School/Classroom Environment

Several points made by Olinger in the article, Educating the Net Generation struck me. The first was the comment:
Literary skills now include critical thought, persuasive expression, and the ability to solve complex scientific and organizational problems. Knowing now means using a well-organized set of facts to find new information and to solve novel problems. In 1900, learning consisted largely of memorization; today it relies chiefly on understanding.
I think this is an over simplification and perhaps, romantic view of the past. Looking back over the last century is not a very helpful comparison or starting point to discuss current issues and pedagogy. The implication is that things didn’t dramatically change in education until the information age we find ourselves in. I don’t think that is the case. Education has been in constant change since WW1. The work of Vygotsky, Bruner and others started shifting the educational paradigms before the mid century. What about the work of Maria Montessori or Rudolf Steiner? Their work changed teaching early in the twentieth century to a much more if not completely, hands on experience. Although they may not have used the language of constructivism, that’s what they were doing. Students constructed their own understandings based on experience. Teachers my whole career (twenty years) have known that hands-on, experiential learning is more likely to have sticking power for students. Technology hasn’t changed that; it is just another modality of learning. Furthermore, I have never known a time when critical thought, persuasive expression and the ability to solve problems has not been an important part of education. The best teachers have always striven for understanding. Memorization is just an easy out. Rote memorization is a throwback to Dickensian images of nineteenth century schools that we grew out of a long time ago. (Except for third-graders having to memorize multiplication tables and spelling lists-Why?!)

A second statement that I found interesting in the context of my own experience was:
Net generation students are achievement and goal oriented. Their question is not “What does it mean?” or “How does it work?” (as previous generations were inclined to ask), but rather “How do I build it?” This predilection maps to learning theory’s emphasis on active learning. Discovery, exploration, experimentation, criticism, analysis—all represent active learning, a style that suits Net Gen well.

While I agree that my students enjoy active learning, I wouldn’t say that they are achievement or goal oriented. They do ask, constantly, “What does it mean?” and “How does it work?” They would really like to be told or shown and they have very little patience for figuring it out on their own. In fact they have a very low tolerance for ambiguity and are easily frustrated. I can say that of most of my students K-8.

That leads me to agree with Olinger’s statement that:
The expectation for fast-paced, rpidly shifting interaction coupled with a relatively shart attention span may be counterproductive in many learning contexts. Repetition and steady, patient practice—key to some forms of mastery—may prove difficult for Net Gen students.
This seems especially true in terms of teaching keyboarding. Students and teachers too, for that matter, have very little patience for developing this skill. It is very hard to convince students that it is worth the effort, that they will indeed be the use of algorithms.

Finally Olinger says, “Design principles should include terms such as analyze, create, criticize, debate, present, and classify—all directed at what the space enables the students to do.” This is a direct restatement of the design principle that form follows function. It stands to reason that in any classroom, elements are arranged to encourage the outcomes and behavior you desire. If, for example, desks are arranged facing forward in straight rows, watch-out! There’s a “sage on the stage.”
Tables and desks arranged in clusters encourage collaborative learning. It’s unlikely to be silent. Although there is a place for working independently, at some point learning needs to be collaborative. All of the skills mentioned, analysis, et al., can be done in isolation but it is likely to be much more thorough and meaningful when it is shared.

Internal professional networks

Two years ago when we started a big technology integration initiative, our technology instructional leader started a Wiki to share ideas and problem solving for the teachers in our district.  It is only available to teachers in our district and was meant as an open forum for all things techy.  Generally, it has been useful to me and I have added things to it as I have navigated through the Hamline courses, but I wonder how many other teachers and used it. 

I realize now, after some reflecting and reading other Tweets and Blogs how helpful a network can be.
As my wise daughter-in-law reminded me, people will be people, they will communicate in the ways that feel natural to them.  I think it is especially important for we teachers to maximize the use of our time by sharing and reaching out to each other.  A network can erase geographical boundaries not only for ourselves but for our students as well.

