After reading The Fourth Wayarticle in Educational Leadership/October 2008, by Andrew Hargreaves and Dennis Shirley, I’ve been trying to apply personal meaning to this new way. The 4th Way has five Pillars of Purpose, three Principals of Professionalism and four Catalysts of Coherence. But I think The 4th way rests firmly on just one pillar!
“An inspiring and inclusive vision that draws people together in pursuit of an uplifting common purpose.”
Beyond that the other pillars involve Collaboration in order to achieve the vision and common purpose being pursued. The Principals of Professionalism come from having Learning Conversations, or from Collaborators involved in an Active Learning network. And finally we need *accountabilityResponsibility to ensure the changes that we make are meaningful. I specifically avoided the term ‘assessment’, as that term suggests measuring things in ways that may not necessarily measure what we would consider progress. No ’standardization’ as Hargreaves suggests! Hargreaves’ Catalysts of Coherence are embedded throughout the pyramid.
We need a common vision of what we are in this for… Why schools are important? And how are they of value to our society and to our students? We need to be collaborating more effectively.
In doing so, we need to meaningfully connect Community, Educators, Students and Schools. We need to harness the strength of networks and learning communities and, equally as important, we have to create the time for these communities to meet as part of an educator’s (and student’s) day/week.
We need to be reflective learners, *accountable responsible to our communities that we share our learning with. Principles of Professionalism and Catalysts of Coherence will help us get ‘there’… but we need to collaborate and figure out where ‘there’ is first.
Not the Knowing, but the Process of Inquiry. Not covering the curriculum, but ‘uncovering’ the curriculum. A focus in innovation and creativity… how do we model this… every day?
We model this by creating meaningful learning communities based on professional inquiry and by giving those learning communities the time and resources to make things happen.
I originally had “Accountability” in the top arrow, but a colleague suggested that I change it to “Responsibility” in keeping with Hargreaves’ idea of “Responsibility before Accountability”.
In a letter to my Superintendent, Tom Grant, Andy Hargreaves suggested that “Teaching and Learning” be at the top of the Pyramid. He said, “ We would put teaching and learning at the top, though and reflection all around it, probably.” I may change this yet again when I get an understanding of how to represent ‘all around it’ visually. Hargreaves also said to Tom, “It’s great that you are the first in to the fourth way, and in your own way which is entirely as it should be.” This truly is an exciting time for us!
*Update: April 28th, 2009 See my new post: [Part 2]
I chat with some ‘familiar’ people, Alec Couros and Kelly Christopherson, and ask them to help me out with a Pro-D session I’ll be running with student teachers on the 25th. Chrissy says to ‘Twitter’ her and she will help out. (She actually says, “Twitter us and we will help”). I don’t follow Chrissy on Twitter so I go to my open Twitter window and request to follow her.
I see that I have a new Gmail message in my inbox so I open another window to find out that it is Kris. She is asking if I had seen her new post, which is titled Web2.0 Compatible.
I’m listening to the meeting, I postpone popping open windows to the links Vance is referring to, or checking the live chat on uStream so that I can read Kris’ post. I notice a small typo in Kris’s second paragraph. I also notice a green dot by her name in Google Chat indicating that she is online. I open a chat box and quote her typo back to her.
Kris replies back minutes later that the typo is fixed, (I hit refresh and it is). Kris’ post is about how ‘her generation’ is totally web2.0 compatible.
I continue following the meeting where a participant is talking about how these new applications are now ‘net’ applications and not ‘pay-for’ software. I realize that other than my computer and Internet connection, all this linking and watching and listening and engaging is free.
The most amazing part to all this: It was almost midnight here and I was ‘chatting’ with a student, reading her writing, and offering (minor) feedback… while ’sitting in’ on a staff meeting at the International School Bangkok, Thailand… ‘talking’ to Kelly in Saskatchewan and Alec in Regina, as well as others in Australia and The UK… and ‘meeting’ Chrissy, a new connection from New Zealand, who has offered to Twitter-in and help demonstrate networking/connectivity at my Pro-D session next week in the suburbs of Vancouver.
All this happened in a shorter time than it took me to write this post!
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Postscript:
While getting links for this post, I discovered that Chrissy also wrote about this experience. Here is a great image she uploaded. Click on it to get to her post.
…and back again moments later. Apparently this was not a staff meeting, but a session in an un-conference. Kim just linked to the conference wiki page via Twitter.
Originally posted: January 16th, 2008
Reflection upon re-reading and re-posting:
This was a very powerful expression of how my learning has shifted from searching for information to seeking interaction. It also speaks of ‘richness’.
I want students to know this kind of learning… in school. I want them to be active members in a global learning network. I want them to follow their own interests, to make choices about what information they will choose to pay attention to, what to check later, and what to filter out. I want students to be 21st Century learners.
Last Friday I was leaving the school and I popped into my VP’s office. Among other things, Anthony and I often talk about technology in the classroom. One thing led to another and I showed him the YouTube video that was the subject of my last post: iPhone tutorial from a two-year-old. It was shortly after this, while I was saying something, that Anthony interrupted me:
“You can’t go back now, can you?” “What?” “You could never be able to go back to teaching without technology, could you? “No.”
Driving home after our conversation it occurred to me what a transformation my teaching has gone through in the past couple years. Could I go back to a classroom and teach void of blogs, wikis, & online networks? Well, of course I could, but I just wouldn’t want to!
Not only do I never want to go back, but I have become an evangelist.
However I’ve noticed a bit of a backlash among teachers. Comments like “We can do that without technology” miss the point about what students have the potential to do. “Every time I get them in the computer room all they do is Facebook” recognizes that technology is a tool, not an answer, but comments such as these are used as excuses rather than challenges.
In the past few weeks I’ve heard more than one teacher say, “What is Facebook”, and “What is a wiki?”. This I can handle. But then I hear about how technology is evil; about what a distraction it is. Well here is a little news flash… IT ISN’T GOING ANYWHERE!
There are times I just want to put my head down, improve what I am doing as a teacher, and forget that there is ‘work to be done’. I can’t. Not only can’t I return to life in Plato’s cave, but I am also compelled to ’share the true light’. I now realize that at times I am destined to be seen as ‘blinded’, such will be the lot in life for many of us.
Can you go back now?
Originally posted: December 17th, 2007
Reflection upon re-reading and re-posting:
I’ll let the comments on the original post speak for me.
No David, we can’t go back. We have come too far along the road and know too much about what is out there to go back. We are willing to take the good with the bad and suffer some of the things that come along with knowing – like sleepless nights, frustration of things not working, having to re-explain to students, losing things in cyberspace, etc. We are willing to go through these because we have experienced the joy and fun and exhilaration and…. when something happens. It’s so constructivist that we cannot understand how others don’t see how great it could be. But, just like Darwin argued for changes in education over a 100 years ago with little change, we need to change much more than just the tools we use. We need to change the way people view learning. Keep up it up! We’ll get there!
your post is very inspiring, and for me in many dimensions. In the first glance it seems to be the expression of skeptical view of all ongoing development. The sort of skepticism we may all know. (Won’t Work, etc.) But this vibes in me in sustainability. It seems to me now that this should be a good point growing and going in concrete. Yes – i also would answer, that i couldn’t go back teaching my university students being creatively – expressive… poetaster’s group host. Getting organized – … And its is the effect of the new technology as an crystallisation point of all those affords and their solutions. But – and this has been deeply grown for me now: There is a lot of work to transport our learning experiences – observations – effects – because they are complex to observe and more than than complex to transport – especially to those who want to access it theoretically.
Maybe – and this would be my answer: “I cannot go back – because I’ve seen the glance in the eyes of the students. I cannot go back, because they have implemented my top level aim: They changed the verbing from :”I am podcaster at University-Koblence” to “I have to do something for my podcast”) This are the points you cannot explain to somebody who hasn’t got infected .
Best greetings from the icy-cold Germany – and forgive the typos – my English @ school has been a long time ago
Constructivist indeed! That’s the challenge for those looking from the outside trying to understand.
Andreas,
Thank you for looking beyond your first glance, and seeing beyond an expression of the skeptical view. My intent was NOT to say, “Oh no, I can’t go back!”, but rather to identify that what lies ahead is much too exciting to go back again… and I can tell that you saw that!
