Learn Cybersecurity by Coaching Students in CyberPatriot

Attention all educators, how much do you know about cybersecurity? If you’re like most other people, including me until recently, you probably don’t know too much about it. Yet, cybersecurity is one of the most important aspects of our digital society and economy. More and more, our social and financial transactions are digital, often using a mobile device, and usually through a wireless connection. All of these transactions are susceptible to some type of hack. To avoid being a victim of some sort of cybersecurity breach, you need to understand the basics at a minimum. A great way to learn about cybersecurity is to coach students in a cybersecurity competition.

Since 2015 I have coached middle and high school students in CyberPatriot, the nation’s largest, youth cybersecurity competition. I have coached students in many STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) competitions over the years, and from a teacher’s perspective, CyberPatriot is one of the most accessible, both for the students and for you, the coach. The competition allows a coach to organize up to five teams of six students each. Each team has to be registered, but the fee can be waived in some cases. Coaches get detailed, clear instructions, as well as free training. This year, I took full advantage of about 100 hours of free network training provided by the Cisco Networking Academy. Nevertheless, you don’t need to know much about cybersecurity to get started. After you introduce the students to the program, they tend to take off and start learning independently using the free training materials provided by CyberPatriot. The competition provides an authentic, challenging learning experience that students appreciate. The season runs from late summer through December, after which there is a semi-final and final round for the best teams.

This past season at John Read Middle School, I had four teams of six students each, a record number for me. One of my teams ended up scoring high enough to earn First Place in the Middle School Division in Connecticut–in other words, they were the best middle school team in the state. They also qualified to compete in the semi-finals in January. The other three teams all did respectably, and all of the students showed tremendous progress throughout the season. Here is a photo of our winning team getting their award from our Superintendent and Principal, along with me, and our team mentor. It was a great season! I encourage you to check out this excellent opportunity for your students, and for yourself to learn more about cybersecurity.

Science and Engineering Research Symposium

In spite of all the obstacles generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, my students in the Thomaston High School Science and Engineering Cohort program have progressed this year on their various research projects. This week, we held a hybrid Research Symposium, a formal presentation of their research work. It is an annual event, and it is required by the University at Albany – University in the High School program, through which the students can earn college credit for their research work. This year’s symposium consisted of a pre-recorded video that includes an introduction, a guest speaker presentation by Dr. Andrea Weston of Pfizer, and then individual presentations by each Cohort student. Additionally, the students did a live event on May 25th where they presented posters explaining their research work to their families, friends, and other guests. The symposium program booklet gives a full description of these events. Here are photos of the students and the symposium:

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Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Distance Learning

Like many other school districts in Connecticut, the district in which I teach, Thomaston Public Schools, went into distance (or remote) learning mode after Thanksgiving and will remain so at least until mid-January. We started this school year in hybrid learning mode (about half the students came to school on any given day), then shifted in mid-October to having almost all students in school. The change to distance learning after Thanksgiving was triggered by an increase in positive COVID-19 cases among students and staff, and the forecast for more cases after the holidays. We had gone into distance learning mode last March at the outbreak of the pandemic, and remained so through the end of last school year, but the big difference this time is that we are synchronously teaching students now, whereas we taught them asynchronously last spring. What is the difference, and which is better?

Synchronous distance learning means that students and teachers meet online on a regular schedule, and the teacher teaches the lesson live to the students through an online learning platform. Asynchronous distance learning means that students and teachers do not meet on any scheduled basis, but teachers post lessons online, sometimes including instructional videos, that students do independently on their own schedule. Teachers are available to help them on request. Synchronous learning has proven to be better, based on student feedback and performance.

