured, recorded, and compared speed, distance, and weight. Not only were children using creativity and problem solving in authentic ways, but they were also applying their skills in data and graphing to compare results!

Additionally, many life lessons were learned. The specialists interacted with students by continually emphasizing the fact that engineers, scientists, and mathematicians are no strangers to failure and, in fact, frequently make great discoveries as a result of failures. Continual improvement was also expected. Once students created a design, they were

Jon White, Engineering

Professor at Harding

University, explains the

computer programming

behind the robot these third

graders have just built.

A group of Superhero

kindergarten students

explore the ideas of

Dnkering as they take apart

and put back together

reDred electronics.

A group of kindergarten students test their superhero

engineered Lego-‐mobile designs as a volunteer engineering

major from Harding University facilitates.



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If you would like to share information on successful practices in your school/district, contact Michelle Briggs,

AAEA Director of Communications, at [email protected].

to Those who Contributed Articles to this Publication

LEADERInstructional


The Instructional Leader is a quarterly publication of the Arkansas Association of Educational

Administrators (AAEA) containing state and national information pertaining to curriculum, instruction, assessment and accountability issues. Articles are contributed by state instructional leaders (superintendents, principals, central office administrators, graduate students pursuing administrative degrees and lead teachers). The publication will also contain summaries of state and national articles of interest and current research information. The Instructional Leader is designed for lead administrators to share the

successful practices of school districts, Department of Education, cooperatives and universities across the state pertinent to grades K-16. The Instructional Leader is also published to raise the level of awareness and support for Association members and educators on issues affecting education in Arkansas.



june 2016 instructional leader -...

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