The transformation that you see in your students is an excellent example of why so many of us are, as you say, ‘infected’ – (a brilliant choice of words that only arises from a second language speaker:-)
Your students are fortunate to have you guide them. I am sorry that I do not speak German and the English translation of your Podcasting for Learning does not do justice to your writing, as your comment demonstrates.
Thank you both for your comments!
Dave.
David Truss on Thursday, 20 December 2007, 18:40 CET
David,
I love this post! I can’t go back and I don’t think kids can go back either–and we all need to remember that.
It is discouraging sometimes to feel like the one shouting in the wilderness. I’m eager for the day when many of the research studies going on will show the value of what we know/feel to be true!
Thanks for the post!
Carolyn Foote on Tuesday, 08 January 2008, 20:58 CET
In Math, the Lowest Common Denominator (LCD) is a good thing…
it allows you to simplify an equation and usually makes the work easier. (If you were looking for a Math post go here or here.)
For the sake of this post the LCD is not good.
Here, the LCD is when you reduce things to in order to oversimplify a problem, to avoid it or make it go away, (rather than to make an effort to resolve it). It is about taking an easy way out instead of choosing a smart way forward.
They Both Get Dirty
Doug Belshaw does NOT want you to vote for his blog in the upcoming Edublog Awards. I’m not a regular reader of Doug, but the size of his audience suggests that he is a noteworthy edublogger. I ended up finding his Please don’t vote for this blog! post since I read Kelly Christopherson who wrote about it twice, and so I did venture over there. The worst of the comment spat that ensues comes from Dan Meyer who I first read when he wrote a brilliant post on How Math Must Asses and then later on Why I don’t Assign Homework, but he isn’t in my quite limited RSS feed either.
To put my 2 dimes worth into this I will quote my grandfather, “Never wrestle with a pig, you both get dirty and the pig likes it!”
What I don’t like about the comments in this post is that they get personal and neither of these two bloggers have any intent to resolve things, they just want to get the next jab in. I am a fan of healthy discourse, but this is unhealthy, vindictive, and I would even add cheap. LCD.
My suggestion to Josie Fraser and the Edublog Awards team: After a blog gets nominated, ask the bog author(s) if they accept the nomination… problem solved.
Easier Isn’t Better
When I took this job as Graduation Transition Coordinator, I adopted a few other responsibilities too. One such obligation was organizing the Take Our Kids to Work Day (TOKTWD) event for our Grade 9’s. Apparently our school could not coordinate the Grade 10’s Junior Achievement event on the National TOKTWD so we held this Grade 9 event one day early. This saved us from turning our entire schedule up-side-down for 2 days rather than just one… but this was an LCD solution. I didn’t make this decision, but I dealt with the upset parents whose work places had created special activities for their children on the National day (one day later). Our response, let your child miss the next day of school, so teachers had to settle for a number of absent students the day after our event.
Next year: Either the two dates fall on the same day, (I’m already in the process of booking it), or we move them completely apart and keep the TOKTWD on the designated National day. If it needs to turn our timetable upside down on two different days – so be it!
Build it and they will come…
I first blogged about the idea for FieldFindrhere. I created a mock-up wiki for that post which has now been viewed over 2,500 times. Later I wrote about it in the Ning in Education network: “…I think that perhaps a social networking site such as Ning could be a great launching point for teachers to connect with ‘resources’ in their, or the global, community. What do others think?”
… and got positive responses from Nancy Bosch and Steve Hargadon. So I launched a Ning version of FieldFindr. I then asked for help in my other Ning (Educational) Networks, and I also ‘nudged’ my Ex.plode.us friends… only to get a very small response. It’s kind of funny that I took this personally at first. I thought to myself that I had network issues… but I think the main problem is that I went to the easiest audience I could find… I went to the LCD… the wrong audience! If I really wanted to make Fieldfindr work, I would need to promote it with potential volunteers, not educators. I did what was easy, not what was necessary. Build the volunteer network and teachers will come… but we need to start with the volunteers!
I don’t feel that I personally need to start such a network, but I do believe in the idea. If by this summer I can’t find a network, or group, or website that does what I think FieldFindr can, then I will start seeking out networks of potential volunteers to sign up… For now I won’t do that because I can’t offer the commitment needed to make it work.
Busier Isn’t Better
I shared this quote with staff in a staff meeting last Monday afternoon. “The task of organizing and operating a huge and complex educational machinery has left us scant leisure for calm reflection.”
The quote is by Irving Babbitt, and it seemed very appropriate for me to mention before discussing the plans for the heavily reflection-based program I was presenting to students the next day. The interesting thing about this quote is that Irving Babbitt died in 1933, and I think few could disagree that education has gotten much more complex since then!
In our school there is an International Baccalaureate (IB) program. In order to run the programs in sync with the rest of the school, our Grade 12 IB students are now doing 5 straight classes in a row for this semester. They start their day at 8:30 and end at 3:15, eating in classes and not getting more than a 5 min. break unless a class ends early. They also have to work on their Final IB paper as well. It is not uncommon to hear a Grade 12 IB student say they have between 3 and 5 hours of homework when they are leaving the school for the day- this would be ok if they weren’t saying and doing the exact same thing the next day, and the next day too…
As a new staff member coming in and observing this I have to wonder about subjecting students to this. I don’t doubt that there are some wonderful learning opportunities that happen in their classes, but how much is too much? The idea that these kids are bright, and that they can handle this pressure is nothing more than an acceptance of a LCD.
We are taking some of the brightest students in our district and working them so much that they can’t think, reflect, or for that matter even care about learning. It is their final year in the public education system and they are wasting it away being busy-bodies. I’ve learned so much from reflection, from taking my time to think things through, and from asking myself what I want to learn… we need to give this students a bit more time to reflect and explore their own interests in their final year… they prove themselves capable of the busy work enough in Grades 10 & 11.
Is Ping Pong a Sport?
To meet one of the requirements of the Graduation Transitions program, students are required to do 80 hours of physical activity after Grade 10. Last year as part of the Portfolio program the hours had to be considered either Moderate or Intense for the activity to count, but working definitions of those two terms were difficult. This year that language has been removed, but many school have kept it. LCD.
I was recently asked in an e-mail, “Is ping pong a sport?”
This was to figure out if time playing Ping Pong could be ‘counted‘ towards the 80 required hours. This is what I had to say:
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Here was my personal response to a similar question about ballroom dancing and yoga… “It is neither our intent to direct students into specific sports/activities nor is it our intent to make value judgments on their choice of activities. The purpose of the 80hrs is to encourage healthy living and to have students reflect on the importance of physical activity.” Who are we to judge? I think that the idea last year of saying ‘only Moderate to Intense activity counts’ is silly. To a very overweight or out of shape person a 20 min. walk to our school could be Moderate activity or if they power-walked it could even be Intense. As far as I know, we are the only school that has Light as an option and I put a section on the reflection page where students determine what that means to them, (they put examples of what they think Light, Moderate, and Intense activity is). Here is what the Reflection says, as well as the first two questions…
80 hours of physical activity over two years is less than what is required to be healthy. If you only did 20 min. of activity just three times a week, that would add up to over 100 hours in two years. So documenting 80 hours of physical activity in two years is a minimal requirement to say the least. However, if by recording these hours you are able to reflect meaningfully on the value of exercise, or if you can reflect and recognize patterns (or lack of patterns) in your exercise regiment, then this can be a valuable experience. Please answer the following questions honestly. They are to provide you with feedback that we hope will encourage you to improve your overall fitness level.
1. Personal Definitions of Physical Activity Intensity:
L = Light, M = Moderate, or I = Intense
The physical activity intensity scale refers to the level of effort with which you exercise. These are only a guide to help you think about the quality of your exercise regiment. The intensity levels vary depending on the fitness level of each person, and so it is up to you to determine examples of each that are right for you!
Light: Activity that requires a minimal increase in your breathing or regular heart rate, or low muscular exertion.
Examples: ___________________________________________________________________
Moderate: Either consistent or repeated intervals of increased: breathing, heart rate and/or muscular exertion.
Examples: ___________________________________________________________________
Intense: A significant increase in breathing or heart rate for 20+ minutes, or repeated high muscular exertion.
