Inquiry - Classrooms like an Airport - Part one

One of the issues for many teachers, when considering an inquiry approach to learning, is the concern that many students are simply ill-equipped or incapable of taking control of their own learning. There seemed to us to be many learners who just don't, or can't, be motivated enough to inquire without us pushing and prodding them along. It seems great for about half our class, we reflect, but what about the rest? An inquiry approach just doesn't seem to work for them.

Every teacher wants to engage every student in their class. I think it's very easy for us to look at our class and only see failure if every student isn't totally absorbed and self motivated. What I'd like to propose is another way to view success for our students - that is to view our inquiry based classrooms like an airport.

Every airport has a bustle of activity with planes of different sizes, capacity, speed capabilities and destinations all taking off, landing, refueling and grounded for 'maintenance'. Every one of our students have developed varying skills, competencies and apptitudes for curiosity and I think it's helpful to describe three different types of students as flying in different roles and different types of planes. (I'm sure you'll be impressed with the lengths that I'm willing to go to develop this analogy...)

The Fighter Plane Pilot

This student seems to refill with rocket fuel every time they land in our classes. They are extremely easy to motivate, they are extremely adaptable and reflective and can adjust their flight plan during their inquiry with very little difficulty. It's often likely that a teacher will only need to check in with them occassionally (they are so self sufficient) to guide, facilitate and direct their flight when needed. The fighter plane also creates enormous thrust and energy to the rest of the airport and it's easy for other planes get swept up in their enthusiasm.

The Boeing 747 Pilot

These students take a little more time to refuel and build up speed. They can take some support and guidance, even when in flight, and regularly land for loading and unloading. The great thing about these students is their ability to take a number of passengers with them (described below). They are very capable of leading a group in getting to a destination while sharing the experience along the way. These pilots tend to take one direction and rely on a teacher's control tower as they pick up skills and competencies along the way.

The Passenger

The Passenger students are the ones taking the journey with one of the Boeing Pilots. They haven't really developed the apptitude to pilot an inquiry but do benefit from being a part of the journey and getting to the destinations. Occasionally these students will listen to the Pilot announce over the intercom, they may visit the cockpit from time to time but will mostly sit back, absorb the experience and enjoy the ride.

The Terminal Sitter

These students are those that prefer to watch planes fly in and out of the airport and generally people watch. They rarely travel anyway, are satisfied to be a part of the hustle and bustle, will follow airport rules and customs and unfortunately do the bare minimum required to be able to stay (move around the airport to avoid security and even carry fake luggage to blend in with the crowd).

What I'm becoming comfortable with is allowing students to engage in Inquiry at their level. It's my role as a teacher to equip, guide and inspire them to travel further (I want to write about the teachers role in part two) but we shouldn't allow terminal sitters to hold back the fighter planes and the Boeing Pilots - we need THEM to fly higher so they can provide momentum and lift for the rest of the airport.

I think that airports are fantastic places - they're full of energy and excitement. People arrive and land with freedom and generally, a high level of self responsibility. To many an airport could seem almost like chaos but we all know the incredibly high level of supervision and guidance that makes it safe for all of us.

I also think it's extremely important for our classrooms to have both of components of responsiblity and guidance. Students should be able to take off in their own directions and land when they need support. Equally, I think that our classrooms should allow for students to have those safety guidelines that keep all learners safe.

We should, then, develop a classroom that allows every learner to fly in their own manner; both where they want to go, how they could get there and with the help and support they need.

An energetic, orderly and diverse airport of learners.

(Photos used under Creative Commons License - sourced from Flickr.com)

Inquiry Presentation

This is the slideshare I'll be sharing as the conclusion (if there is such a thing) to my engagement inquiry. It's been a process of pulling together the parts and isn't exactly staggering or ground breaking. I guess that's not the aim of a teacher inquiry but more to help us improve our own teaching and learning.

Student Engagement

View more documents from riverdaleschool.

Where would I like to go next?

I met with our Principal and some people from the Ministry last week. They're involved in creating a government project that helps schools with their LMS and efolio platforms. One topic that came up was the lack of academic research (evidential) into the benefits of e-learning and digital tools for student learning - anywhere.

That's a pretty hefty elephant sized bite to take but it's captured my attention.

No hands classroom

We all know the difficulty in keeping some students engaged in a lesson or activity. There's often one or two who sit on the edge and regularly 'switch off'. My mission this year has been to try engaging ALL of the students, ALL of the time. A very lofty goal, I know.