To teach synchronously, Thomaston’s teachers use the Google education suite. We generally use Google Meet to teach our classes online and Google Classroom to post lessons and receive assignments. I teach high school classes, and we have a block schedule where we see students in a given class every other day. The school day starts at 8:30 AM, over an hour later than our old, in person schedule – this was a wise change, as it lets our teenage students start their day at a realistic hour for their body clocks. The earlier schedule was driven by school bus availability, which is not a factor during distance learning. Our classes are 75 minutes long, about ten minutes shorter than the old schedule, but more than enough time to conduct an online class. The school day ends at 2:14 PM, about the same time as the old schedule, so students can have the rest of the afternoon to get outside, work, and study.

Why is synchronous distance learning better than asynchronous? Most students have said that they need the added structure that synchronous learning provides by making them attend class on a schedule, and that they prefer seeing the teacher live rather than watching a video of the lesson or only working independently. Comparing student performance over the past month in synchronous distance learning to their performance last spring when it was asynchronous, it is clear that more students are succeeding in doing the online lessons synchronously. However, this is not to say that students like distance learning just because it is synchronous. Students almost all prefer being in school over any form of distance learning. So how can we teachers make the best of synchronous distance learning?

Based on a survey I gave my students right before we went on winter break, I got their feedback on what I have done that works well for them – here are the key points:

• Organize lessons logically – I plan out units and lessons using the 5E approach (engage, explore, explain, elaborate, evaluate), and I have a written plan for every lesson.
  • Planning has been the most time-consuming part of distance learning for me and many other teachers, but it is more important than ever – distance learning is not conducive to “seat of the pants” teaching.
• State lesson expectations clearly – I post every lesson the same way, and I have done this in every mode of learning (hybrid, in person, and distance) since the start of the school year:
  • I post each lesson at 7:30 AM on Google Classroom with directions and all lesson materials attached in case a student misses class and so that any student can refer back to what was taught.
  • I put the learning target and lesson overview, including a description of the final product that the students must turn in, at the beginning of every lesson.
  • I make the final product due date on the next school day at 5:00 PM so that students can take extra time after class to finish – the only exception is a long-term project or assessment that may have a longer due date.
• Keep lessons focused on the main concepts or skills – In the past, I liked to bring in tangential topics occasionally as I taught in the classroom, but that does not work well in distance learning. Therefore, I have discarded many things from my old lesson plans that were not directly part of the main topic.
• Explain concepts clearly and in different ways – I learned long ago to cover key concepts at least three times in three different ways, such as giving an introductory lecture, then having a student centered activity, then showing an outside explanation or video on the topic. I also spiral back and review key concepts in various other lessons where there is a connection. In each case, I try to assess student understanding, and I explain the key concepts over and over.
  • Distance learning is not the time to skimp on direct instruction – students are doing plenty of work independently, so they appreciate the help in understanding new concepts.
  • Few students ever learn effectively through one reading, lecture, or activity – they need repetition, practice, and multiple applications of the concept for it to sink in.
• Continue to use questioning to assess understanding – Getting students to talk and answer questions during an online lesson has been a challenge for many of us. One technique I have used is to pull students out individually on a separate Google Meet while the class is working on an activity – in this way I can question each student and get honest feedback on their understanding.
  • I find a separate Google Meet that I set up on my Google Calendar as a class help session works better than the Breakout Room feature on Google Meet. You can easily monitor two Google Meets simultaneously, but when you join a breakout room, you can’t see the rest of the class without some sort of awkward workaround.

This year of dealing with COVID-19 has made me a better teacher. Working with students online has made me zero in on what is important, then teach it thoroughly. It also has given me a new appreciation of how much I like being with students in person. When the pandemic is over, I hope to continue to use what I have learned.

Improved Differentiation from Hybrid Learning Experience

As a high school teacher who is six weeks into this school year with all the changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, it would be easy for me to be negative. Our school district started the year with hybrid learning, as many other districts did. Hybrid learning means that we had some students come to school on Mondays and Tuesdays, while others came on Thursdays and Fridays. On Wednesdays everyone stayed home while the school was cleaned. Because we have a block schedule where classes meet every other day, the result was that I saw each student one class day per week and had to teach them remotely on the other class days. Additionally, I had a mix of students that were in person and at home on each class day, making lesson planning and presentation much more complicated. The general assessment of this experience by most teachers has been that it was exhausting and that pedagogy was less than optimum. Fortunately, we are shifting to having almost all students come back to school next week, so the situation should improve.