Examples: ___________________________________________________________________
2. Looking at your 80 hours of physical activity, what patterns or generalizations do you notice regarding:
a) The intensity of your activity? _______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
b) The frequency of your activity? _______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
c) The length of time of your activity? _______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
(Note: 2a is about the quality of your activity, (L, M, or I), 2b and 2c are about the quantity of activity.)
I’ve spent way too much time thinking about this.
Our judgments and values don’t matter.
Get students active, have them think about that activity, and if it is enough to keep them healthy or not… that’s the best we can do. Trying to tell students that an activity of their choice does not count accomplishes nothing. LCD.
(Oh, and Ping Pong is definitely a fun and exciting sport.)
I am a Hypocrite!
Tuesday Nov. 6th, 2007 was going to be tough for me to get to, and through. I knew that when I accepted this job.
When someone asked me in August, “So, is this going to be a good move for you?”
I replied, “Ask me on Nov. 7th”. Well the 6th has come and gone now. I never want to repeat the hours that went into this event- sleeping 19 hours in 5 nights the week before. Getting 2 hours sleep before doing two big presentations, and doing more paperwork that I care to do in any given year… The end result is that feedback has been very positive from teachers, secretaries, admin., support staff and students. Part of me wants to talk about this, and part of me wants to be happy with how positive the day was and just move forward… The fact is that the hard work came from getting all the background paperwork for the program fully developed to present to students, (such as the section of the 80hr Physical Activity Reflection seen above).
Three really positive things about that event that I would like to mention:
1. Students understood the value of the day and did not skip the assemblies in droves, which could easily have happened after their disgruntle attitude for the Portfolio program it replaced. Their feedback to me was very positive and I’ve had a number of the absent students come in on their own accord, or by suggestion of their peers, to find out what they missed.
2. My PowerPoint was pretty slick, I broke it up with a few good videos, and kept people’s attention with great images and subtle transitions. For someone who has used it very little (beyond my presentation week this year) I have become pretty good at creating engaging PowerPoint presentations.
3. I brought in a Bike Trails Champion, Steve Baia, to do a demonstration for us and promote Healthy Living. Not only was this a fantastic addition to the presentation, but he and his dad, Mike, were also wonderful role models of a great father-son relationship. Furthermore Mike watched my presentation and made sure to reference things that I said while he commentated Steve’s performance… very classy!
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Up until now this section is all about really good stuff. So where is the LCD and why the hypocrite title of this section?
Well, here I am developing a program for which one third of the outcomes are related to Healthy Living, and what do I do? I deprive myself of sleep, I completely stop exercising, and I put myself through tremendous stress… Some role model I am:-(
Whenever I get busy my healthy lifestyle takes a back seat. I turn 40 in a couple weeks and I am, without a doubt, in the absolute worst shape of my life. For me physical activity is the LCD, the one thing that I can always drop from my schedule to make more time for other things… and that is wrong.
So here is my plan- and it started yesterday! Three treadmill runs a week and one other activity during the week- Every Week! I’m also going to sign up for the Vancouver Half Marathon in the spring. I had students create one Healthy Living SMART Goals this week, and to practice what I preach, I’m going to create 2 SMART goals to help me live healthier, (one around weekly exercise and one specifically to build my endurance and speed for the half marathon).
By the way, for you SMART Goal fans: The ‘A’ should stand for Action-oriented not Achievable or Attainable. If you think about it, the ‘R’ stands for Realistic and if it is Realistic it is already Achievable but without Action your goal gets nowhere.
The Greatest Common Factor
None of my LCD’s above are things that can’t be ‘fixed’. The common factor in each of the sections above is that the easiest way of coping with a problem is most definitely not the best way of dealing with these issues or concerns. Sometimes it is difficult to do what is best. Sometimes big ideas need to be challenged. Sometimes we need to question what we do, and why we do it… and we need to be willing to make a difficult change because it is the right thing to do!
They Both Get Dirty: I was tempted not to republish this as I don’t like to sling old ‘mud’… but I think I want to keep the integrity of my original posts as I have done so far.
Easier Isn’t Better: Although I’m no longer there, I’ve just recently confirmed next year’s dates for these events will coincide at my previous school.
Build it and they will come: We need an educational leader with the right resources and contacts to do this!
Is Ping Pong a Sport: Sometimes we confuse the activity with the goal we intend by the activity. Do not confuse the pointing finger with the moon.
I am a Hypocrite: I wrote this in November and I’m finally getting back into shape… it was a bathroom scale that gave me the push I needed. I’ve often been a person motivated by the stick rather than the carrot, (moving away from pain rather than towards a reward).
The comments below add to the conversation.
Comments on the original post:
Well, after a bit of time off, it seems you’re back with a flourish. Great title. Great insights. As always, you get to the point and, as always, you are right on the mark. I’ll not dwell on your first part except to say you’re right.
As for Busier isn’t better – I agree. It’s amazing how schools look to give students more work believing that, by doing so, they are making them learn more. Yet, when we examine what really helps one learn, it isn’t doing more work but thinking and reflecting on what we are doing in relation to what we know. “An unexamined life isn’t worth living” – stands to reason that this would hold true for our students as well. As for being a hypocrite – I’m not sure that is true. There are times during our lives when life’s decisions don’t allow us to always do as we say. Responsibilities that are new sometimes require us to do things we wouldn’t normally do. I say this as I turn 42. I’m not in the worst shape I’ve been in but it’s close. However, as I reflect on my decisions, I realize that in order to reconstruct that part of my life, I will need to make certain decisions about other areas. One of them is career. I’ve finally entered a point in my job where I’m more comfortable with my work and my respoinsibilities and they don’t take the time they use to take. This means that I can do some of the other things that I have put off for some time like exercising, eating right and spending time with my family on weekends. However, if I do decide to make the move and enter senior administration, I will again be required to spend a great deal of time learning which will probably affect these areas again. Now, I’ve learned a few things in the last few years so I won’t completely give up these things but they will be affected.
As you say - the easiest way of coping with a problem is most definitely not the best way of dealing with these issues or concerns. Sometimes it is difficult to do what is best.
Good luck with your goals. Keep us posted. Your “reminders” are always welcome. Now, I guess I have an apology to make.
I should add that if an IB student doesn’t take a Language 12 course in grade 11, they’re taking SIX courses in one semester in grade 12… start around 7:15 am and end at 3:15 pm. But the second semester of IB 12 has fewer classes, I think some every second day, and ends a month earlier than regular grade 12 classes. That said, some of my friends in IB 12 right now actually skip entire days of school just to do their homework from dawn till dusk, but then again the people in question are just plain crazy (running 2 clubs this year in addition to IB 12 courseload). It’s not actually that unheard of for IB students to skip class to do homework for another class; in fact, it’s pretty common.
Hi David – if only life were that simple. James and I are both already working stupid hours on the awards around our paying jobs – both of us would love the luxury of signing off on all of the nominations. People are more than welcome to contact us and ask us to withdraw their blog: we will be quick to take entries down. Best, J.
Josie Fraser on Monday, 26 November 2007, 11:00 CET
I have 2 blog posts on the go right now that I can’t get myself to complete.
One is on Digital Citizenship which looks at a post by Vicky A. Davis. The concepts I am formulating are in need of some more deep thought, and I don’t know when I will get to it?
The second post is on a 1-1 project in our district. I invited myself to a presentation for parents of students receiving computers for the project. Although the post is almost done, (and sitting in a Google document), I’m feeling bitter about my lack of availability of computers to teach my Planning 10 classes and so I don’t think I can complete the post until my frame of mind is one that can frame the post in the positive light I feel it deserves. (I feel childish admitting that, but that’s where I’m at right now.)
A third post has been looming in my head, but my feedreader fed it to me in the form of someone else’s post: It’s time for some perspective here by Kelly Christopherson.
Here is a little more perspective: I am attempting to fully engage, but still can’t keep up… I’ve been to Second Life, but can’t find anything useful there… I don’t Twitter (yet?)… and to me Ustream seems like nothing more than a car accident that everyone is slowing down to look at…
All these tools are technological with only the potential to be pedagogical… but they aren’t designed with pedagogy in mind. And so with regards to education, I wonder if those in the lead are actually worth following? Will Richardson has a great blog, but I’m not going to give him and his buddy 45 minutes of my time to get information that a 4 paragraph summary of their talk could give me!