One little technique which has certainly made a difference is having, as much as possible, a 'No hands classroom' philosophy. Intrigued?

As teachers, we are always answering hands, whether its in a whole class or small group situation. It's like we're addicted to the illusion of engagement that it creates. There are always students in the class who answer everything and, to be honest, we all notice when they are away. These students are always thinking, always contributing to the class and gaining a large amount of esteem in the process. This is not bad, for them, but has a debilitating effect on those around them.

The students either side of the 'hyper engaged' realise that 'Martha' will answer the question so why should they even think for themselves. They have a waving hand hosted to the roof, the teacher wants to maintain the energy in the room by asking enthusiastic students and the cycle of disengagement is continued. What's worse is that, for those switched off students, the disengagement becomes like a learned helplessness which creates a situation where research has shown that in any class there are 30% or more students who are simply 'doing time'.

A 'no hands' classroom would strive to have every student thinking, discussing and sharing their ideas at all times. Here are some techniques to help those of us who are 'hands' addicted.

1. Simply enforcing the 'no hands rule'.
When a teacher first tells a class that we won't be having hands up today (or, even worse, ever) it can be very confusing for everyone. Students and teachers have had years of this behaviour ingrained. Teachers can remind students but the enforcement largely lies with us.

2. Have students sitting next to a 'thinking buddy'.
When we want students to think for themselves about something it's very motivating to have someone to share that thinking with. Ask a question, have them share with their buddy and then ask them to report back to the class.

3. Get good at sometimes asking kids who do and sometimes those who might not look engaged.
This sounds mean and can backfire. What happens when they're not listening? It sometimes has an embarrassing effect and can draw kids in by the fear of being asked. It all depends on how we react. I try to be light hearted and 'invite' the student to join in. It usually works but the opposite happens when I'm negative and 'scold' the student.
nb - It can turn into a game as the already engaged students get good at 'faking' not listening and then trick you into asking them!

Like every teaching technique, you have to have a balance in your approach. I think there are times when asking hands up IS appropriate. The challenge for me this term is to engage more of the students, more of the time by having - no hands...

(1st image - http://www.usaref.org)

Formative Assessment for the digital learner.

For quite a while I've been wishing for a way to 'marry' the formative practice we have in our class with the digital environment we work in. At the moment the students often use a matrix that guides through a process of steps in an inquiry or presentation they are preparing.

These matrices , either written by me or co-constructed, are usually word processed and posted on the wall. The students put their name, face or group names on the level they are working at, whether it is at the novice, apprentice, practitioner or expert. This has been a great way for them to monitor their progress, justify why they are where they are and work out what they need to do to get better.

I've wanted, though, to be able to 'digitalise' this process so they can access the matrix from home, record their progress in their 'e-folio's and be able to regularly access it from where ever they are working (They are often working in different classrooms and learning spaces around the school).

Google to the Rescue!

Our school has rapidly turned into a flagship 'Google' enterprise. We've adopted Gmail and Google sites and we're slowly building up the wide spread practice of staff using and sharing docs, sites and Blogger blogs.


This evening my eye was drawn to a link (on twitter... say no more) to a google presentation called,
'Twenty uses for Google Docs in the classroom'.
Thanks to @Jedd (Jedd Bartlet) I was able to see the possibilities of the sharing tool for drawing students into collaborative projects.
The ideas are great! Everything from working on presentations together to adding data on spreadsheets and graphing the results to, what REALLY caught my imagination, creating collaborative 'revision lists' (idea #15).

The example shows the students names listed across the top of the spreadsheet and the tasks or criteria down the left. The key at the bottom indicates the students progress in each criteria and the cells were coloured as appropriate throughout the process by the students!

This is fantastic, I thought. Finally a way for the students to work in a collaborative way on a formative, digital, assessment matrix. But...how would we share this matrix with our learning community? We would want to post our progress on our e-folios? This is my goal for the term - to share our learning progress as well as our product.

Enter Google search! A simple question search ('Can I embed a google doc / spreadsheet into a blogger blog?) led quickly to this blog post.
- 'Google docs and spreadsheets in your blog.'
Here the author posts some easy steps to doing just that - publishing any Google doc as html code and embedding it into a Blogger blog post. What's even more exciting is that the embedded version is not a static jpg image but a movable document with your arrow keys or mouse; great for large docs on a small post space. This is a quick version of the type of thing I want to try and an example of it embedded into a blog.