What I have noticed over the past six weeks is that I have been able to differentiate my lessons much better than I ever did before. This is a positive improvement, and it is worth sharing how it worked. Differentiation is a method of lesson planning where the teacher provides different lesson formats and content to different students. It can mean teaching in a variety of ways to help students with different learning styles become more engaged–this is how I usually have differentiated my lessons. My typical approach is to have a mix of short lectures which appeal to auditory learners, good presentation materials and reading assignments that appeal to visual learners, and hands on activities that appeal to tactile learners. A more challenging way to differentiate is to meet the modifications required for special education students. In the past I often would quietly tell these students in class to modify what everyone else was doing so that they could participate. Sometimes I would give them a different handout, but I disliked drawing attention to them. Hybrid learning showed me a better way to provide tailored lessons to these students.

Hybrid learning forced me to build stand-alone lessons online that students in class or at home could do with or without me. Our school uses Google Classroom, an interactive platform where I post lesson assignments and students can access them, submit their work, and receive feedback. We use this system for both the students in class and the students at home. When I post an assignment, I can select which students receive it. What I have started doing is posting the assignment for my regular education students, then modifying it for my special education students and posting the modified version just for them. Nobody sees the modified lesson, except the students receiving it. Also, because we are now operating in a paperless mode and submitting all work online, the special education students can submit their work privately.

This new situation has motivated me take time to find appropriate reading materials and other media, cut back on extraneous text in my instructions, modify the lesson requirements, and generally meet the special education students’ individualized education plans much more effectively. Two different students’ parents have told me that their child is much engaged in my class, and that they are feeling successful–that is positive feedback! Someday when COVID-19 is a distant memory, I will still use this system to provide my special education students with effective differentiated lessons.

How to Achieve Excellence during Distance Learning

As a teacher, trying to provide meaningful lessons to my students over the past couple months of distance learning has been challenging. Since our last day of regular school on March 13th, our district has implemented a distance learning plan where students and teachers interact through Google Classroom, and lessons are generally done on a flexible schedule of the student’s choosing, not live. The challenge is to provide lessons that are rigorous, but also understandable without my immediate assistance. While students can contact me for help, the reality is that few do so, so I try to make the lessons as clear and focused as possible. See my previous post about how I have changed my lesson planning.

So should we expect students to do excellent work in these circumstances? Absolutely! It is true that some students will try to do the least amount of work possible, whatever the lesson or the subject is. Nevertheless, many students have excelled in daily lessons, and especially in long term projects. The most notable work I have seen has been in a special science research program that I started in our school this school year. The students in this program commit to doing a three-year science research project. They begin in their sophomore year learning the science research process, choosing a research topic of interest, and finding a mentor. During their junior year, they conduct their research project under their mentor’s oversight. During senior year, they write a college-level research paper documenting their work. They may also work during summer sessions. The program is under the University at Albany’s University in the High School program, so students can earn college credits for the last two years of this program. My students are near the end of their first year in the program, and they just completed a virtual Science Research Symposium, a video where each student presented his or her research project and a brief testimony about their experiences so far in the program. The students put together and edited this video all on their own with each one working from home. Despite the challenges involved, the students produced an excellent product of which our school is very proud.