…And as for the big hype around backchannels… why do people think this is something worth having transcribed? If a backchannel is used correctly -in my humble, ‘perspective from the outside looking in’, opinion- then it would influence the presenters, and so the meaningful components would be integrated into the presentation. As for any ‘interesting sidebar conversations’ that happen- they are mostly relevant in context with the presentation and if they are worth expanding on and investigating… great, investigate them and blog them for me, just don’t ask me to read 200+ comments to find a gem in the rough. Backchannels have tremendous value in the ‘here-and-now’, during a presentation, but what’s with all the analysis after the fact? My point is that not only do I not have time for all these new tools, these new tools are time consumers that don’t add to my learning experience in a meaningful way.
Looking at Kelly’s post, he states:
“Primarily, little has changed with education despite all the tools. I firmly believe that until we examine the curricula, change some of those objectives and rework others, making it relevant to the students, no amount of cool tool is going to create change.”
I couldn’t have said it better!
[Pink Floyd tune in my head... clocks ticking/bells chiming] The coordination of the Graduation Transitions Program at our school is consuming so much of my time. I have to be realistic about what else I can do!
How much of the K12Online07 conference will I participate in?
Am I Ning-ing for my Planning 10 class project or blogging?
When will I finish my other posts?
I could go on but I think my point is made, and I want to turn my questions outward…
Am I the only one who feels like a 30 hour day would still be too short?
Are there others out there who wonder what kind of commitment it will take for a teacher to be technologically savvy enough to meaningfully engage students with all these new tools?
Are we focusing too much on the tools and not enough on pedagogy?
Will educational structures change fast enough to provide our students with a relevant education?
… and for that matter… What would an ideal education look like today?
Here are the bulleted criteria under 1. Rationale …
“authentic teaching” that involves students in “authentic intellectual work” outside school.
…pass the test of authenticity because they meet the following criteria:
They are rooted in issues, challenges or decisions that people face in the world.
They are genuine.
The act of wrestling with these challenges is purposive – saturated with meaning and significance.
A student can see a payoff in the future for work well done and skills acquired.
In short, authentic intellectual work passes the test of “so what?” It is meaningful, worthy and generative – in the sense of provoking ongoing growth and development.
I think that if the use of technology is authentic in this way, then the technology is being used appropriately in education. (Rather than just to play with the newest toys, as I seem to be noticing with Ustream- more on this misguided ‘use of technology in education’ in my next post). Also noteworthy, the author’s Anti-Prensky article.
Originally posted: October 15th, 2007
Reflection upon re-reading and re-posting:
In his post, Kelly linked to Stephanie Sander’s post over at Change Agency, which fits well with the quote above that asks (in the last sentence) “so what?”
Stephanie’s post asks “What?, So What? and Now What?” and is well worth the read!
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An interesting aside… the 1-1 presentation I invited myself to in October, ended up being at the school I was promoted to in February. I introduced Mr. Mak to wiki’s and this amazing teacher has made the class wiki into a class portal for almost every subject for his class and in some cases his team. Hard to believe that he just got the laptops in February!
More thoughts after the comments…
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Comments on the original post:
We must always be willing to innovate. I have found that the backchannel is very useful in my classroom and at conferences. It is not a transcript but a place where people may become involved in the conference — see Diane’s post today about the experience.Yes, there are a lot of things to try out and learn. I think that ustream gives us a couple of capabilities — #1 a live view into a live presentation — sit in if you wish — or check the 4 paragraph blog post later (but does the blog post really contain everything — probably not and #2 instead of an incredible speaker skype videoing into my classroom — why not connect to 10-15 classrooms or more — why should I horde those opportunities.Yes, we’re playing with some of these new tools, but that is what happens on the bleeding edge. I am using backchannelling in my classroom as well as twitter for flat classroom.And no, there isn’t enough time in the day. Just don’t let it overwhelm you and make you cynical about it all. There is a time and place for innovation and it rests squarely where there is room for improvement in the classroom… students need to be a part — not just receivers. That is what the backchannel offers.
I’d love to answer your questions and share thoughts about these emerging fields. But don’t forget a great teacher will be a great teacher anyway — we all have to do the best we can with where we are — and if you join twitter — let me know. Would love to make your acquaintance.
Vicki Davis on Tuesday, 16 October 2007, 00:48 CEST
I too share your need for more time. I am a dabbler with these tools and thus my full understanding is stunted by the lack of depth. If backchanneling is similar or actually like the chat that went on as people downloaded and watched Warlick’s pre-conference keynote, then I am in agreement with you Dave. The nonsensical chatter that went on instead of real discussion of the issues being presented drove me bonkers. In fact, it became apparent that few people had actually watched the presentation and were using the conversation like a kiss and hug chat room. Very annoying. Another example was the fireside chat with Warlick…I felt like a kid with ADHD trying to listen to David, watch the whiteboard while being distracted by the chat box. I know that the digital natives are able to multitask, but that was ridiculous. Multi-tasking is another way of saying – hit them with as many mediums as possible and hope one holds their attention long enough to give them information. I say….say something worth saying and you will hold their attention.
Just my “2cents”…
Dave MacLean on Wednesday, 17 October 2007, 06:15 CEST
What appears to be opposing views of the last two comments is something that interests me.I see the value in a backchannel! There are many times, as a student, that I wished I had a way to ask questions or clarify my perspective, without interrupting the patter of the teacher. A backchannel could also be used as Vicki is using it, to share what she is teaching with others along with a video stream so that they too have a part in the presentation rather than just receiving it one-way.I also see the caution of throwing more ‘information’ out without it having any pedagogical merit. That was my rant. However, in hindsight, I was to quick to pounce. Educators are now experimenting with tools like Ustream… it is a new boundary teachers are playing with. As I said above, “Backchannels have tremendous value in the ‘here-and-now’”, what I don’t understand is the transcribing of the backchannel. The overanalysis of an unstructured stream of information… it seems like too much. Also, as Dave says above, “say something worth saying and you will hold their attention.” But these are NOT two sides of the same coin. They are two different coins all together. One is about tools, and exploring their potential. The other is about information, and its’ ability to overload a learner. Together these two perspectives offer opportunity and suggest caution. Both are needed.There’s my pair-a-dimes worth!
David Truss on Thursday, 18 October 2007, 08:40 CEST
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In my comment above I mentioned ‘pedagogical merit’ and to be honest, I have been on a bit of a focus in that direction recently. What I really mean by that is finding the right tools and structures for the right job in order to meaningfully enhance learning and engage learners. That said, I think that it is important to read George Siemens post:
…Pedagogy is not the starting point of planning to teach with technology. Context is.
…Pedagogy should not even be a consideration during the planning stages of technology use. Harsh statement? Perhaps, but it’s a reality. Few Utopian situations exist where our decisions on how to teach can be based exclusively on pedagogy. Resources, expertise, technology, needs (of learners, educators, society), and funds impact what we choose to do. In a world: context. The mix of multiple, mutually influencing factors determine what we types of technology we select.
…Let’s abandon the somewhat silly notion of pedagogy first and recognize that the choice of technology is driven by many contextual factors and therefore context is what we are evaluating and considering when we first start talking about possible technology to use. Then, after we have selected technology, we can start talking about pedagogy. Pedagogy is just not a practical starting point for deciding the technology we should use.
So the context is more important than the pedagogy. It is more important to design the learning space, to create a learning environment that is friendly, useful and meaningful to the learners, than it is to focus on the content or intended outcomes.
In a recent presentation I did to teachers in our district with 1-1 Laptops, I talked a lot about Scaffolding. Creating structures in your technology/web-based projects that supported student learning and engagement. (I’m reworking this to be in one of my presentations at BLC08.)
So, now this is what I think:
‘Context‘ is where you start. ‘Scaffolding‘ is the structure(s) we build in order to increase the effectiveness of the technology use. ‘Pedagogy’ is the artful things we do to enhance learning regardless of technology use.
I’m not sure if scaffolding as described is fundamentally different than ‘good pedagogy’, but the term scaffolding suggests that we build something onto the context, rather than just add something ‘pedagogically sound’ to it… whatever that means!
“A portal to Connect Classrooms to the World: Global Citizens can Share Talents and Skills with Students. Teachers can find Global Citizens (Volunteers) willing to help in a field of interest that they are working on in their class.”
FieldFindr: Where teachers can meet global citizens with skills to share.
