What's a backchannel?

Have you ever had that shy student who you knew was bright but lacked confidence to participate in class discussions? I am reading a book right now called "Empowered Schools, Empowered Students" and it opened my eyes to this very topic. I always gave students a voice in my classroom because I know it is a way to keep students engaged but never really thought about a backchannel. A backchannel is a way for students to engage in a digital conversation that runs concurrently with face-to-face instruction.

A great way to backchannel is by using TodaysMeet because it allows the entire class to participate on any given topic given by a teacher. I use to use this as a ticket out the door and asked students to post questions, comments, or to give me feedback about the day's lesson. I taught 9th, 11th, and 12th grade literature and this simple tool allowed me to see how well students had understood a topic, novel, or theme and helped me make lessons more interesting and engaging by listening to their feedback/project ideas. I like how in "The Backchannel: Giving Every Student a Voice in the Blended Mobile Classroom" Beth Holland says that, "Backchannels don't replace class discussions -- they extend them."

In my case, backchanneling also minimized interruptions and negative behavior because each student was engaged. At the beginning of the school year I asked students to confidentially give me a nickname they would use. This helped shy students participate without feeling judged if they gave the wrong answer.

Have you tried anything similar? If so, please share other tools and websites that serve the same purpose.

How do you give students a voice in the classroom?

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Post #2 Becoming an iLeader

Don't you despise having to read a textbook and not being able to apply what you've learned because it's just not relevant or realistic? Well that's not the case this semester! After reading Teaching the iStudent I decided to start off by emailing the whole school a list of tools and/or Apps they can use in the classroom along with a brief description of what that app is used for. I then went through my RTI/SST caseload and provided students who lack organizational skills some tools that may be useful to them in order to succeed. If used appropriately and consistently, these tools can be used as interventions. Both teachers and students were grateful for providing these. I also encouraged other teachers in the school to share tools they learned about at training with others. I like how we are starting to see a collaborative culture!

It is sad to see that many APs go into leadership thinking they will be instructional leaders; however all the paperwork and demands cast upon them prevent them from helping teachers as much as they wish. This topic was brought up at our ILT meeting and I am glad that everyone was able to openly discuss their concerns transparently. We are trying to implement a program that tracks student learning every six weeks and allows us to ensure standard-mastery using an online program. Many teachers were on board, but others believed this would only take power away from teachers and water-down instruction. I understand technology is scary; however we need to take a leap of faith and "integrate technology seamlessly into the curriculum instead of viewing it as an add-on, an afterthought, or an event" (Heidi-Hayes Jacobs). How will our students learn to responsibly use this tool (technology) if we see it as a threat?

Post #1 Journey toward becoming a tech-savvy leader

Although I am not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to technology, I can honestly say that I am truly excited about the two courses I am taking this semester. I just finished reading Teaching the iStudent for my other course and I enjoyed it. It is one of the few textbooks I would consider keeping and sharing with others. It gave me a better perspective of who students are and how they think. I am passionate about learning and teaching so one of the things I plan on doing is sharing the wonderful apps and tools I learned about through the author, Mark Barnes (@markbarnes19), with my school. I was also assigned to set up an RSS News Aggregator, set up a Twitter account, and use this blog to share my perspective.

My school is in the process of adopting the 1:1 model and I am hungry for knowledge that will help my leadership team excel in the personalization of instruction given that not many schools have implemented this model in an effective manner. I came across an article titled “Why Schools Should Move beyond One-to-One Computing” and a quote by Alan November got me thinking about Fulton County’s vision for this big step. November states that, “At a time of declining resources within many schools, it’s essential to craft a vision that giving every student a digital device must lead to achievements beyond what we can accomplish with paper.”

I wish I could have a magic ball and see the model’s turnout. I am on a journey toward becoming a tech-savvy leader and need your help, comments, suggestions, and advice because I believe collaboration, humility, and risk-taking are key elements to success.

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