Are you crazy? or What's really happening in my classroom?

Picture of my students using Bloxels.

"Are you crazy?"
I heard that question a lot this year from my colleagues.
"No, but I understand why you think so."
That was my answer. Next question.
"How does that meet/apply/relate to the standards?"
"I have evidence-based research that supports what I'm doing. I'd be happy to share the research."
Oddly enough, no one ever asked me to share.

What on earth was happening in my classroom that brought on these questions?

I was teaching a technology class based on curriculum that was five years old. The curriculum was top-notch when it was introduced five years ago but technology has simply moved eons past what that curriculum was written for. That being said, please note that I did not throw out the curriculum entirely. I simply did not teach the parts of the curriculum that had zero relevance to today's technology. Side Note: I know there are teachers preparing to send me scathing comments about choosing parts of the curriculum to teach and not teach (as that's above my pay grade, right?) Please note that while I did pick and choose what curriculum to teach, I faithfully taught to the standards, the 2016 ISTE Standards for Students.

I also need to tell you that I presented my plans and my evidence-based research to my administration and received their blessing before I proceeded with my new-fangled notions.

So, what were these new-fangled notions?

1) 20 Time

20 Time, sometimes called Genius Hour even though they aren't always the same thing, was actually an idea that started in the business world. The 3M company started 20 time in the 1950’s.  They encourage employees to spend 15% of their time on pet projects.  15% time project results: post-it notes and masking tape.  Google has adopted 20 time and now asks its employees to spend 20% of their time on projects not covered by their job description but is something they are passionate about.  The results so far?  Gmail, AdSense, Google News, and Google Teacher Academy.  20 time in the workplace allows for innovation without the fear of failure.

Why 20 time in the classroom? 20 time fosters creative thinking, problem solving, inquiry, collaboration, creativity, communication, and allows room for failure and learning from failure.  Grades are tied to the process, not the result.  Students can fail without fear that it will affect their grade. Students are reading, writing, researching, organizing, goal setting, reflecting, publishing, speaking, and listening as well as reaching out globally.  20 Time organically creates an authentic learning experience and audience. The responsibility for asking questions and finding solutions lies with the student. 20 Time epitomizes personalized learning. 20 Time meets several ISTE standards as well as several CCSSs. 

While I won't claim that every student loved 20 Time, most students did. I certainly got more creative work and a higher level of thinking than I got out of the other performance based projects my students turned in. It was amazing to see some of my most reluctant students get passionate about the school dress code, recycling, even creating a better combustion engine.

Nick Provenzano, otherwise known as @thenerdyteacher, is my 20 Time inspiration. He is amazing and I was lucky enough to hear him speak and ask him questions at an EdPlus workshop last summer. You should definitely check him out on Twitter.

2) Tinker Time

I called it Tinker Time with my students because that sounds more fun, but it was actually coding. It didn't look like traditional coding because it involved personalized learning and collaboration. Twice a month students had an entire class period where they got to choose from a list of activities: Scratch, Gamestar Mechanic, Ozobots course construction, Bloxels, or Makey Makey. This was the learning objective: Today we will know how to use our chosen activity in a creative manner. My students didn't know they were learning to code. My students knew they were getting to choose the technology they used then use that technology in a way they got to decide was creative. If they wanted to work alone, that was ok. Most didn't. I saw some amazing collaboration! I didn't tell my students that Makey Makey games could be created with Scratch. They figured that out on their own through collaboration. One group using the Makey Makeys said to the group using Scratch; "I wonder if these two could work together?" I was so proud I almost cried! My students would beg me for extra Tinker Time. How many students ever begged for extra structured coding lessons? And yes, Tinker Time does adhere to the 2016 ISTE Standards for Students!

Picture of my students using Makey Makey.

To understand why kids need to learn to code, check out this article from iD Tech.