So what made these science research students produce such excellent work, while the average student working on a much simpler lesson may do only mediocre work? I believe the fundamental reason is one of choice. The students in the research program were guided on how to choose an advanced topic for research and given the tools to conduct that research. This task challenged them, but they had chosen to do it. In contrast, the typical student’s experience is to be given a series of tasks in each class, none of which he or she has chosen or would choose, given the chance. Dr. Maria Montessori created an educational system, the Montessori Method, over 100 years ago that is based on liberty of the child to choose what he or she wants to learn at any given moment, within appropriate boundaries. At first this approach may sound impractical in a modern, American high school – but we can provide quite a bit of choice to students. See my last post on how we can set up a classroom where students can work at their own pace using some of the tools we use now during distance learning. Giving students choice of topics, formats, timing, collaboration and other factors leading to their final product can help them become more motivated to achieve excellence. Quoting Montessori:

“I believe that the work of the educator consists primarily in protecting the powers and directing them without disturbing them in their expansion and in the bringing of man into contact with the spirit which is within him and which should operate through him.”

Dr. Maria Montessori, “The Advanced Montessori Method – Spontaneous Activity in Education,” 1917.

What Happens After Distance Learning?

The school district in which I teach, like most across the nation, has been doing distance learning since mid-March and will do so until the end of the school year. Distance learning is what we call the current situation where students and teachers stay at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and teachers provide lessons online for the students to do on a flexible schedule. My district uses Google Classroom as the online platform where teachers can deliver lessons and assignments, and students can post their work and get graded. At some point, probably in the fall, we will return to school. But what will that look like? Almost everyone in education agrees that we won’t just return to “normal” where the school and its classrooms, hallways, cafeteria, and gym are filled to capacity. With no available cure or vaccine for the COVID-19 virus, there will remain some need for social distancing and other hygiene protocols for some time into the future, and certainly into this coming fall. Even after the virus is under control and there is no more need for any extraordinary measures to combat it, do we want to return to the old way of school? Are there lessons from distance learning that we can apply?

I think the number one lesson that can be taken from the current distance learning experience is that many students can succeed in learning a subject without having the teacher of that subject physically present in front of them. I do not believe that this means we should transition to online learning where students do their lessons by logging into a website and proceeding through a computerized curriculum. While about half the students in various districts are succeeding in distance learning, the other half are struggling at different levels with the situation. These struggling students are having difficulty coping without a teacher present and without the infrastructure they are used to getting in a school classroom. Therefore, we need to have students in school, and we need teachers there to help them – but we don’t necessarily need a different teacher for every subject to see the students every day.

Distance learning has shown us that we can schedule students much more flexibly, and we can use this flexibility in the short-term to provide social distancing and in the long-term to address problems inherent in the old way of doing school. One problem that educators have understood for a long time is that students struggle with a typical middle or high school schedule where they have several different classes throughout the day, and there is little or no relation among the classes. Students are expected to walk from one classroom to another, stop thinking about the previous subject, and start thinking about the next subject – and to remember what they were doing in that subject the last time they had that class. Schools have tried to address this problem with block scheduling where students have half their classes on some days, then the other half of their classes on the other days. However, this means the class periods are twice as long, typically about 90 minutes, so students are expected to sit in a classroom and learn for a time period that is much longer than the average teenager’s attention span.

Now reimagine this situation with what we have learned with distance learning. A student could go to a small number of classrooms each day – maybe even just one or two classrooms per day. In each classroom, the teacher would deliver a short lesson, then post a long term assignment on the online learning platform. The students would work at their own pace on the assignment. The teacher would move through the room helping students with the assignment and answering any questions. Students could work in groups to collaborate on the assignment, as appropriate. If a student was finished in that class, the teacher could allow the student to go to another classroom to get help from another teacher. Teachers would spend less time managing a classroom and more time lesson planning – see my last post for lesson planning ideas from distance learning. Additionally, teachers could collaborate more and create integrated lessons and projects to help students draw connections among various subjects. Teachers of STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) subjects could create integrated STEM projects. Teachers of humanities subjects (English, social studies, world languages) could create integrated humanities projects. Teacher teams for each grade level could create integrated grade level projects. There are many possibilities.