So, in reflecting on my blog posts I move from an unsuccessful book club to an unsuccessful portal… they would be disappointing if they weren’t so enlightening! To this day, failures are looked upon as negative as opposed to opportunities for learning. It seems conditioned into us at such a young age… this is a comment on our society as much as it is a comment on schools.
This is still a great idea… but it was DOOMED TO FAIL! Why?
1. Because it is geared to educators, not to those who would be willing to contribute. My audience and the target audience are not the same. Also the structures to build a sortable ‘bank’ of volunteers are not available for those interested in signing up, (see #3).
2. Formal measures around safety need to be hammered out. Note Kelly’s Comment on the original post:
Dave, I like this idea. I think that it has great potential. Now, the administrator comes out in me but how do we ensure that: a. The person is an expert in what they say they are b. They are safe c. There is not “inappropriate” contact between people and the students.
I think this is wonderful and we have this type of thing going on in our school with some of our local people. The big difference is that we are in a small community, people who are vounteering must do a criminal records check and any outside school projects are to be okayed by the parents. Precautions. I think that this would be an incredible way to get people from different sectors involved in the education system. This would also allow teachers to have references for their projects or assignments – would give validity to what we do in schools. That would increase the “price of stock” for educators in all areas.
3. Both Wikispaces and Ning are the wrong venues, I simply don’t have the required tech savvy-ness or financial resources (or for that matter time) to create what is needed.
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That said, I can see a University really taking this on as a project. They can start with one department, say Music or Science, and promote the interests of their instructors/Masters Students/PhD students with teachers that may be interested in their skills as either mentors or experts or judges or…
There is significant need and opportunity for such a portal and I challenge anyone with the knowledge and resources to make it happen!
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Reflection upon re-reading and re-posting:
Vicki Davis added this to the comment to the post mentioned above:
“I come from the Batman era,
adding items to my utility belt while students today are the Borg from Star Trek,
assimilating technology into their lives.”
That’s a quote I use to differentiate digital immigrants from digital natives.
BUT I have realized that it is much more about comfort level & exposure than it is about age. While I am helping some frustrated students open a sign-up verification e-mail, other students have logged into the new site, added a photo, and changed the appearance of their personal page.
There are three digital divides here preventing me from effectively using technology in the classroom. (Two from my post, and the 3rd added from this Classroom2.0 discussion.) These divides are the gaps between:
1. What I know and what I need to know.
2. What the school has in the way of technology and what it needs to have.
3. What skills/abilities students enter my class with.
#1 I can change.
#2 will never change fast enough.
#3 is the shift in this conversation.
I have both immigrants and natives in my class, so the distinction is moot.
“And then there is my class Science Alive! wiki… “I think that I am guilty of seeing the value of using technology in guiding learning, but not effectively guiding learning in my technology use.”
I have done a pretty good job of getting my students going… but now as momentum builds I have come to the realization that I don’t have a marking rubric to guide me, or my students, as we move towards a final product.
My class is assembling a lego model without the instructions, or even the image of the final product on the front of the box. This isn’t a problem for the creative/motivated students; they will assembly a better model in ways that I could never have ‘instructed’ them… but some students need structure, they have been fed it for years and expect it (even from yours truly – this isn’t finger pointing, it is observation).
I let technology supersede pedagogy.“
Digital immigrants or digital natives is nothing more than a discussion of digital competence… it is a spectrum, not a dichotomy!
Where does this leave us?
We want all of our students to be digitally competent.
We want all of our students to be articulate thinkers.
We need to make this happen in pedagogically sound ways.
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“…technology adoption… It’s typically a four-step process:
1. Dabbling.
2. Doing old things in old ways.
3. Doing old things in new ways.
4. Doing new things in new ways.”
I think we get excited when we see ‘new things in new ways’, but often we end up (re)creating old things in new ways. The real conversation needs to be around the constraints of curriculum and standardized testing.
“This is why the foundation of education systems today should not be the rails, but it should be the side trips. It should not be the central standard curriculum, but it should be those directions that students, that learners, both teachers and students, can navigate to on their own.” (David Warlick)
New things in new ways… creating articulate thinkers… and building digital competence as a by-product.
Originally posted: September 19th, 2007
Reflection upon re-reading and re-posting:
I remember laboring over the semantics of my title for this post. I used the word ’spectrum’ then changed it to ‘continuum’ and then back to ’spectrum’. The reason I stuck with ’spectrum’ is because the competence and exposure to technology that students face today are not uniform as a continuum may suggest. Students can have very narrow bands, or very wide arrays, of knowledge or expertise when it comes to their use of technology. So if I were to make the post title into a statement it would be:
Rather than a Digital Native/Digital Immigrant dichotomy,
students have a wide spectrum of digital competence
positively correlating to their digital exposure.
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I’ll save the conversations around assessment, pedagogy and standardized testing for another day.
Comments on the original post:
David,You always do such a great job of bringing things together, focusing on what is truly important and not the chaff. Schools and school jurisdictions are slow moving in so many ways. They are not adept at recognizing change or at responding to that change. This, at times, has been a very useful such as when bandwagon ideas and such were not able to make big headway. However, we have come to a time when change is necessary and vital to our ability to prepare students to transition to that place we call world. Unfortunately we cannot continue to wait until everyone has reached stage 3 or 4 as outlined by Prensky because, as you point out, our students aren’t even there. With the shifting sands of technology, I don’t believe we will ever get there. Educators will need to become comfortable with being uncomfortable, with change being a constant and not having all the answers. When we realize that we, too, can be borglike if we but allow ourselves the opportunity to revel in the change and not fear it, helping our students will become synonymous with helping ourselves. Keep writing, David. You have a gift for sifting and finding that nugget. Btw, I’d like to try the book club idea again. Interested?
Thanks for your kind words Kelly!“Educators will need to become comfortable with being uncomfortable, with change being a constant and not having all the answers.” What a great point. We expect our students to change, grow, and be lifelong learners… should we not do the same!Yes, I would like to try the book club again, and yes we can make it work this time… but I need a couple more weeks before I can think of opening a book for pleasure. Do you have any in mind?
David Truss on Thursday, 20 September 2007, 08:32 CEST
The Borg! Resistance is futile – therefore we all will be assimilated into the Web2.0…I am neither immigrant nor native – I am an illegal alien and loving it!
David,You certainly have a great take and grasp on the issues education faces, especially in regards to technology in and out of the classroom. I’ve enjoyed so much, your “thoughts”.Isn’t that what it is all about? Whether it be a violin, a pen or a mouse – this interaction with ourself, the fertilizing of ourself to bring more splendour and light into the world?We are doing that here, you are doing it so well with your blog. It is your violin. I enjoyed the stories so much and you’ve inspired me and I think I’ll start a story of the day on my own site – stories for teachers.I’m gonna keep lurkin’
Spring brings new beginnings just as a school year comes to an end. As a teacher it is difficult not to be reflective in June.
Special moments remembered, peppered lightly with what could have been, and never transpired. The nostalgia seems to loom more so this year as I contemplate a move after my nine-year career in a single school.
Two things I have come to realize: I have been fortunate to have worked with some amazing people in an amazing school, and it is time to move on.
My stint has not been without changes:
• the school changed from a 7-9 Junior High, to a 6-8 Middle School
• 2 principals and 6 different vice principals
• only 3 teachers have been there longer than I have
• I have taught in 6 different classrooms
• I’ve taught 2 different grades
• I’ve been both a Humanities and a Math/Science teacher
• I’ve only repeated my same course load twice in 9 years
My stint has not been without challenges: With a wonderful student dying in her sleep days after she finished Grade 9, and job action (twice), being two of the more emotionally draining experiences.
Yet my stint at this school has been wonderful in so many ways. Imagine being hired right out of the education program and put into a school with 13 other brand new teachers – about half the teaching staff! We had an unbelievable year of learning from each other. Every time you walked into another teacher’s room you were ‘wow-ed’ by what you saw… and in the spirit of learning, there wasn’t a sense of one-ups-man-ship that can happen in such a situation, but rather a desire to offer an equally engaging experience in your own classroom. The people I shared those early teaching experiences with are now my closest friends.
And now it is time to move on. I said that four, three, two years ago, and last year too, and still find myself at the same school because it has offered me so much, and yet this time I am sure that I will find another ‘home’.
