In this edition of the Teachers on Fire Roundtable, I chatted with three STEAM educators based in the great state of California: Renee Wells, Jesus Huerta, and Paul Gordon.
Questions That Guided Our Discussion
0:54 – Who are you and what is your current educational context?
2:55 – What are your thoughts on F2F, hybrid, and distance learning?
12:13 – Which learning management system or online platforms are you relying on to serve your learners?
27:04 – What’s been a big win of STEAM learning in the distance (or remote) environment?
51:03 – What are your go-to sources for STEAM teaching inspiration?
As of this post, I’m still appearing weekly on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time/11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. I’d love to see you join us and would be happy to feature your questions and comments on the show!
In this edition of the Teachers on Fire Roundtable, I chatted with CodeBreaker authors and educators. This is NOT some form of paid endorsement – this event is just an expression of my interest in getting to know these educators and hearing more from their learning journeys.
1:36 – What does your current educational context look like?
9:12 – What is the mission and vision behind your book?
22:05 – Tell us about your journey to the book. Why did you decide to write, and how did you get there?
43:27 – What does your next goal or project look like? And how can we connect with you and follow your future learning?
Guests Featured in the Roundtable
Dr. Brandon Beck@BrandonBeckEDU, author of Unlocking Limited Potential
Daphne McMenemy@McMenemyTweets, author of Gracie: An Innovator Doesn’t Complain About The Problem. She Solves It! and editor for CodeBreaker EDU
Chris Woods@DailySTEM, author of Daily STEM: How to Create a STEM Culture in Your Classrooms & Communities
Dr. Darrin M. Peppard@DarrinMPeppard, author of Road To Awesome: Empower, Lead, Change The Game
Catch the Next Teachers on Fire Roundtable LIVE.
As of Sunday, October 11, 2020, I’m appearing weekly on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time/11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. I’d love to see you join us and would be happy to feature your questions and comments on the show!
In this edition of the Roundtable, I spoke with five active K-12 educators who are on different assessment journeys. Although we all agree on the fundamental principles of going gradeless, you will a richness of different perspectives and areas of focus throughout our discussion.
Use the timestamps below to jump directly to topics of interest.
0:50 – Guests introduce themselves and describe assessment in their educational contexts.
9:03 – How would you make the case for going gradeless?
24:23 – What are some of your best ideas, strategies, and tips for educators and education leaders seeking to move into a gradeless assessment model?
44:45 – The proficiency scale currently used in most K-7 schools in the Canadian province of British Columbia.
45:59 – What are some books and authors you recommend on the subject of going gradeless and formative assessment?
JESUS HUERTA is an elementary school teacher at Kennedy Gardens Elementary School in El Centro, California. He’s also an instructor for the Krause Center for Innovation, a 3D print enthusiast, a futurist, and a believer that technology is for everyone.
Competing During Uncertainty
About a year before our interview, Jesus was a finalist for the Leroy Finkel Fellowship, an award given annually to a teacher who presents “an innovative technology-enhanced curriculum project that is standards-aligned, replicable, relevant … and fun.”
Jesus had entered the contest and had made it to the short list, but he was laid off by his school just days before he was expected to present. Despite the professional uncertainty, Jesus gave everything he had to the presentation and won the award based on the 3D printing work his students were doing to create prosthetics (see a full description of the project with videos). As gratifying as it was to be recognized in the contest, it was equally satisfying to be given another teaching position shortly afterward.
The Evolution of 3D Printing and Learning
Jesus has been teaching for six years, and he’s been 3D printing the entire time. From classrooms to conferences, he carried his printer around with him wherever he went in his first years.
One way that 3D printing has really changed in the period since, Jesus says, is that the financial barriers to entry have come way down: printers and filament have both fallen a lot in price. Software has also improved and diversified and the 3D printing community has grown over these years as well.
It’s an exciting space, because 3D printing just keeps moving forward. Jesus shares a number of ways (other than prosthetics) that 3D printing technology is being used to provide medical solutions and improve quality of life around the world. On top of all the other competencies and skills that students build as they learn to design and print in 3D, the list of real-world applications only seems to grow.
Board Games, the Design Process, and Entrepreneurship
Another project that has really energized Jesus and his 5th graders is a board game project. The project combines the best of entrepreneurship, the design process, collaboration, and presentation skills. Working in partners or small groups, students begin by drawing a board game design, followed by a cardboard prototype. Further iterations follow.
