A new model for Teacher Training: (1) short videos, (2) telephone call between the teacher and the trainer One-to-One, then (3) the teacher records the changes in the classroom.

A PROPOSAL TO A PRINCIPAL

I was thinking about the challenge of "how to train teachers."

You said, "Being a principal is a lot like being a parent.  Your teachers are your kids.  Your kids don't listen to you but they will listen to other people who say the same thing that you've been telling your kids."

I put this post on my blog

http://theindependenteducator.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-30-second-video-for-professional.html

These topics are on your website.

• Cooperative Teaching & Learning

• Integration of the Arts

• Advisories

• Personal Learning Plans

•  Portfolios & Portfolio 

• Interviews

• Multiple Domain Assessments

• End-of Year Exhibitions

• Eighth Grade Internships

• Capstone Projects

I'll create short training videos (no more than 3 minutes each) to start the conversation with your teachers about each of these topics.   Tell me if you have any other topics that you want available for Prof Development 

1. teacher looks at the short video

2.  teacher reads a short article

3.  teacher thinks about "how could I change my procedures in my class to apply this information?"

"what will students do differently if I apply this new information?"

4.  teacher calls me and tells me what was learned and discusses how to apply the information.

5.  I listen and ask some questions and we agree on a time when the teacher will take photos ro videos before and after (showing with and without the new procedure).

6.  I follow up with the teacher 2 7 14 30 90 to make sure the new procedure is being used.

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see the extract from page 165 of the Big Picture book.

Sixth, exhibitions encourage students to go deeper with their learning by requiring them to create and present a portfolio of their work.  -- Big Picture by Dennis Littky

For professional development, why not use the same standard for teacher training?  The core of the training should be exhibitions by the teacher (not lectures by the trainer).

The trainer listens and tweaks.  The trainer asks questions to test how deeply the understanding goes.

EXAMPLE:  Here is "how to use portfolios?" from a phone call.  The graphics are terrible.  This is just a discussion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJzLQiWmRwQ

Teacher Training

Professional Development 

One-Person-At-A-Time

The "Guide on the Side" model

I can prepare short videos for each of these topics.   I'm working with Dennis Yuzenas to refine the training so that the basic info is covered in under 3 minutes and then it's up to the teacher to answer some questions -- making an exhibition.

Here is the Yuzenas style  (Mr. Y) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnR_nCakIKk

Nine minute tour of Yuzenas classroom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3-Ge1o1MFM

how to do a history project with students

For "Three-Minute Training, One-To-One" for Professional Development, call (954) 646 8246.

The 30-second video for professional development: Match the training to a teacher's attention span

This is a sample for "Professional Development, One Teacher at a Time."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJzLQiWmRwQ
Don't watch this video.  It's too long.
This post is a training for "how to use a portfolio"

This video is TOO LONG.  However, here's what we can do...
Step (1) a short video can introduce the training (30 seconds) or we can give a series of screen shots (below)

Step (2) then there's an article (the teacher can choose one of these links)

1. Five Ways to Use Online Portfolios in the Classroom | Edutopia

   www.edutopia.org/blog/use-online-portfolios-in-classroom-heather-hiles‎

   Jan 22, 2013 – Education leader and entrepreneur Heather Hiles makes a case for the organizational power of online portfolios for student work.

2. Digital Portfolios Pull Double Duty | Edutopia

   www.edutopia.org/digital-portfolio-assessment‎

   May 20, 2009 – Teacher Doug Martin helps students decide what to put in theirportfolios and which Web sites to use for the online presentations.

3. Using E-Portfolios in the Classroom | Edutopia

   www.edutopia.org/blog/e-portfolios-in-the-classroom-mary-beth-hertz‎

   May 30, 2013 – Edutopia on Twitter ... Many teachers kept portfolios of student work for report card ... Students can use the "file locker" option to upload files.

4. Portfolio assessment | Edutopia

   www.edutopia.org/groups/assessment/78688‎

   Oct 12, 2011 – I am curious is anyone using electronic portfolios with your students? If so, how do you use them and how much work are they? farida abdallah ...

5. The Power of Portfolios: A Positive Practice | Edutopia

   www.edutopia.org/power-portfolios‎

   Jul 1, 1997 – The work collected in the portfolios is used as a source of instruction. Teachers used samples of student work to develop models of excellence ...

Step (3) there is a phone call -- the teacher calls the presenter and gives a mini-exhibition

a) this is what I learned
b) this is how I'm going to apply the information.

Step (4)  the presenter visits the teacher or asks for a video
"before and after" recording showing how the new information has changed procedures in the classroom.

So, teacher, please call (954) 646 8246 (or email me at HappyMathTeacher@gmail.com) and tell me 

a)  how will you use this procedure in your classroom?

b) How will you measure what happens?

Key features

a) some teachers will just look at this blog.

b) other teachers will listen to the youtube link and read this blog.

c)  Highly motivated teachers will call me and then I'll give them additional readings and videos.

Would you want to look at a dead cat after you gave a correct answer?