I have posted on a few very different High School jobs, including English/Socials in a Gifted Program, a Math 9/10 position, a Planning 10 and Graduation Transition Coordination position, and a Leadership/PE/Student Services position… each one desirable for many differing, but equally intriguing reasons. I already know that I won’t be offered the first one, thankfully as it will also be taught with Grade 12 English, (which I have no desire to teach). I was encouraged to apply for that job by a parent of a gifted student in my class going into the program, that in itself was a wonderful compliment. I have just spent some time preparing for interviews, happening tomorrow, for the next two jobs I posted for. I have a passion for Math, and know that I would enjoy focusing all of my attention into one subject area… (hopefully with some access to technology:-) I would also love the opportunity to contribute to the developing Graduation Transitions Program in a school, and perhaps use wikis to coordinate some of the large scale school-wide events organized in order to meet the graduation requirements of every student. Also, I would be interested in implementing an e-portfolio into the Planning 10 course. The final posting would include teaching Leadership at a High School, a position I have wanted to do for years, and something that would make my Grade 5 Leadership/Transition Retreats easier to expand into a district initiative next year.
It is a bit boggling that my interests could take me in so many different directions, and yet I feel ready for which ever path I have the opportunity to follow.
I have also been reflecting on this blog over the past while. It has been wonderful documenting my trials, tribulations, and triumphs over the past few months, and the cathartic nature of blogging is one that I can no longer do without. I teach, therefore I blog. However, I have slowly realized that I am a slow-blogger who creates posts in a crock pot, not a pressure cooker. Recently, I have found it hard to write, and for that matter hard to engage in reading blogs. I have had a few tabs open for days now, with great postshalf-read. For this reason, I will be taking a small hiatus, probably fully unplugging for a while in early July. As I near that break, I can’t help but wonder how my blog will change, depending on which job I have the opportunity to hold next year?
I wonder how we manage to read the same posts, roughly around the same time. I remember your comment in my blog about finding there a link you had lost. I had also bookmarked Barbara Ganley’s post on slow-blogging for a future post. I think I belong there too. The good thing about your slow-blogging is that once you do post, I do not scan you in my RSS, I really want to slow down and read you.
Just echoing this to myself: “I teach, therefore I blog”. I want to make sure I remember it.
2. David, it has been great getting to know you through your blog. I feel that, at times, you were just around the corner and our conversations would pick up where they left off. I know that whatever direction you go, your dedication to students and learning will shine. Enjoy your well deserved time away and don’t fret about the blog – the writing will take care of itself. It always does. Take care!
These comments come from two of several bloggers whom have become my teachers and friends. I have learned from them that I don’t need a Face-to-Face encounter in order to build a meaningful relationship. What has struck me with both of them is how our digital lives have had uncanny parallels, and through commenting on my and their blogs, we have become ‘linked’ in many ways.
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This was my last post for over 2 months, I ended up taking the entire summer off. As you will see in future posts, I took the Graduation Transitions Program Coordinator position along with teaching Planning 10. Little did I know that it would be a one-semester gig before being promoted to Vice Principal.
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I think my blogging ‘voice’ changed after the break. This was a ‘last’ post in many ways for me. That said, it was a very healthy change. I think, as I look back, I see a lot of frustration, and as I look forward from this point I see a lot of hope and opportunity.
“Argue for your limitations and sure enough they are yours”
I can still get whiny that ‘things aren’t moving fast enough’ or ‘we need more resources’, but in the end what I seek are opportunities for our students to soar and I can’t do that when I’m assuming limitations that prevent this from happening.
After an incident delayed getting feedback from my students until last Monday, things got extremely busy with preparation for the Renaissance Fair and my Grade 5 Transition Retreats [the subject of a future post]. All this included 3 afternoons out of my classroom at other functions… I blinked and it was Friday afternoon. And only now have I noticed that not everyone has given me feedback yet. What I do see there is very encouraging.
I have just given my students the opportunity to study any topic they choose in Science for their wiki pages we just started. Short of one pair of overachievers (that I mentioned in my blog), the group seems very apathetic.
However I think “choose your own topic” can be very difficult for students who have spent years being fed criteria checklist style assignments. I am constructing a post now (in my mind- & hopefully on my blog this long weekend) that looks at the pedagogy involved in such assignments. As Carolyn says (above), “it’s easier if the content comes first and then they are using the technology to communicate the content.” …But I think it is more than that, it is setting clear objectives, ‘ownership’ of the criteria, and clear expectations around expected outcomes… So much to consider!
I think that I am guilty of seeing the value of using technology in guiding learning, but not effectively guiding learning in my technology use.
Carolyn Foote, mentioned above also added this comment after mine:
These situations are ones I see frequently as a librarian as I mentioned.
But I think most of us, if told we can research anything we want, might be stumped for a little while if it was that open ended. I think that you’re right about setting clear objectives.
And I think it is more than just the fact that kids are used to having defined assignments. Even the assignment to “do whatever you want” is still an assignment–it’s not their own motivation driving them, it’s ours.
I think somewhere in there, we all know what we’d like to know more about, but it’s hard to start that “cold”. I think any kind of prompts, strategies, and discussion we can use to help students start thinking about their own interests is helpful.
Having them clip newspaper or magazine articles on some topics ahead of time—having them bookmark three websites that interest them ahead of time–brainstorming with the whole class–all these are strategies that help them get started on realizing they do have interests.
Carol Kuhlthau has some interesting work on the research process, and part of what she talks about are the emotional stages students/all of us go through during the research process. The anxiety at the beginning of a project and inability to think of something is one of the normal stages she defines. We all get more confident as we catch on to an idea and then start researching it, and our motivation gets stronger to do more. I think her work is really helpful in helping understand how students feel and why they don’t perform the way we might expect, especially in the beginning stages, and why they need some scaffolding to internalize the process.
This is brilliant feedback. It isn’t rocket science for a seasoned teacher that really should know this, but scaffolding that is student directed is something we should all be reminded of from time-to-time. I think that in my excitement to get things started, and my desire to have students choose their own topic, I let technology supersede pedagogy.
Reading the Science Alive feedback now I realize that the comments above are fuel to make a good project great. The students loved Science Alive, and choosing their own topic was a huge highlight. Add a healthy dose of scaffolding, a little better structure with respect to time lines and expectations, and a few experts to help us out along the way, and we have a delicious recipe for one heck-of-a project pie.
I intended to put some student feedback highlights here, but I won’t. If you are interested, READ THEIR WORDS.
Here is a very short summary:
• Students really liked this project. Some of them considered it the best ever!
• They loved that they got to choose their own topics.
• They felt challenged.
• They hated the issues we had dealing with crappy computers, and yet they were willing work through the frustration.
• They thought this was a valuable experience… so much so that many of them wanted to do another similar project and/or suggested that I should do this again next year.
• And finally, using their words: They enjoyed being able to share their ideas, “What I am most proud of the most from the page is when I was how I typed out information to let others read it and learn from what I learned,” and being able to see what others did, “I thought this was a great project because it was always fun, and when you needed inspiration, it was easy to just click on someone else’s page, and see all the neat stuff that they’ve done, and then it makes you want to make your page just as good (or, it did for me).” Also another student commented about how a different group’s project touched him, “I learned a lot of stuff over the period of time that was given. I especially enjoyed learning about the diabetes because my aunt has diabetes so it was interesting to see what she goes through and how she’s affected”.
I’m proud of my students and I am very happy with our first attempt at creating wikis. I believe that for many of my students we truly did bring Science Alive!
What I will focus on now are the comments that can give me perspective on my teaching, and on doing a project such as this in the future. Three key things come to mind, the first of which has already been discussed.
1. Scaffolding
Here are some comments: [Their words/spelling/grammar, no editing on my part. Students can't edit a Discussion topic like they can their wiki page.]
“Next time I would give us students not necessarily more time, but more of a guideline of what you want our final project to be. Rather then it being ‘we become experts’, a guideline that would help us in seeing our destination of a final product.”
“For some groups, I don’t think they knew what to do first and how, so maybe there could be more guidence on the Scientific Method.”
“The advice I would give you to improve this project would probably be to have more criteria and guidelines and really help people on what experiment they have chosen.”
