I've been meaning to post some of the PD articles I've come across via Twitter, but for one reason or another (playing with the kids, correcting (not enough) papers, designing lesson plans, prepping for my two technology sessions for our last inservice, prepping my upcoming presentation for rotary . . .) I haven't gotten around to it.
So here it finally is.
I love this one: Failure is Mandatory: Creating a Culture of Innovation. In this piece the authors are talking about the importance of teachers risking failure. This is something our principal says often: "Don't be afraid to let the students see you fail or struggle."
I love that. The "Sage of the Stage" days of teaching where the teacher was the sole owner of knowledge and skills is over.
Now, we certainly should have more knowledge and skills that our students (especially in our content area), but there is something important about allowing students to bring their skills in to the class and teaching us.
I think the area where this can be done best is where our students often outshine us tenfold: technology.
Many teachers fear failure in this realm, and, thus, cling to their overhead or reading their Powerpoints or ripping off slideshows from the textbook manufacturer.
But we can model failure (and more importantly how to learn from it) in trying out new readings or materials too.
But when we play it safe, what are we really teaching our students? As Seth Godin would be quick to note, a linchpin never plays it safe.
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I stole this article, 10 Characteristics of a Highly Effective Learning Environment, and put it in my College Comp weekly syllabus.
Here they are --
1. The students ask the questions - good questions.
2. Questions are valued over answers.
3. Ideas come from a variety of sources.
4. A variety of instructional methods are used.
5. Classroom learning ‘empties’ into an authentic community.
6. Learning is personalized by a variety of criteria.
7. Assessment is persistent, authentic, transparent, and never punitive.
8. Criteria for success is balanced and transparent
9. Learning habits are constantly modeled.
10. There are constant opportunities for practice.
I asked my students, now how many of these are indicative of your classes?
Or are most classes simply drill and kill?
And why must we change that old approach? Here's why.
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Even though, I'm a huge fan of the millennial generation and this current generation, I'm all for this: Teaching a Distracted Generation to Focus.
But this isn't something only the younger generations have to worry about. I can't read a chapter in a book without thinking about what passages I'd like to share on Twitter or blog about. Likewise, if I'm at my desk and hear that 'ding' come from my desktop computer, I know that I have an email and that it needs to be checked.
Focus, unfortunately, is becoming a lost art and it's something we all could use a refresher course in.
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Twitter. Here is a link from a blogger about his top 8 Hashtags for teachers.
I think Twitter is one of the most powerful forces in education. Unfortunately, it's our students who are dominating this tool right now. And they aren't using it to its full capabilities.
I have a colleague who argues that all her students do is use it for social purposes and not for academic purposes. I think she is right. Well, mostly right. If students don't get a chance to use Twitter as part of their class, of course they will use it for social purposes.
But if you give them a chance to use it as a tool to extend a lesson or discussion, well, then they can begin to see the true potential of Twitter as a learning tool.
I set the issue up like this - in schools we teaching kids how to read. We teach them the merit and skill of analyzing complex texts like Shakespeare or The Great Gatsby.
Yet, we never expect the students to go home and - on their own - pick up another Shakespeare play or other classic text and read it. We just hope they are reading Twilight or The Hunger Games or something.
But we still teach them the skills of critical reading. We hope the skills will come in to play in college or out in the 'real world'.
Why should it be any different for technology?
I don't expect my students to use Twitter to connect to experts in other fields or to learn more about a subject. Not because they wouldn't do that. But because I don't think they're really aware that it's possible. But one day down they might.
Just last week I had students read the third chapter of The Dumbest Generation and post their thoughts and observations on Twitter with the #dumbestgen205.
Interestingly, I had one student, who is not in my class, tweet that she looked forward to the Twitter discussions from our class because they were interesting.
Next, a student from another town was wondering what exactly was going on with every one posting message with #dumbestgen205 in it. Obviously, this student was unaware of a couple things. First, that Twitter can be used to foster discussions and observations outside of the classroom. Second, how a hashtag actually works.
Once one of my students explained the assignment, the student thought it was cool and now understood a new aspect of Twitter.
Then I had several former students chime in on our Twitter discussion to share their perspectives.
Not too shabby for a home work assignment! It sure as hell beats worksheets and crossword puzzles!
The next day in class, I had students listen to a podcast featuring the author of The Dumbest Generation. In the past, I had students post their rapid reactions to the podcast on a site called Wiffiti, which allows students to send textmessages to it and then they appear right on the screen. But Wiffiti was not working properly, so we had to improvise.
I thought of a really cool tool that two of my previous College Comp 2 students showed me, Tweetgrid, that allows you to monitor several Twitter 'streams' for either individual Tweeters or for hashtags.
Here is what we did. I took a screen capture and used Skitch to comment on it.
The left column is a hashtag of anyone who has tweeted at me. In it you'll find a former student who is now at school in Mankato taking part in the discussion. The middle column is made up of tweets from the previous night. The right column is tweets pertaining to the podcast. Pretty cool.
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This one isn't education related, but it's an amazing example of the power of the love of parents for their son: Parents work round the clock to keep the song alive with homemade ventilator.
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Here is an interesting read on 10 Reasons Why Educators Should Encourage Independent Learning.
Isn't this obvious?
When I think back to all of the best stuff I've ever learned, I would say 90% of it occurred either independently or out of school.
The TED Talks I love so much were all discovered one summer while I was trying to put interesting stuff on my iPod to listen to while mowing the lawn.
I thought about keeping this blog for a number of months. Then I spoke with my friend Eric, who keeps an awesome blog, and before I knew it, I was spending hours on my own setting it up and posting my thoughts.
The horror novels I devoured in high school (The Tommyknockers, Pet Sematary, I Am Legend, Something Wicked This Way Comes, At the Mountains of Madness, The Doll Who Ate His Mother, Danse Macabre) were all done outside of class or during the summer.
So when we learn what is most relevant to use outside of class or independently, why don't we build more of this into our curriculum?
I think - hands down- one of the best things I came up with (independently, too, ha ha) for my College Comp 2 class was the remarkable assignment.
As I was reading Seth Godin's Linchpin (independently, again), I realized it would be great to use in CC 2. I spoke to our principal and he said I could order them on one condition: I had to order him a copy too!
The main point of the book is the importance of becoming a linchpin (someone who is so remarkable at what they do that they cannot be outsourced). Then it hit me: why don't I have my students create something remarkable.
But since time was winding down, I tweaked it a bit. I charged them with submitting a project that was remarkable, an assignment that would wow me or show off all their talents.
The first assignment was a student baking her special brand of chocolate chip cookies for the class. Then she brought in the actual dessert, which she actually modeled it after a dessert she and her family ordered while on vacation, and set it on my desk. It was a red hot skillet with a large chocolate chip cookie in it, with a large scoop of ice cream on top. As I ate the cookie, the ice cream melted onto it to form an absolutely delicious dessert.
Another student decided that teachers and staff members don't get enough thank yous. So she took several hours to write personalized thank you notes (handwritten by the way) to every teacher, cook, secretary, and janitor in our school.
Others students modeled their science fair experiments. One student performed a piano recital. Another submitted her letter stating she was a finalist for a Presidential Scholarship. And on and on and on.
I wanted students to discover the areas that they are remarkable and then to share that with our class. I think when all was said and done, we had a healthy admiration for our variety of skills and we also felt confident in our own skills and passions.
All of these projects were done independently of my class. And many of them were not even school related. As I looked through them all, I realized the importance of independent work and discovery.
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And this is an excellent question. Though I bet they said the same thing about writing language down and the printing press and the radio and the television.
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