Thanks to John Vornle for passing this post to me.

To make it easier for readers to look at this article, I've reproduced it here. Please click on the link to take you through to the article (and whatever hits might then be produced). I'm posting the material here in case the link is corrupted. The data in this article is perplexing and I invite you to comment on it.

See also John Vornle's comment at the end.

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http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/2011/07/improving-peoples-memory-by-punishing.html

Comment by Steve:

I have tried to imagine implementing this study's findings in my class. What is the downside of getting a stronger memory? REVULSION. Why would I want to bring negative images of dead animals into my class? Less mature students are surely going to disucss the ugly photos and some might react by running away from the photo. how could that enhance the new connection to

This is a study that I will use cautiously. I prefer to surround my students with positive influences. WE TEND TO MOVE toward the things we think about.

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Improving people's memory by punishing their correct answers

A well-established finding in psychology is that successfully retrieving information from memory serves to consolidate the storage of that information. Each time your brain's filing clerk tracks down the right information, the more likely he is to find it another time. Psychologists call this the testing effect - practising retrieval of information is far more effective than simply re-studying that same material.

Can this benefit of testing be enhanced? Yes it can. A new study has provided the first ever demonstration of how to enhance the memory consolidation that occurs after correctly answering a test question. Bridgid Finn and Henry Roediger's important and somewhat surprising new finding is that following a correct answer with an aversive stimulus serves to enhance the consolidation of that memory. It's like punishing the filing clerk after each correct retrieval makes him even more accurate in the future.

Forty undergrads studied multiple lists of ten word-pairs, each featuring a Swahili word and its English translation. After each list of ten, they were tested. Presented with the Swahili, they had to answer with the English. Here's the important bit. If they answered correctly, one of three things happened immediately: a blank screen appeared, a neutral picture appeared (e.g. a fork) or a negative, aversive picture appeared (e.g. a dead cat).

After this pattern of study period and test had been followed for ten lists of ten word-pairs, the participants were then given a jumbo test of all 100 Swahili words. Here's the key result: for those items answered correctly in the earlier mini-tests, it was those that were followed by a nasty picture that were most likely to be accurately recalled in the final jumbo test. Earlier correct answers that had been followed by a neutral pic or blank screen were not so well remembered (and performance was equivalent across the blank/neutral conditions).

"These data are the first to show that arousal following successful retrieval of information enhances later recall of that information," the researchers said.

A follow-up study was similar to the first but this time correct answers in the initial mini-tests were followed by neutral or aversive pictures that appeared two seconds later, as opposed to appearing immediately as they did in the first study. This was to see if there was a narrow window beyond which a negative stimulus wouldn't any longer enhance the consolidating effect of correct retrieval. The results were just the same as for the first study, so even two seconds later, a nasty picture is still able to enhance the memory consolidating effect of a correct retrieval. Future studies are needed to test just how long after a correct retrieval this process is still effective, and to see if positive images exert a similar benefit.

Finally, the researchers looked to see if the presentation of a negative pic has its memory enhancing effect after items are merely re-studied, as opposed to recalled. A similar protocol with Swahili-English word pairs was followed as before, but this time, instead of mini-tests after each set of ten word pairs, the participants were simply given the pairs to study again, with each pair proceeded either by a blank screen, neutral picture or nasty picture. This time, there was no benefit of the negative pics. In fact, there was a trend for pairs to be recalled less often if they'd been followed by a nasty pic in the earlier study phase.

Why should negative images boost the consolidating effects of answering a test item correctly? Finn and Roediger aren't sure but think it has to do with links between the amygdala, which is involved in fear learning, and the hippocampus - a brain area involved in long-term memory storage. This is a rather vague account and doesn't explain why aversive stimuli only enhance memory after correct retrieval, not further study. By way of further context, a 2006 study showed the presentation of aversive images after to-be-learned stimuli was beneficial during the initial study of that material.

Post-script

I couldn't help wondering what Milgram would have made of this study. Recall that participants in his classic obedience research thought they were taking part in an investigation of the effects of punishment on learning. In Milgram's mock set-up, the "learner" was subjected to an electric shock each time they answered incorrectly. Of course, Milgram wasn't really studying memory, but this new article suggests that he could have been onto something. Somewhat paradoxically, though, it seems it's correctly answered items that ought to be followed by an aversive stimulus, not incorrect answers.
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Finn, B., and Roediger, H. (2011). Enhancing Retention Through Reconsolidation: Negative Emotional Arousal Following Retrieval Enhances Later Recall. Psychological Science, 22 (6), 781-786 DOI: 10.1177/0956797611407932

This post was written by Christian Jarrett for the BPS Research Digest.

JOHN's COMMENT: .... he retrieved this article using an iPad.

I'm not convinced by the manner in which this apple technology forces me to communicate with others. I can sense how it completely dominates the communication of inexperienced youth. In my opinion, it does not allow for the reflection necessary for a worthwhile communication. In my world, the individuals with whom I work, they don't have time for the luxury of wasting other people's time. It reduces the value of each communication.