It shouldn't surprise me that what I've imagined would be useful has already been created and shared. It's also continued to confirm to me that our decision to run with Google has been the right one for our school.

Have I created the matrix for the class to run with? Not yet. Am I keen to try?... You betcha!

Engagement Ideas for Fractions

I'm a huge fan of using digital tools in the learning process but I'm equally passionate about children being outside, active and getting their hands on things.

I hated being told, 'Don't touch!' when I was younger. I still do. It bugs me, then, when I hear myself saying it to students in the classroom. This week I've made an extra effort to get outside and let the children 'loose' with some P.E equipment to solve a fraction based problem.

This activity required the pairs of students to
arrange their 'sheep' (the cones) into three equal paddocks. They could move the 'electric fences' (skipping ropes) inside the farm and put the sheep where they thought they could go. It became a great way for the group to encounter fractions for the first time this without even knowing it.

The group then followed this with another 'farm' that needed 15 Lhamas (frisbees, and you can use your imagination) divided up amongst three paddocks. The thinking led us to discover 1 third, 2 thirds and then 3 thirds of 15. They were then able to draw their thinking in chalk on the pavement.



Another small group technique I've started is something I've used for writing groups. It's amazing how motivated students are when they have a whiteboard pen in their hand!

Each student has a laminated white sheet to draw and show their thinking. I do, however, have to confess to using, "3.2.1 hands off!" to regain their attention but the increase in student focus has been amazing to see.




The last development to our maths programme has been the use of an online quiz from Proprofs Quiz School. This is an application that you can embed into a website or blog that records a students results, is incredibly easy to construct and enables embeded video and images.

The quiz tells you when you have answered correct or otherwise and you are given a certificate of achievement at the end. This week I had a relatively low achiever in maths email me his result because he scored 100%. I was able to show him how to email a jpeg version to his Grandad and his face literally shone.

It's amazing me how much progress the entire class has made in a short time we have been learning about fractions. What I'm noticing, so far, is that nearly ALL of the students are achieving success but it does come at a cost.

The reading I've made into student engagement has suggested that there is a difference between engagement and compliance. Some research shows that compliance results in co-operation while engagement results in learning.

It's great to see these activities drawing otherwise detached students into their maths.

Student Motivation Survey

This week I surveyed my class about how engaged and motivated they thought they were (my teacher inquiry this year is on student engagement within a maths context. The format I used was an online survey called Survey Monkey. It's amazingly easy to set up, free and very interactive (exactly what we expect in our rather spoilt, Web 2.0 existence). The results were far from shocking, in fact, they were quite reassuring.


I asked the students a range of questions on topics such as how much they thought they were learning and what helped them stay focused and motivated. Here were some snapshot statements on the results.

- Nearly 80% think they are mostly or always motivated to learn in class.

- 67% think that computers mostly or always motivate them to learn and 73% think that the
computer has helped them learn.

- 84% find hands on activities help them stay motivated during maths small groups.

- The highest rated options to alter small group maths times were
- hands on activities,
- increased time,
- more web based tools / interactives.

The idea that hands on learning and digital environments increase student engagement are not new by any stretch. This survey has, then, validated and encouraged me to continue along the path our class is on.

There were some results, however, that are contrary to what research tells us. The class rated 'Knowing the reason why we are learning something' as the least likely to motivate and engage them. Maybe I haven't promoted this aspect enough in class for them to experience the benefits? Perhaps, also, they don't feel like they have had the permission in the past to ask or even think why.

So, how will this impact my teaching?

- More Hands ON activities?
- More Digital Tools?
- More TIME?

Tikatok Journal

We're back to school this week. It's always a good time to start a new project and I'm hoping to inspire the student's creativity and writing voice with an online journal. It's going to be hand written and drawn but downloaded digitally using Tikatok. Here's the first of my own example - it's just the title page. More to come.

Skype in Classrooms

I became a fan of Skyping when my parents moved to Russia for work. It's amazing how, at the end of a skype call with them you really do feel as if they have just popped around for a visit. It's almost as if you don't miss them quite as much because, 'We see them all the time.' We often have the kids show them a toy they just bought, do a dance or piano recital and one time Dad took us for a tour of their apartment with an extra long laptop cord.

This term our class had some ebuddies set up with a teacher in Alabama, USA. We set up a combined wiki to pose some questions and used the skype call as a motivation to teach the students questioning and conversational skills - we even had co-constructed a success matrix to help us write some open questions (a skill that we have much road to travel on!)