This is only one problem that could be addressed using what we have learned from distance learning. As educators we should be working right now to think through these problems and how to solve them. When we return to school, we can use what we have learned from distance learning to improve education. Hoping to return to the old way of doing school is not only a waste of time, but it is a waste of an opportunity. We know the old way of school was far from perfect. We have seen what works with distance learning, so let’s use it to made education better.

Lessons Learned from Distance Learning

Like other teachers, I have been teaching my students remotely using “distance learning” since we started staying home due to COVID-19. My school district had issued Chromebooks to all students, and I have been using Google Classroom as the main platform to present lessons and collect assignments, so the switch to distance learning was fairly smooth in terms of the technology. When we first stayed home, I looked at the situation as a short-term annoyance. I missed seeing my students in person, so I just tried to make the best of it and get through it. However, now that I am in my eighth week doing it, I have realized that this distance learning experience has had a couple of positive outcomes for my teaching practice.

One realization is that distance learning has made me much more focused on my lesson planning – and I was a careful planner before this – so that now I am taking a lot of time to review each lesson in my mind and think through issues or questions the students might have. Because all of my lessons are set up so that the students work independently – none of them are presented “live” – the students need to be able to open them and understand them on their own. They can contact me with questions, but I have observed that most students will just try to do it on their own. When I was teaching in a normal classroom, I planned out what I believed would be a good lesson, but I often left the details to be worked out as I presented the lesson in class. If questions came up, I knew I would be there to answer them. Not now – I need to anticipate those questions and answer them within the lesson. What I have realized from this experience is that if I follow the same approach that I am using now when we eventually return to school, then my lessons in a normal classroom will be much clearer and avoid the confusion that sometimes came up in the past as I presented a difficult concept. I will still encourage inquiry and questioning, but I will be better at avoiding confusion and misconceptions.

The other big realization I had is related to what I just wrote. In our school district, we have been striving to do more and more student-centered learning, and that is exactly what we are doing now during distance learning. Therefore, when we return to school, I plan to use the same lessons as I am using now – pre-recorded videos and all – especially where I used to use a lecture format. Students will be able to open the lesson and do it at their own pace. They will not struggle to keep up in a lecture or activity that I am running. This change will free me from teaching from the front of the classroom and allow me to walk around and conference with students and help those who need it. With a little extra work, I can make lessons with options so that students will be able to do work tailored for them. The only time I will keep the class focused on one task and working together is for some group projects and labs, but even then, I think letting the students work on their own to understand the directions is better than having them listen to me given an introductory lecture.

I believe this type of reflection is very important, because it would be easy when this unusual situation is over to forget it ever happened and to go back to “normal.” But normal was not always optimum, so we have a chance to make it better if we take time to capture and discuss lessons learned like this. I hope other teachers have similar positive experiences from distance learning to share.

Real World STEM at Skills21 ExpoFest

On June 1st, I attended ExpoFest, an innovation and STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) competition held at the Oakdale Theater in Wallingford and sponsored by Skills21, a center of innovation within EdAdvance, the Connecticut Regional Education Service Center in northwest Connecticut. ExpoFest involves several different challenges and had about 70 teams competing from various schools across Connecticut. I was there because I had helped write the Advanced Manufacturing Challenge. It required teams to design and build a human powered water filtration pump that could pump about one gallon per minute from 10 feet away and up a 5-foot vertical rise – these criteria were based on a scenario where it would be hazardous to be right next to a water source due to wildlife (e.g., crocodiles) or fast flowing flood waters. What I saw was eight different high school teams with eight different ideas, all of which had been developed over the past school year. I was impressed by the breadth of innovation that the students showed.