Jesus describes a very authentic learning experience that occurred when one 5th grader forgot to bring her group’s prototype into class for her group’s pitch. Yes, there was some distress and some tears in that instance, but after thoughtful debriefing and reflection, he knows the real life lessons learned will last a lifetime. By project end, Jesus is always impressed by what his students manage to come up with, saying he would likely purchase them for his own family if they were commercially available.
Increased Access to the Joys of STEAM Learning
Something that Jesus has wanted to do outside of his classroom for some time is offer evening classes that align with his core passions: 3D printing, robotics, the design process, engineering, game design, coding, drones, and anything else related to STEAM.
In particular, he wants to create opportunities for kids who can’t access this kind of learning in their schools, districts, or towns. He’s built a partnership with an LGBTQ center to share space, and he’s proud to support diversity and equity for all learners by doing so.
“Learning is for everyone,” Jesus says. A kid’s gender, culture, language, religion, or orientation shouldn’t be limiting factors – and that’s something that Jesus has always been passionate about. Historically speaking, STEAM learning has tended to include more boys than girls, and evening that playing field is another part of his mission. He’s also looking at ways to include adults and mature learners, too.
Personal Passions: Creating with Wood and Playing the Violin
One of the areas of learning that Jesus recalls fondly from his childhood is drawing. In recent years, he’s revisited this passion through woodburning and carving. He’s also passionate about the sounds of the violin, and it’s been a joy to practice an instrument he’s always appreciated but never played. Jesus brings these passions into his classroom, too, using applications like Google Quick Draw, Google Music, and SoundTrap to helps students create a wide variety of digital art and media pieces.
A Productivity Tool: Wunderlist
Jesus loves using the Wunderlist app to track to-do items and track his progress, and the gamer in him enjoys the satisfying ding the app makes every time he checks off another task.
Voices and Resources That Spark His Thinking and Ignite His Practice
When it comes to a Twitter follow recommendation, Jesus doesn’t waste any time. “Paul Gordon does even more than I do,” Jesus says. One of Paul’s core passions is esports, but he also does 3D printing, laser cutting, design thinking, and more. He’s an advocate of risk-taking and a culture of yes, and he’s been a great education partner. Follow Paul @TeachTheTech.
One edtech tool that has really captured his imagination is the Oculus Quest, an all-in-one VR set. Users no longer need controllers – the set will now recognize user hands. His kids have played around with an Oculus app called Virtuoso that allows them to play piano in VR, and it’s blowing their minds. Other apps, like TiltBrush or Sculptor VR, allow users to paint and sculpt in VR as well.
For a book pick, Jesus points to Designed to Learn: Using Design Thinking to Bring Purpose and Passion to the Classroom by Lindsay Portnoy, a PhD and master of design thinking. Her book confirms a lot of what Jesus believes about STEAM education, and it’s opening his eyes to more possibilities. Lindsay also hosts the weekly #DesignedToLearn Twitter that Jesus says is well worth the time. Follow Lindsay @LPortnoy.
Because his wife works in the criminal justice system, Jesus says they’re both enjoying a podcast called Crime Junkie. The series is so good that occasionally Jesus gets a few episodes ahead of her, and then he’s got some explaining to do! Follow this podcast on Twitter @CrimeJunkiePod.
Over on YouTube, Jesus points to the Uncle Jessy channel as a great source for 3D printers, techniques, and projects. Jesus appreciates how he follows up review videos with subsequent videos that clarify and update previous evaluations. Follow the creator on Twitter @UncleJessy4Real.
On Netflix, Jesus and his family are enjoying NCIS. They’ve been enjoying it so much that he’s actually a little sad that he’s been missing it for the last 15 years.
As a younger teacher, I would often jump straight into learning activities with plans poorly defined.
I wouldn’t activate previous learning. I wouldn’t mention learning goals. I wouldn’t have a clear sense of how I would check for understanding.
I wouldn’t plan for students with disabilities in advance. I wouldn’t plan for advanced learners. It was one-size-fits-all.
Not best practice.
Somewhere along my education journey, I picked up on the idea of structuring my lessons around the As you’ll see below. This form has evolved over time, and it’s helped me plan more mindfully than I once did.
Are my lessons now perfect? Not even close.
Are there some days when I don’t properly address every one of these points? Absolutely.