The Skype calls were a huge success, in terms of a rich learning experience. We learnt a lot about questioning, how to have a conversation and were even opened up to the obvious cultural diversity that exists, even between two western countries; the students in Alabama were quite taken with the fact that a lot of our children wear bare-feet all day, quite unheard of for them.

Next term we are looking to use Skype for some research into our 'biotechnology' inquirys - as well as renewing our connection with Alabama! I'm setting up a media room in the corner of the class that has our school logo behind the camera and a sliding door to block out some noise. It's all very exciting and helps us to achieve a goal for this year - to branch out of our four walls and connect with the outside world, even if that means digitally as well as physically.

Here's a fantastic set of links to skype in the classroom related resources from Teachingdegree.org

This video is an excellent introduction to the world of Skype. Thanks to sayitvisually for the upload and Richard Byrne for the link (Freetech4teachers).



(Photo above used under Creative Commons, by Shareski, from Flickr.com)

Tech exciting teachers AND students?

I'm absolutely passionate and excited about the elearning revolution slowly sweeping through schools and classrooms. I guess this is because I'm part of the infinite 'edu blogging' revolution and I regularly try to integrate technology into my classroom practice.

Last year I was fortunate to go to the New Zealand 'ULearn' Conference and have the top blown off my professional development programme. Anyone who has been to these types of conferences knows the buzz they create in connecting with like minded people. This post, by Angela Maiers (one of my favourite bloggers), gives some benefits of these conferences for teachers
- meeting and developing your PLN
- a chance to reflect on your own and others classroom practice and beliefs
- being 'warmed' and surrounded by so many other similarly enthused people
- sharing and gathering tools and strategies for your classroom
- catching or reviving a passion for learning

Sometimes I wonder, however, whether this passion and enthusiasm for tech integration is shared amongst our students as much as it is with some teachers (and I write 'some' because there are many who are decidedly tepid about it, which I'm becoming okay about... slowly).

This wondering is heightened when our class seems just as enthused by a new packet of coloured felts for our modeling books as they are with a new application on our class blogsite. Recently they were given the choice to communicate their science learning digitally or by traditional 'Tri-board' and the class was split. 50/50. I guess that not every student will walk away from traditional methods in our classrooms. To them they are just another option.

What I have also noticed is that the students who DO get excited by a digital environment are the ones who, traditionally, have been the most likely to be those disengaged with the learning. They are the boys, the lower achievers and those whose interests are quite different from their teachers and peers. This has GOT to be a huge benefit to the classroom as a whole - for the atmosphere, the building of a classroom learning community and, at the very least, the reduction of time spent on behaviour management.

I don't think that elearning will always excite every student. Neither will it , I'm willing to accept, empassion every teacher. What I think it is achieving at the moment is to draw those disengaged students into a new world of achievement and success. A world that's pretty foreign to many.

What I'd like to see more of in the future is the type of conference that would inspire students through peer sharing as much as those that do this for teachers. It's an interesting potential.

(Above photo used under Creative Commons, by 'superkimbo in BKK', sourced from Flickr)

Replacing the 'dis'.

I often listen to podcasts while I run. Dr Gaston Weizs podcast, 'School Psychology', has some great insights in basic behavioural psychology that relates to the classroom.

One podcast described the reasons for challenging behaviours. Dr Weizs describes the behaviour as being a learned action that someone uses because it gets them a desired result. He says that we do what we do because of the three 'E's' - it's easy, efficient and effective. This is to say that the student 'acts out', for example, because it's their first reaction, it gets the desired attention and then the desired result.

The majority of behaviour management in schools is precisely that; management. How often do we simply deal with a negative behaviour after it happens, 'mop' up the damage and dish out the punishment. And then we foolishly believe that the student will learn something from the episode.

Dr Weizs suggests that we should be teaching the student to 'replace' the negative behaviour with something that is equally the three 'Es' but much more positive and socially acceptable.

I can already think of how this approach might be successful with one student who continually challenges authority if he believes he is being dealt an injustice - no matter how small or insignificant and in a disproportionate manner. We already have an arrangement where he reflects on an incident afterwards and I think our next step is to construct a strategy that will replace his outbursts with something equally easy, efficient and effective.