“Next time it’ll be a bit better if you gave us an idea of how the “final product” should be like”
“I would suggest doing a little less conferencing, but just maybe asking people how they’re doing informally, and maybe narrowing the topic you can choose just a little (there are so many options that it’s a little overwhelming, in my opinion).”
“The only thing that I would change about this project is as much as I did love the freedom I would have helped a little bit if you had givin us a brief overview of what you wanted to finished product to be. I think this would be good because some people did not even know what to start with on there page. Other than that I thoroughly enjoyed this project.”
Since Carolyn made some great topic development suggestions above, I will look more at some other ideas.
I realize now that I didn’t really give them enough of an outline. This is a challenge for topics like this… especially in a middle school where the students are still young. So many times in my teaching career I have shown a creative exemplar to students and then had a dozen photocopy-like replicas handed in. Also, in all honesty, I didn’t really know what to expect from my students and so it was hard to tell them what it was I expecting! I think that if I spent more time getting them involved with their topic and exploring possibilities early on, some of this stress would have been alleviated.
I did a lot of conferencing with groups and discussing ideas, but often I didn’t relate this back to specific things I wanted to see on their page. [Notice the control-freak teacher in me said "specific things I wanted to see" rather than suggestions that would enhance their learning. This is a learning curve for me as well as them.]
One frustration for me was that I taught Science for just 40 min. classes (a first for me this year having taught 80 min. classes in previous years). Take away login and log out times and sometimes it seemed that I would have just 2 or 3 really good conversations about projects and the class would be over.
Here is a very interesting comment:
“We faced a few challenges like the one that really affected us mentally, this was when we found out that Mr. Truss didn’t like our ideas but it turned out that; that comment fueled our fire to prove him wrong. It was rather difficult figuring out what exactly Mr. Truss wanted out of us for this project but in the same way it made us interested even more in the project because he left us hanging he let us figure most of it out on our own. “
The specific thing that I didn’t like in this case was that the experiment that they wanted to do had way too much variability and opportunity for chance to influence their results… this group did the experiment they wanted to do it anyway. Although I don’t think it was a great decision, I am glad they realized that I really did give them a choice.
The task at hand is to offer support to those that need it, and challenge those that don’t – not much different than any other project. The difference from other projects is that criteria is very hard to offer when you open up a project and allow everyone to demonstrate their learning in different ways. (Note Gabriela Sellart’s and Claudia Ceraso’s comments on my Some Assembly Required post- found in the reflection section.)
More from my students:
“Another thing that I really liked about this project was that there were very few guid lines and know that we have finished the project it feels like we did everything with almost no help at all.”
“This one has definitely been different from the other projects I have done because, the other projects I have done in the past were ‘assigned’, and very directed, you had a topic chosen by the teacher and that’s what you did. This one had more choice and a sense of freedom, even if you chose the topic, you were still responsible for completion. But having chosen something you’re interested in, it makes the project more fun to do.”
Scaffolding not instructions and criteria lists.
2. Time Line
“I think we should have gotten a due date, so we know when to get the project done in time.”
“I would tell the classes the timeline for the experiment, if they have a rough timeline, maybe they’d know how to space out their experiments and project idea’s making everything more even.”
I had no idea how long this project would take. It went longer than it should, but I wanted to give ample notice when I finally did choose a date. Looking back, I gave the students notice on a Monday that it was due the following week Friday, then gave them until the following Monday… a lot of time! Yet, the lack of a stated completion date really seemed to bother students. I would love to see students keep updating their projects even now- why can’t they continue to pursue their interests? However, in the future I will start with a specific due date. Will this light the fire under students’ seats and get many of them on task, and/or more focussed, sooner? I don’t really know?
3. Experts
“I think it was better to have a chance to meet experts really, so we can learn more and be interested in things we are researching.”
I had students research who were experts in their fields and intended to have them contact some of these people. Reality sunk in when I realized that I didn’t know these adults and I would have Grade 8 students contacting strangers directly. In the future, I would want to create a specific contact page for field experts to use to contact us. Then I could route initial contact through me. I would also notify parents that this would be happening well in advance of doing it. I think that this could happen in a safe way if it is well thought out, not flying by the seat of my pants as I was doing in this first attempt.
I could also have used some experts of my own. I’ll point again to Brian Crosby’s Learning is Messy post, Working, Breathing, Reproducible, Intriguing Models and once again beg for a Web2.0 service like Fieldfindr. (I created this mock site in February and it has had over 1,200 visits since the middle of March… who can make this a reality?
Grades
So being neglectful and completely guilty of not creating any rubric or marking scheme for this project, you might wonder how will I mark this project?
I plan on sitting down with each group over the next little while and coming to an agreed upon mark with them. I will ask them, “How have you shown me higher order thinking skills?” and then we will have a discussion. Their written feedback (or lack of it) will play into this as well. In the end, I am starting to believe more and more that we should abolish marks altogether.
Imagine giving a ‘C’ to a student who writes:
“What I enjoyed right away was the fact that we could pick virtually what ever topic that we wanted to. This to me put a whole new spin on things. All of the sudden you are interested in what you are researching and you are excited to start your experiment and find out what your results are going to be. Another thing that I really liked about this project was that there were very few guid lines and know that we have finished the project it feels like we did everything with almost no help at all.”
Is a ‘C’ meaningful feedback? What are you telling that student about lifelong learning? What does the mark accomplish?
A Sad Note
The Renaissance Fair starts this week. Early last year I saw an Alan November webcast and decided to take the plunge with my Renaissance project… I had the students blogging! I spent hours learning how to set everything up, and more hours again developing blogging rules and lessons on using tools such as del.icio.us. The experience was wonderful! It opened my eyes to the potential of web2.0. To start off this school year I went to the computer lab and couldn’t get things going again with our out-dated computers, (Mac OS9 and web browsers that need OSX). I resorted to this wiki project after two blogging experiences failed with my students due to our lack of tools. And so, after yet another success with my wiki, here I am about to abandon the blogging aspect of my project… sad indeed
…And a Happy Note
I can’t get myself to end this post on a sad note, so I will end with a very positive observation:
This year has been cathartic for me.
• I have fully embraced using this blog as a learning tool since about November.
• I have read more and thought more about education in the last 6 months than in any given 5 years of my life.
• I am embracing technology like never before.
• I am engaging students in their learning like never before.
• I believe that we will see some (very exciting) fundamental shifts in education over the next few years.
…And Back to the Science Alive Wiki
If you have any observations that I may have missed, then feel free to be my teacher. Thanks!
Originally posted: Mary 14th, 2007
Reflection upon re-reading and re-posting:
I did get to blog with my students again for the Renaissance Fair! I negotiated with the other project teachers getting them to use the horrible computer lab for research, along with a trolley of books from the library, and I got to use the PC computer lab in the library. You will see some more reflections on this in my next post.
This post evolved into a short presentation that I did with 1-1 laptop teachers at a pro-d session recently. It is evolving into what will be the 2nd half of my 2nd presentation at BLC08, titled ‘Learning Conversations’ (named after this post).
Part 2. It is the questions we ask ourselves and our students that help make Project 2.0h’s great. This take-it-with-you powerpoint presentation will help you provide the scaffolding for engaging digital projects.
The thoughtful/reflective effort it took to write this has made this one of the most powerful things I’ve done for professional development as a teacher.
Comments on the original post:
Observations? Being your teacher? Sorry, not right now. Too busy learning from you.Thank you so much for sharing these reflections on your experiences. I am still amazed -perhaps I should not be by now- to see how similar our issues can be when integrating technology in spite of teaching different subjects with different objectives.
Your reflection goes beyond teaching science, no doubt. Perhaps that is a result from blogging to an audience of teachers at large. You have learnt how to spot the core edu-issues to be discussed.
Perhaps this happens to you as well. I find that when I am thinking, reflecting, my inner voice is talking to someone other than myself. Blog readers and commenters become part of the network of your thoughts. They help us to refine ideas, express them in a precise manner and direct them to the people who may continue developing them.
Enough. I’m afraid I am going a bit away from the post with my comment. Or perhaps we could consider this another bullet in your final Happy Note.
Wow, what an incredibly reflective post, and how lucky your students are to have you as a teacher. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on what did and didn’t work well. Your mindfulness about trying to approach this project differently and trying not to “steer” students too much was fascinating. Glad to have helped in some small way!