But I’d like to think my lesson planning has come a long way from where it began. If it has, my students are the beneficiaries.
Because, as always, this is NOT about being a perfect teacher. It’s about serving our learners and supporting their growth.
So in the hope of inspiring your practice, here is the bullet outline I use to structure my lesson plans (conveniently reproducible each day in Google Docs).
This is how my 9 As show up in my Google Docs. Use ‘Make a Copy’ of the previous day to save time!
1. Administration and housekeeping.
Are there any announcements that my students need to be aware of or may have missed? Is there any information that I need from students? I want to get these items out of the way first.
In terms of our class climate, is there anything we need to address or discuss before we begin today’s learning? This is a great time to invest in my students by affirming who we are as a class and what we’re all about.
This is where I want to quickly read the temperature of the room. If something is amiss, I may need to address it before moving on.
2. Activating.
Which skills and content did we learn last? I want to briefly activate this knowledge for my learners and check for understanding.
Do I need to collect any assignments? Do my students need to be reminded to submit work on Google Classroom?
What are we aiming to learn today? Post a learning target in the form of an ‘I can’ statement. (ie. I can reduce fractions, etc.)
Why are we learning this? How does it fit in the bigger picture?
What is our success criteria? In other words, what will it look like if we meet our learning target?
3. Acquiring.
Introduce learners to the learning target. Define and describe key words and concepts.
Make the concept multidimensional through live demonstrations, student exemplars, text resources, pictures or video clips.
Engage student thinking and conversation using think-pair-share or similar collaborative strategies.
4. Applying.
This is the key part of the lesson: how will my learners apply their learning? How will they demonstrate understanding of the concept?
At this stage, it’s critical to think about depth of knowledge. In the infographic below, notice the progression in keywords at bottom.
Our ideal learning activities will include justification, explanation, inference, and making connections.
What adaptations should I make to this lesson to accommodate students with learning disabilities?
Should the learning target be adjusted? It may not need to be. A better fit might be reducing or simplifying expectations in the learning activity.
How should I mobilize educational assistants in my classroom? What instructions or supports do they need? I like to use the comment feature in Google Docs to tag them in advance of the lesson — this works especially well if I’ve given them access to my lesson plan folder in Google Drive.
6. Advancing learners.
It’s possible that my learning target may not properly challenge some of my learners. Last year, this was especially true in my Math classes. I needed to build in extension activities with these learners in mind.
Thinking back to Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (pictured above), how can I challenge these students to take their learning to the next level? How can we go above and beyond? This can tax a tired teacher’s energy, but I need to plan for these students as much as I can.
7. Assessing.
How will I check for understanding or mastery? In the language of Visible Learning, how will I know my impact?
There are a plethora of ways to do this, but the key is simple: I need to have a sense of where my learners are in their learning, because that information will direct my next moves — the purpose of formative assessment.
8. Anticipating.
Where is our learning heading next?
How should I start thinking about (and preparing for) our next lesson?
How am I planning to conclude this unit of study? What’s my timeline?
9. Additional Time.
This is always helpful to keep in mind, especially when planning for a substitute teacher. How will I plan for students who complete this learning activity before the bell?
Are there extension activities that might further challenge my quickest learners? (See point 5 above.)
Is there a review game (think Kahoot or Quizlet) that we could play as a class that might further reinforce today’s learning and act as a decent check for understanding?
Upgrading This Structure Through Project-Based Learning
An acknowledgment. This lesson planning outline doesn’t address project-based learning — or at least, not well. In a PBL or IBL context, students may engage in learning activities for several consecutive periods without any direct instruction at all.
In a sense, though, all nine of the planning points I’ve outlined here still apply. Instead of one lesson, block, or day, they’re being stretched across the duration of the project, which allows time and space for more design thinking, more ideation, more prototyping, more coaching, more real-time feedback, more revision and iteration before completion. Win-win!
Reality Check
Is it really possible to plan 9-point lessons for every block of every day? Should we place this burden on every classroom teacher?
In a word, no. But for me, this framework is my ideal. It’s a structure that helps me think through every step of the learning and account for every learner as thoughtfully as possible.
By creating this planning template at the beginning of the year, I’m setting myself (and my learners) up for success by nudging myself toward more mindful lesson planning.
If all my learners are learning and growing, that’s a win. And it’s worth it.
Teachers on Fire 