The more challenging behaviour to replace is a student's disengagement from the learning process, the topic of my teacher inquiry this year. If I was to apply the three 'Es' to this behaviour (as a way of understanding the action more deeply than, 'They are just lazy!') could I, perhaps, be on a journey to helping the student replace this disengagment with engagement?

Maybe a way forward will involve some conversation time with the students involved. My instinct tells me that the disengagement is a learned behaviour that has developed from a lack of confidence, a fear of failure and low self efficacy.

I'm sure there will be some interesting conversations around the corner.

Photo left used under Creative Commons License from 'Foreversouls', sourced from flickr.com. Image above from http://drweisz.blogspot.com/

Powerpoint no nos.

Our class often uses a powerpoint presentation during 'QNews', our research and oral language activity. We use a matrix that guides the students to using them effectively and it includes things like having no more than five words per slide.

I think that teaching students to use visuals when they communicate something is so critical in getting a message across. My belief made for some interesting debate with other teachers last year when I raised the idea of having ppts as part of our senior speech competition - you can imagine the points for and against.

This video has some classic ppt mistakes and it always amazes me how many adults fail to stick to some basic rules.

Student Engagement - Not my problem?

My teacher inquiry context for this year is around the issue of student engagement. Shortly I'll be posting my official plan (which, apparently I'll change anyway) which has an outline of what I'm planning to do, what the research has told me so far and so on.

A conversation I had today with a teacher I respect started me thinking about the level of responsibility I have towards ensuring students stay on task and motivated during the day. I have often reflected at the end of the day and almost felt a 'weight' or burden over a student's lack of focus. It's easy for us to feel less than successful as teachers if we fail to engage every student in what we're doing - after all, a great teacher has the entire class buzzing, enthusiastic and running home at the end of the day all pumped up and loving being a learner... don't they?

This teacher believed that the bulk of a teacher's time should be spent with the students who want to learn and have the right attitude. They felt that our responsibility lies in creating an engaging environment for learning and that the rest, to a degree, was up to the student to respond in a positive way. It sounds so liberating to us less experienced teachers who still want to change the world for every kid but have enough class time under the belt that classrooms aren't like that. It's also something I'll keep reflecting on.

This slide share, by Steve Wheeler (thanks again, twit machine), has a quote that jumped of the screen at me.

Self Organisation and Virtual Learning

View more documents from Steve Wheeler.

He states on slide 4 -

'We cannot 'manage' self organised learning for our students.
We can only create conducive environments within which students will
organise their own learning.'

He's obviously talking within the context of self management but I can see his belief about teachers creating environments for students to respond to. It's this environment that, to a greater or lesser degree, that I feel I should be focusing on creating.

6 ways to meet my responsibility and create a positive learning environment.

1. Utilise both extrinsic and intrinsic motivators that are positive and negative (but focus on the positive) - have incentives and appropriate rewards for active engagment, provide opportunities for students to monitor and reflect on their own learning, have consistent and negotiated consequences with ready access for progress to 'redemption'.

2. Making the learning relevant and authentic - discuss the 'why' we're learning somthing and have a meaningful purpose or goal.

3. Provide opportunities for student responsibility and praise them when they respond.

4. Create and foster a sense of a learning community - encourage all points of view, experimentaion and risk taking. Role modeling 'thinking aloud' and encouraging 'wrong - good answers'.

5. Making the class fun! - having fun and allowing yourself to look silly in front of the class.

6. Creating and maintaining 'one to one' relationships with each student. - "A student won't care what you know until they know that you care."

(Images used under Creative Commons - Zen, Sahtu Wildlife. Sourced from flickr)

Critical Thinking Odyssey!

We all hear a lot about how important critical thinking is for our students. Employers are saying that problem solving and team work are two extremely important traits they look for in their work force and it's something I look to develop in my class programme as much as possible.

This year I've stumbled on an interactive game (and I use the word with hesitancy because that word has a bad rap in education circles) that is probably as much of an ongoing narrative and visual 'epic' as it is a learning experience.

Samorost 2 is the story of a pyjama clad hero in search for his alien abducted dog. You are the hero in this space odyssey that has you searching, experimenting, questioning and defeating various levels, or scenes, on your way to the dog's liberation.

The benefits I've seen from children playing this are increased conversation (coming up with strategies) and negotiation skills, knowledge of machinery and basic physics (if you push this it will move that and turn this off, etc) and the accumulation of experience and hindsight that comes as each scenario is conquered (using prior knowledge).

