Comments on: Learning in Louisiana

By: Tom C

Tom C — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:30:03 +0000

I was just reading your blog and I think you have some really insightful posts about teaching. I'm currently working on a project to help K-12 teachers find jobs and make their lives easier. The site I'm working on is Applebatch.com. We are currently working on our second version and I'm reaching out to the teaching community to get feedback and to ask for them to spread the word. I've been following your blog for the past couple of months and I think that your work is fantastic. If you have time please feel free to check out the site and send me any feedback you might have. Also, if you are looking for material to post we would love to have you interview our founder. Just a thought. Anyway, keep up the good work and hope you enjoy the site. Applebatch Teacher Community

By: Dave Truss

Dave Truss — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:14:21 +0000

Thanks for your comments!

Darcy,
You reminded me of a quote that I used in my presentation to this group in Louisiana:

Students today depend on these
expensive fountain pens.

They can no longer write
with a straight pen and nib.

We parents must not allow
them to wallow in such luxury
to the detriment of learning
how to cope in the
real business world
which is not so extravagant.

-From PTA Gazette, 1941

The ‘technology’ has changed, but the idea that these ‘new’ tools are “to the detriment of learning” hasn’t… at least for some, and it may not until that technology is boring and ‘invisible’ to them.

Karenne,
It is that sense of community you mention that we, who integrate technology meaningfully into what we do, try so hard get others to understand… keep sharing!

Laura,
One of the things I often plug is social bookmarking, because it is one area where teachers can see value for themselves, and I think when that happens it is only natural to want to share it with their students.

Cindy,
It is indeed hard to ‘tone it down’ and not be the technology evangelist! I really like your idea of keeping our own learning transparent!

On that note, Jim sent some feedback from the Red group yesterday.

It varied from: “…We were not overblown with too much information.” to “…Quite a few times I felt overwhelmed.”

…and from “…Not only was he knowledgeable with the various technological ideas presented, but he also possesses a great knowledge of pedagogy.” to “He was very hard to follow and seemed to jump from one thing to the other. I would have benefited more from step by step instructions on some of the things he wanted us to learn about.”
A few included requests for hand-outs too.

This feedback was the only one to reference my PLN: “…You are so aware of the abundance of resources on the Internet that it makes it easy to see how much is available. Your
PLN is awesome and I hope that I can create something similar in time…”

I’ll spend more time looking over all the feedback, and I’m thankful for the candidness of some of them. My big picture lessons behind this?

*We can’t be everything to everybody.

*Be passionate and authentic.
Case-in-point: “You really seemed to have a grip on what you were teaching. I also appreciated your openness and honesty about areas you are not an expert in.”

*Sloooow down!
I allowed people to move ahead, and I provided many places for participants to follow links and explore their own interests, so I should have spent more time with those that needed the step-by-step help.

…there is always more to learn

By: Cindy Martin

Cindy Martin — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 06:57:14 +0000

Hi David,
I’ve really missed reading your blog! I’ve been off the blogsphere for awhile.EVERY question you’ve brought up I have been grappling with over the past few months and my frustration with them has made me lose sight of the forest for the trees so to speak. It was a relief to read your blog and find I am not the only one thinking about these issues.
I agree with much of what Laura has said. I’ve found that the focus of 21st century skills/learning etc..a and finding a tool to fit plus keeping my learning and experience with the kids very transparent has helped.
My biggest frustration is with the PLN’s. I’ve had the steepest professional learning curve of my career this year all due to a Twitter challenge. How to get that across to my colleagues? I have no clue.
I have noticed that they have been watching what I do with their students quite carefully and are now beginning to ask some questions. Maybe leading by example, just like we do with our students, and keeping our own learning transparent is one idea.
I definitely learned to tone down the Web 2.0 tool enthusiasm down! I used to hit them like a tidal wave, now I’ve managed to knock it down to a fast-ferry wake wave. :p
While I have not offered any great pearls of wisdom, I would like to thank you for this post. You have significantly decreased my frustration levels and provided me with a way to re-focus with more clear objectives for next year.

By: Laura Deisley

Laura Deisley — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:22:28 +0000

I’d love to say their is an “efficient and effective” model. I think there are a combination of experiences OVER TIME that will help a teacher evolve their teaching and learning. First, we have to get away from the word “trained.” Second, I’m finding that if you focus on a school/21st century learning/classroom strategic goal (like building collaborative skills) then picking one tool, presenting to faculty how that tool works to support that goal, and then have them play around with it in a workshop is the best first step. Then it is the partnership–working side by side with them as they evolve it into something meaningful in the context of their classroom–that they see the results.

As for developing their interest and engagement in a PLN: once they have some tools and aha experiences under their belts, then they feel as if they can enter the conversation. Hard to see value of PLN without being overwhelmed. Next step is to find the right network for the teacher.

By: Karenne Sylvester

Karenne Sylvester — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:57:14 +0000

Hi David,

On my way home today I was thinking about this issue -sort of on a similar vein –

how to share with other teachers who aren’t using technology and don’t want to, the value, joy and effectiveness of working in communities with other teachers, working on line, working with different applications – what it has done for our classes, our students’ learning and our own.

And in the end, I realized that we are doing it: we share, we tweet, we blog, we talk.

In the end, they’ll join us because you can’t stop a river from flowing.

And water will eventually erodes even the mightiest of rocks.

Karenne

By: Darcy McNeil

Darcy McNeil — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:53:11 +0000

I am reminded of an interesting conversation I once had. Kids were playing a basketball game while I was standing to the side with a friend philosophizing about how to facilitate greater involvement with new technologies. Amidst conversation our attention would dip in and out of the basketball game with whistle signaling “play on” or “shift”.

The contrast was Involvement and application on one side of the line, lofty abstractions on the other.

So the delicate aspect of new technologies, especially when their application is out of the comfort zone for many people, is, when are people part of the equation. When do people have to move closer to the technology and when does the technology have to move closer to the people.

The advent of any new technology struggles to find find a balance before their is suddenly a quantum leap in application – in invovlement.

I believe ink pens for a very long time was a specialty device – a new technology – that it’s application remained inaccessible for hundreds of years for a majority of the European populations. Monks were the only ones with the time, energy, and money to afford to master the art of penmanship.

So I believe it was McLuhan who once said that new inventions essentially become meaningful only after they become boring. That is to say, people can start utilizing new technologies and infuse creativity and substance into their application that affects their everyday life only after a basic amount understanding has evolved to make it essentially boring enough to stop learning about, and start using for.