All eight teams had to demonstrate their pump’s capabilities outside by pumping dirty water from a container five feet below their pump and by filtering it into another container. The goal was to pump five gallons in five minutes. Some teams succeeded, and some did not, but all of the students had a great attitude and did an outstanding job working to solve problems that came up. I spent a lot of time talking with the teachers and students on each team, and the unanimous consensus was that the challenge had been an amazing experience that pushed them to their limits while also enabling them to use all of their skills and teamwork to finish the required tasks. I look forward to more such challenges in the future. Here are photos of each team’s pump and the test outside:

Thomaston High School Award Winner at National Invention Convention

This week, several hundred elementary through high school students competed at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan in National Invention Convention, a national-level STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) competition that requires students to design, build, and present an invention to a group of judges. One of my top students, Alex Thornberg, an 11th grader from Thomaston High School, was there, and he earned the third place award for 11th graders, winning both a certificate and a medal. He was my one high school competitor last month at the Connecticut Invention Convention where he was among the top high school award winners. Even though he was a first-time competitor in Invention Convention, Alex beat out dozens of other high school competitors and earned top awards both at the state and national levels.

Alex’s invention was Highway Safety and Tire Reuse, a plan to use old tires to provide cushioning on cement Jersey barriers, thereby recycling the tires and improving the safety of the barriers. Alex researched how many old tires were discarded each year in our town, Thomaston, Connecticut, and how many miles of Jersey barriers there were, then he calculated how the tires could be collected and fitted to the barriers. His research included interviews with a local tire store and with the state highway department. He also designed a way for the tires to be cut in half and attached to the Jersey barriers. He used cement to form a miniature scale model of a Jersey barrier onto which he wired small tires to show how the invention would look. Therefore, his invention was both a tangible product and a well thought out plan.

Here are photos of Alex competing at National Invention Convention this week:

Thomaston High School’s First Invention Convention Competitor Wins Top Awards

On Saturday, May 4th, about 1200 elementary through high school students competed at the University of Connecticut in Connecticut Invention Convention, a state-level STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) competition that requires students to design, build, and present an invention to a group of judges. This year was the first time the competition included high school students (grades 9-12). I had mentored middle school students in this competition in the past, so being new this year at Thomaston High School, I encouraged all of my students to enter, and I ended up with one of my top physics students, Alex, as a competitor. His invention was Highway Safety and Tire Reuse, a plan to use old tires to provide cushioning on cement Jersey barriers, thereby recycling the tires and improving the safety of the barriers. Alex researched how many old tires were discarded each year in our town, Thomaston, Connecticut, and how many miles of Jersey barriers there were, then he calculated how the tires could be collected and fitted to the barriers. His research included interviews with a local tire store and with the state highway department. He also designed a way for the tires to be cut in half and attached to the Jersey barriers. For Connecticut Invention Convention, he used cement to form a miniature scale model of a Jersey barrier onto which he wired small tires to show how the invention would look. Therefore, his invention was both a tangible product and a well thought out plan.

At the Connecticut Invention Convention awards ceremony, Alex earned three major awards. He earned the Recognized Inventor Award for being in the top 25% of competitors, the Frank J. Link Family award for solving a real world problem using an engineering design process, and a scholarship award for $108,000 to the University of Hartford’s School of Engineering for overall excellence. This last award would be contingent on his applying to and being accepted by the University of Hartford. I mentored Alex for the past five months in Invention Convention, first to compete at our local competition, then to compete at the state level, and I am very proud of his accomplishments. We will see if he qualifies to advance to the national level of Invention Convention. Here are photos of Alex at the Connecticut Invention Convention:

Alex with model of the Jersey barrier with tire cushioning and trifold display explaining his plan.

Connecticut Invention Convention in Gampel Pavilion, University of Connecticut at Storrs

Alex (on left) is one of four students to receive the Frank J. Link Family Award for problem solving

Alex (on left) is one of two high school students to receive a $108,000 scholarship to University of Hartford’s School of Engineering

Alex with his three awards from Connecticut Invention Convention and his physics teacher and Invention Convention mentor, Mr. Holmes, from Thomaston High School