I haven't yet thrust this at my class but trialed it on my own two daughters (six and eight) at home. The free trial you can play on-line is only the first chapter but held my girls attention (completely undivided) for a couple of hours which, despite their dad's computer fixation, was unusual. It was fascinating to watch them problem solve their way through the challenges and even occasionally, by my own questioning, have some help at times.

I'd be really interested to see how this would fair with my class of 9 and 10 year olds and I'll post their progress soon. I'd also love to read of any others who've used Samorost in a school setting. How easy would it be to justify it's place inside the curriculum you're working within?

FOLLOW UP -
I've wanted to find some links to classrooms who have used Samorost (thanks to twitter search) and stumbled on an example at Mr Sales Blog. His class used it to inspire some creative writing (a year 6 class) and, by all accounts, they loved it. The class were asked to watch the start and then describe what they could see, hear and touch. I liked his encouragement to add mystery and atmosphere to their writing. What a great use of this game! His blog is one I'll be keeping an eye on.

Changing our spaces

There's something hardwired in me that responds well to change. There is no doubt that our schools could improve the way we do 'school' and the most of the dialogue at the moment is around the role that technology can play.

But what about the role of architecture and what I've seen phrased as 'spatial politics'? This slideshare, by Esltechnology, (an ESL teacher at a middle school in Eastern Oregon) shows what can be the future of all schools if administrators are committed to a new, 21st Century pedagogy.

School Design: Be the Change...

View more OpenOffice presentations from esltechnology.

I can imagine so many different ways that students could be learning in these spaces. I wonder how differently I could teach in spaces like these. I think I would be amazed at how much my own teaching is defined by the space in which I teach. The challenge for me, and others with a similar mindset, is to keep confronting and questioning my own beliefs and teaching practice - while remaining in a pretty traditional classroom space.

I could see how easily you could operate a 'self directed' classroom and encourage student collaboration and independence. This challenge would require me to push the boundaries of my physical space and act as we would as if these spaces were ours now. Is this possible?

I can see three hurdles to overcome for the potential of self directed learning to be realised.

1. A desire by schools to risk the abuse of student trust. I have seen schools that allow students to use a variety of classroom spaces to work and learn in - libraries, small offices, playgrounds, utility rooms etc, which can often be unsupervised. With trust and responsibility comes the thin wedge of risk and abuse. I'm encouraged to see many school administrators making this move and enjoying the benefits.

2. A misunderstanding community. It's not hard to anticipate parents who are unsure of the amount of work that results from this style of learning. The challenge to this hurdle lies in open, honest communication. It's too easy for teachers to forget that parents don't have the insight into how education is shifting in our schools. When parents are shown the quality of learning that occurs, as I've been told from one school, they are usually quick to support it.

3. Teachers who are unwilling to relinquish the control that comes with 20th century pedagogy. It's with us, as teachers, that the hurdle would appear the largest and there are as many reasons for this reluctance as there are teachers - and there are many. The control that this style encouraged was due in large part to the limit of resources that students could use but technology has released these resources. Unfortunately, for the students, the control has remained. It's with us, as teachers, that the hurdle seems the highest.

So, to come full circle - How does my classroom space reflect my goal of inspiring student responsibility and control in their learning?

What IS the change?

I'm often thinking about, listening to and having conversations about change - in SO many different areas of my live, both professionally and personally. Usually this dialogue is about how slow the change is occurring but what I'm realising is that, in a subtle but steady way, the way we teach and learn is absolutely, slowly shifting.

Here are some thoughts about this effective pedagogical change. These are ideas that I've heard, discovered and had light bulb moments about.

The change in pedagogy could be that the learners:

- construct the knowledge, not just reproduce

- engaged in dialogue, not listening

- present to others in own voice, not teachers

- work together, not against in competition

- reflect on learning rather than just do what is required.

Is this the revolution? It's a pretty good start and one that keeps me REALLY enthusiastic about being a learner.

Change will take a major shift

An interesting 'morning tea in the staffroom' chat I had with another teacher led me to think about what has to happen for real change in our classrooms to occur.

I was having a regular 'vent' about how few teachers are using technology in their day to day practice. She believed, however, that they shouldn't have to. Everyone has a strength, she said, mine being I.C.T and others being Art or Numeracy. It wasn't until after our conversation that I realised the reason for our 'disconnect'.

