Flip a Coin!
Choices.
Which should we do?
How do we plan?
What’s for dinner?
When are we going to the store?
What is essential?
Our answers are NOT the same as they were March 1st. It’s amazing that a month has made such a difference in our daily lives. So many new views. So many new plans. So many books to read and stories to write. Choices used to feel more black and white with opposites as choices. Lately choices seem to vary more.
How many choices? It may depend on the question. Perhaps we even have to back up before we can go forward.
How do we make decisions?
Some folks use decision trees to lay out their options for high stakes decisions. If the question is Which do you want with dinner: tap water, water with ice, bottled water, or water with lemon? you may not need a decision tree. It’s a fairly easy decision. You might flip a coin if you are feeling adventurous or just can’t seem to make a decision. But if you are making a decision about enrolling in a class, you may lay out your options in a decision tree. (Link)
The chart below came from twitter and Katie Muhtaris and Kristin Ziemke’s work in their new book, Read the World. From this chart, many believe that their are two choices for schools and teachers as they plan for technology-delivered instructional sessions: synchronous and asynchronous. Check out thes echaracteristics as you think about what a THIRD or FOURTH category might be.
I’ve been teaching online grad classes for over a decade now and we are NOT allowed to have synchronous sessions. The goal is to be flexible when meeting the needs of students. Prior to this, I also taught blended courses that I really liked because we built community, trust, and shared expectations with synchronous sessions as beginning and ending bookends and then filled in the learning time with asynchronous sessions. This flexibility was appreciated by students who were teachers, coaches, administrators with multiple demands on their time from work, school, families and other commitments.
How would you determine whether synchronous or asynchronous would be best for your students?
What would be your key criteria?
What role would equity play in your decision?
Thank you, Two Writing Teachers, for this daily forum in March. Check out the writers and readers here.
#SOL19: Day 31 SOLSC
On this last day of #SOLSC, let’s celebrate. (I know. It was a sneaky way to bring my #OLW back in)
Which would you rather eat?
This could become a “3 Corner” activity – which do you choose and why? The choice could be made silently and then after groups are gathered in their “corners”, they could create a “claim” and supporting reasons for their choice. (Psst: That’s oral practice first before ever writing a word.)
Where would you rather play?
All three are outside choices so they are fairly comparable. Some lend themselves more to “parallel play with a friend. Would that make the decision harder? Again, this could be a silent, individual choice. And then what if you introduced the concept that students could choose one activity with a partner. Now what skills do the students need?
Which would you choose to read?
What would you choose to write with?
“The average classroom teacher will make more than 1,500 educational decisions every school day. In an average 6-hour school day, that’s more than 4 decisions every minute.” (TeacherVision, Source)
How do we support students in making decisions?
Claims?
Making choices – good, poor or bad?
How should we support them?
Thank you, Betsy, Beth, Deb, Kathleen, Kelsey, Lanny, Melanie, and Stacey for this daily March forum from Two Writing Teachers. Check out the writers, readers and teachers here.
#SOL18: March 20
Productivity
Reflection
Time
Writing
How much writing?
Time
Reading
How much reading?
What works?
What doesn’t?
The best thing about March is the #SOL Story Challenge. This is my fifth year of writing every day in March. But it felt different somehow. I was writing daily and yet something seemed like I was swimming uphill, because I was actually writing less. This led to a quick writing log where I kept track of my writing patterns on a calendar. Here’s the basic summary of my data.
|
Writing Time |
SOL – March |
| 5-6:30 am Monday – Friday
250 – 500 words |
Slicing and Commenting
Some days only a slice |
The whole point of data is to USE it. So as a result of “confirming my belief” that even though I was writing every day, my writing time was also being consumed by SOL reading and commenting. My response: I moved my own slicing time to the evenings to draft and ready my post for the next day. I moved my commenting to intermittent times during the day and met some new slicers and regained my productivity.
|
March Slicing Time |
Writing Time |
| After 8 pm for the next day
Drafting & pre-setting publication time |
Regained Writing Time 5- 6:30
250 – 400 words Noted more revision & pre-planning across the day |
What data do you collect about your own writing or reading?
Is it formative? Is it summative?
How do you really use it to make decisions?
Thank you, Betsy, Beth, Deb, Kathleen, Lanny, Melanie, and Stacey for this daily forum each March. Check out the writers, readers and teachers here. 