Dave, I really enjoyed your authentic reflection and willingness to share your learning with all of us. It is this that is probably your greatest success with this project.In terms of student learning, I agree with your conclusion around scaffolding student learning to a greater degree. you may consider presenting or exposing students to a specific concept in science like “gravity” and then encourage them to “connect” gravity with something meaningful to them (which probably will not be hard, e.g. skateboarding). This way, they will be able to narrow their focus much easier and their Wikis and/or Blogs will have a common element for which they can interact and build knowledge around the concept (gravity) across topics. Just a thought
I think you make some obvious comments around timelines, expectations and grading that are often overlooked when utilizing a new process – “I let technology supersede pedagogy”. Remember it only takes a conversation and a someone taking notes:)
Overall, from the students comments, it appeared that you made a great leap and had a very successful start to facilitating some “authentic learning” for students.
BTW, do we really need to give a grade – why can’t we just comment and question so the learning never stops!
I’ve been tagged with a “what are your secrets to a successful life” meme by Kelly Christopherson. To be honest, I was dreading being tagged by a meme… I knew it was going to come eventually, but my writing process, my flow, seldom lends itself to creating lists… they are too linear for my big picture-right brained thinking process, and they often come out very contrived. However, Kelly dedicated his post to his Grandmother, and this reminded my of a special list related to this topic that I have already written.
So I dedicate this post, (my portion of my Papa’s eulogy), to my grandfather, Leon Bernstein, March 24th, 1924 – December 4th, 2000. He really is the best role model for success that I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.
Papa B. is a Giant!
Like many of you, I know this because he told me so.
Papa wasn’t boasting when he said this, he was just
telling you the way it is. If you were to measure a
man by the legacy he leaves behind Papa would come as
big as they get. In this way he is still a giant and
always will be.
Five children, 13 grandchildren, and a growing number
of great grandchildren, currently at 5 and a half,
make quite a legacy for Papa and Granny. Papa called
his great grandkids his Third Crop. Just on Sunday he
told me, “Boy, if I knew my Third Crop was going to be
this much fun, I would have had them first.”
We all miss Leon Bernstein, Mr. B., Dad, or Papa. But
our lives are so much richer from knowing him. Like
many of you here, I never really thought of living
without him in my life before now. Yet, I feel sorry
not so much for us, but for his Third Crop, for my
daughter, who will not get to know him. I speak to you
today to share with you some of the wisdom Papa has
taught me: some wisdom that needs to be passed on to
Papa’s Third Crop.
So here are some lessons or rules that Papa lived by,
rules that made him the Giant we all know.
Rule #1 “Don’t wait for it to completely break before you fix it.”
Papa would walk into your house and see a loose tile
in the kitchen. Two days later, he would show up with
his tools and mend it before it became a problem.
There is an old saying that says, “Kill a snake when
it is small”. Papa never had to deal with large
snakes.
Rule #2 “Stuff happens, just move on.”
Papa never dwelled on bad things, he would just move
on and, “Call that Wally”. I can not remember Papa
being mad for more than five minutes. He knew there
were much more important things to focus on. Like his
favorite sports team, or making sure everyone saw the
beautiful sunset from his balcony. Or just playing
with his grand and great grand children.
Rule #3 “Don’t waste time on stupidness.”
This rule could also be called, “I look stupid to
you?” or the “What de-yass is dat?” rule. Papa didn’t
have time for stupidity. On this topic, Papa was very
expressive. He always used his time and never wasted
it. On the same note, Papa was always fixing things
and if there was a smarter way to do things, or a
short-cut to use, Papa found it. It was usually just
after one of his time saving discoveries that Papa
beamed, and would say, “Man, Papa is a Giant!”
Rule #4 “Enjoy everything you have.”
For Papa, nothing was too small to be appreciated. He
made it an art to celebrate the little things in life.
From his morning coffee and jumble puzzle to a
handmade birthday card from a grandchild, Papa
appreciated all that life had to offer.
Rule #5 “Business is business and pleasure is pleasure.”
Papa had the amazing ability to put on and take off
his business cap. He never mixed the two. He had the
knack of being small town friendly and big business
savvy without ever letting one get in the way of the
other.
Rule #6 “Be small town friendly.”
I remember going to a shopping plaza early one
morning with Papa. A woman walked pass us as we got
out of the car and she said, “Good morning”. Papa
replied, “Good morning,” and then said, “You’re from
the islands.” The woman stopped and looked up oddly at
Papa wanting to know why he thought she was from the
islands? Papa replied, “Because you said good morning,
in a big city like this, people don’t talk to
strangers in parking lots”. Turns out she was from
Trinidad. Papa loved to get to know people. From a
sales clerk, to a door attendant, to a doctor, to a
President, Papa was a magnet that people could not
help but be drawn to.
Rule #7 “Never retire.”
This is what kept Papa young and fun. He didn’t
retire…He became a tiler, a carpenter, a chauffeur, a
landlord, a banker, a fund-raiser, a board member, a
baseball coach, a plumber, a jack of all trades. He
continued to learn and to grow. He did all this
without spreading himself too thin. He did all this
keeping his family a priority, after all his main job
was as a loving husband, father, grandfather, great
grandfather, and a true friend.
Rule #8 “Smile…a lot.”
With us, his second crop, and his third crop too,
Papa could often be found, laying down on the carpet
with kids playing on and around him. His smile would
light you up. He would nap on the floor in a crowded
room, wake up and pretend to be mad for 10 seconds or
so because his grandchildren put hair ties and clips
on him. We would laugh and then you would see a glint
in Papa’s eyes and a smile that was contagious. Papa
was happiest around family and that happiness was
contagious too.
Rule #9 “Take care of your family.”
If I had to rank these rules, this would be number 1
with Papa. From fixing your toilet, to helping you at
the bank Papa was always looking out for you. As I
look around this room, I think I’d be hard pressed to
find a single person that he didn’t do more for than
they did for him. When it comes to family and friends,
he is the best role model anyone could have.
Rule #10
Always remember… “Papa is a Giant!”
Papa B’s “Crop”, July 2007. His third crop count is now 10… and will continue to grow.
Originally posted: April 14th, 2007
Reflection upon re-reading and re-posting:
It occurred to me that some of the rules such as #3 and #6 deserve a little background knowledge. My grandfather fled Poland with his Dad, Uncle and their families as a boy… they ended up in Barbados and my Papa developed a very strong ‘Bajan‘ accent. He had a great lilt to his speech and he could make a swear word sound like the melody of a song. If he said “What de-yass is dat?” it would not come off as swearing.
Also, in Barbados #3’s title, “Don’t waste time on stupidness.” would actually be said something like this: “dow-wase na-time-pun stupidness”. I always say that English is both my first and second language. When I moved to Canada absolutely nobody understood me. My sister’s accent was so strong that her teacher wanted her to go to ESL.
One final note. My Great Grandfather (ol’ Papa) and Uncle Sol tried to talk the rest of the family into joining them when they fled Poland… their response: ‘We are in the sweater business, what are we going to do in the Caribbean? The answer turned out to be ‘LIVE’! Most of the family that remained in Poland were killed in the second invasion.
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Comments on the original post:
What a Papa! How lucky to have such a treasure in your life!
A couple of whispers from the family:
‘Plant your own garden and decorate your own soul.’
If you fall, remember to pick something up.
Eve on Sunday, 15 April 2007, 18:21 CEST
Dave,
Awesome. I spent the Easter week at home with my mom. I visited with grandma several times, took her for coffee, spent time at her house, cleaned her walk and did some outside work while my kids were inside talking with her and visiting. I am always amazed at how they pick up so much and how grandma Chris tells her stories and they listen. I think that what you wrote is something that is greater than just success – it’s about life and being human. From what I can see Papa B was indeed a huge success! Have a great week Dave.
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Two Wolves Which wolf will you feed? A Remembrance Day Post
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My blog is my PhD I have given myself a Blogtorate of Philosophy.
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Bubble Wrap What we are doing is creating a facade of security, nothing more than an illusion of bubble wrap. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Who are the People in Your Neighbourhood? My (digital) neighbourhood spans the globe. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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Tuesday Nov. 6th, 2007 was going to be tough for me to get to, and through. I knew that when I accepted this job.
Background
Kelly Christopherson on Monday, 17 December 2007, 23:18 CET