One of the reasons change is not happening (any where near as fast as we would like in some classrooms) is because so many still see tech integration as a 'curriculum area' rather than a teaching pedagogy. It's not something we teach but something that can fundamentally change the way we teach.

This, though, is obviously not the shift. It is who has to take on board that conceptual difference that is the crucial factor. Anyone reading a random teacher's blog has, probably, already grasped this concept. Real momentum will begin when we can break through to the multitudes of teachers, administrators and parents who haven't made this transition.

And how many do you know?

At the moment this conceptual shift is 'encouraged'. I've heard it said that we are the last generation of teachers for whom tech integration is an option.

How long will it be before it is part of our professional appraisal system? And then where will many teachers and schools be?

(Photo - Davd Reece / Flickr / Creative Commons)

Thinking Kids

It seems, sometimes, that children seem a bit lost in class when we ask them to think for themselves. The bain of a teachers life is dealing with questions like, 'I've run out of room on this page, what should I do?

Last year I started a semi regular 'Out of the Box' competitive activity for getting groups to be creative and think together. Here are some examples of what we did -
- Five Photo Story
- Twitter Challenge
- Other Examples

This is a site I've found (thanks, Angela Maiers) that actually builds on this idea and shares the ideas on a website. It's called 'Think'. What a great idea - kind of the point of the whole thing.

Which level are you at?

This ppt from Jacqui Sharp shows a progression of ICT integration into classrooms. I've seen it reposted on a number of blogs. It makes for some great reflection time about your class and speaks to layout as much as management and delivery.

Levels of ICT teacher Integration

View more OpenOffice presentations from Jacqui Sharp.

I've often noticed how a classroom layout reveals so much about a teacher's learning philosophy. I wonder how my layout stacks up?

Best PPT how to video ever!

This is a link to something everyone who uses ppt for presentations should watch. It's from Alvin Trusty, recorded at the 'etechohio2009' education conference and has some fantastic practical tips - beyond the standard, 'Don't read out all the words on the screen.'

How to Create a Great PowerPoint - Take 2.0 from Alvin Trusty on Vimeo.

(Another credit to my favourite personal learning network - Twitter. This is a retweet from AngelaMaiers)

Unlearning Your Community

One of my goals for the year is to open up the walls of our classroom to our community. What I mean, and I know this sounds quite 'uber-romantic', is that I really want to engage the students, our learning, the content, our approaches to things, our challenges and our trials with the people outside our little box at school.

So far I have this blog (along with our class blog). I've given parents the opportunity to comment on their childs strengths and learning styles. I want to connect each student up with a significant adult that can partner with them in reflecting on their efolio and I'm looking for other classes and schools to form some 'buddy' type relationships with.

More transparency has not always been something I, and many teachers, feel comfortable with and most of the reason has to do with fear. It can lead to conversations that become critical questioning, especially as a teaching and learning shift happens in our schools.
This post by Jeff Utecht, on his blog - 'The Thinking Stick', has helped me realise how important it is for us to engage and 're-educate' our community about this shift - especially as they become more involved.

"Never before in the history of education have we been given the task to not only educate the children they send us everyday, but to re-educate a whole community on what it means to learn in today’s world. What it means to collaborate, to read, to write, to communicate, to research. If you can get your community to relearn you can change the system."

This places incredible responsibility on our shoulders. What will I do as a classroom teacher? What will we do as a school? The adventure continues.

The Homework Myth

I've been listening to some interesting podcasts while running away the summer days. One with short, interesting interviews is Steve Decker's , "Educational Insights".

This podcast, 'Homework, is it good?' is an interview with Alfie Kohn about his book - 'The Homework Myth'. He seems to have written a very balanced, well researched critique on the merits of what he calls, 'getting kids to do a second shift.'
His book states;
1. No research has ever found homework to improve academic ability.
2. Homework can lead children to resenting school and could lessen their love of learning
3. There are better ways for parents to encourage discipline and hard work in their children

It makes me think about my own classroom. I provide options for those who want it, (I do expect them to be reading and taking responsibility for things like spelling and basic facts) but, otherwise, I limit homework to personal investigations and class 'overflow' activities. The book would seem to validate my practice.

What do you believe about homework?

NZ schools face a 'Tech' flight

I came across this post on Drapes Take that struck a chord over my morning coffee. He quotes some research from 2000 that shows the importance of school administrators and leadership 'modeling' effective use of technology for school's to really move effectively in a tech direction.
I made this comment - something I think will be a REAL issue for schools in the next 10 years. What will be the flow on effects of a 'Tech Flight' in NZ?

"I would absolutely agree with the comments above and the post. In New Zealand we're seeing schools with a strong tech direction, and then some with one computer in the corner of class rooms not even connected to the net!
We had something called 'white flight' a decade ago where affluent families left less affluent schools for private ones. I'm predicting a 'tech flight' of younger, progressive teachers leaving these 'regressive' schools in favour of ones with a tech postive administration. I know I would never join a school that wasn't on the digital move.
This will only create an even bigger gap as these regressive schools with 20th Century administrators and teachers (and there MANY of them around) become even more entrenched. What is the solution? The best remedy at the moment are parents - putting pressure on their community's schools to provide education in and for a digital world!"

Dave Werner - website design excellence

A lot of kids in my class want to be designers - when they grow up. I'd seen Dave Werner's site before but stumbled on it again.
This has to be one of the best portfolios I've come across and can't wait to show my class on Monday. Dave has created has many corners to discover and visual candy, as well as being a great designer! Big ups, Dave.

Why do I Twit?

I often find myself trying to explain why someone should get into twitter. Ironically it's usually part of a conversation about something I found out about from some twitters I follow. More often than not they like what I found out but still don't buy the twitter thing.

A blog I read explained that those who use twitter LOVE it and those that don't, just don't get it!

Here's an attempt to explain it on video. I'm finding it INVALUABLE as a connection point, a 'similar minds' network and a goldmine of teaching resources and ideas.

Use a computer. don't ACT like one.

I'm often telling the kids in my class to not shut down when they strike a problem. "You're like a computer that puts up a, 'Can you tell me what to do?' window."

They either walk around the room aimlessly or stand near me waiting for help (and they could figure it out themselves - as proven when I walk them through some self dialogue).

I think problem solving skills is on of the most important skills for kids to learn these days. (Is it becoming an increasing deficit?)

Laptops in their bags?

Here's an article from the U.K. about technology in schools.

"Children will soon be back at school and will carry much more than books and a new pencil case in their backpacks. Laptops, PDAs and memory keys will accompany mobile phones and digital music players as technology begins to merge classroom and home."

Changing Our Spaces

There's something hardwired in me that responds well to change. There is no doubt that our schools could improve the way we do 'school' and the most of the dialogue at the moment is around the role that technology can play.

But what about the role of architecture and what I've seen phrased as 'spatial politics?' This slideshare, by Esltechnology, (an ESL teacher at a middle school in Eastern Oregon) shows what can be the future of all schools if administrators are committed to a new, 21st Century pedagogy.

Levels of ICT teacher Integration

View more OpenOffice presentations from Jacqui Sharp.

I can imagine so many different ways that students could be learning in these spaces. I wonder how differently I could teach in spaces like these. I think I would be amazed at how much my own teaching is defined by the space in which I teach. The challenge for me, and others with a similar mindset, is to keep confronting and questioning my own beliefs and teaching practice - while remaining in a pretty traditional classroom space.

I could see how easily you could operate a 'self directed' classroom and encourage student collaboration and independence. This challenge would require me to push the boundaries of my physical space and act as we would as if these spaces were ours now. Is this possible?

I can see three hurdles to overcome for the potential of self directed learning to be realised.
collaboration.

1. A desire by schools to risk the abuse of student trust. I have seen schools that allow students to use a variety of classroom spaces to work and learn in - libraries, small offices, playgrounds, utility rooms etc, which can often be unsupervised. With trust and responsibility comes the thin wedge of risk and abuse. I'm encouraged to see many school administrators making this move and enjoying the benefits.
2. A misunderstanding community. It's not hard to anticipate parents who are unsure of the amount of work that results from this style of learning. The challenge to this hurdle lies in open, honest communication. It's too easy for teachers to forget that parents don't have the insight into how education is shifting in our schools. When parents are shown the quality of learning that occurs, as I've been told from one school, they are usually quick to support it.
3. Teachers who are unwilling to relinquish the control that comes with 20th century pedagogy. It's with us, as teachers, that the hurdle would appear the largest and there are as many reasons for this reluctance as there are teachers - and there are many. The control that this style encouraged was due in large part to the limit of resources that students could use but technology has released these resources. Unfortunately, for the students, the control has remained. It's with us, as teachers, that the hurdle seems the highest.

So, to come full circle - How does my classroom space reflect my goal of inspiring student responsibility and control in their learning?