Professional network continued.

I played around with setting up a website for the Gifted and Talented network and I think it has potential but I have also been investigating Grou.ps.  This format might do everything I'm looking for.  It has the advantage of everyone creating the content together and being compatible with Google gadgets.  I don't want to have a site where I am the only administrator.

My job as a GT specialist will be over as of the end of this school year so I won't be a formal member of the network but I would love to have a place I can share the information I have gathered over the years and keep in touch with what is going on in the future.  I believe the future of gifted and talented education is in differentiated classrooms anyway.  As a classroom teacher, ideas and future activities from the GT network will always be relevant.  As they say, if it is good for GT kids it is probably good for all kids. We are getting together as a network in a couple weeks and I would like to present the group with an account and the skeleton of information and then have them share in creating content.  I think it could potentially be very useful as we plan extracurricular activities too.

Networking

I have been a member of the Gifted and Talented educators network organized through our local education coop for the last eight years.  We get together every month through the school year and share ideas, new research, interesting projects and generally be a community.  It has been incredible helpful to me.  Because we are specialists we are pretty isolated.  Most of us are the only person in our schools or districts that do the work we do. However a frustration has been communicating with each other between meetings.  For some reason, many of our school email servers block emails that are sent to a list or from certain addresses. So we usually send an email to the coop to be broadcast around to the other GT coordinators.  It is sloppy and slow.  I've been thinking about this and have a couple ideas I'm going to try to work out before my job in this field is completed. 

I considered a community blog but  I think a website that includes a community blog would be the most useful.  It could provide links to competitions and resources as well as a calendar and links to other educational networks.

Ergonomic Checklist

Our school computer labs are generally pretty good instructional spaces. However there are some areas that could use imporovement:
None of our school computer labs provide adjustable chairs.  All the chairs are standard student desk chairs.  The computer desks are custom built and are at a slightly lower than standard desk height so the keyboard is in approximately the right spot.  Lighting and ventilation is good in all of them.  In the labs that have windows, blinds control the direct light but it would be great to have dimmers on some of the switches or multiple switches so that viewing the large teaching screen was easier. We have packed too many computers into too small a space to allow for papers or books to be placed within easy viewing distance.  There isn't room for a writing surface either.

If I could design a lab it would not have computers in rows facing forward.  Computers would be in arcs of 3 or 4 computers that would allow viewing the teacher monitor but also accommodate group learning.

We need to do everything we can to keep our students healthy which includes caring for their physical well being while using computers.  There are three areas of concern that can be addressed ergonomically.  This is a checklist of what we can do to reduce injury, strain and fatigue:

Reduce eye strain:

1.     Position the monitor between 20 and 28 from eyes.

2.     Provide indirect and diffused lighting to reduce glare. Use a screen filter if there is no way to control the glare through positioning or light control.

3.     Position monitor so that the eyes are about level with the top on the monitor.

Reduce the risk of repetitive motion injuries to the hands and wrists:

1.     Proper desk height. The keyboard is positioned at or slightly below elbow level so that the elbows can be comfortably flexed.

2.     The keyboard position allows room for the wrist to be supported.

3.     There is room for a mouse close to the keyboard and at the same level.

4.     There are no hard or sharp edges underneath the wrists or arms.  Provide cushioning if necessary.

Reduce risk of back and shoulder strain encourage proper body position:

1.     Adjustable height chair

2.     Feet flat on floor or on a foot rest if chair needs to higher to accommodate desk height.

3.     Back straight and erect.

4.     Chair supports lower back.

Traditional Stories

Respond to each of the following questions and feel free to ask your own.  Share what you are discovering about your story.  Compare the written version to a cartoon or movie version of the story.

What could change about the story without changing its meaning or purpose?

What do you think is the most important distinction between fairy tales, tall tales and legends?

What are some of the values in the story? What is an American value?

21st Century Skills

Having studied ISTE NETS standards and Partnership for 21^st Century Skills, I can’t help but agree that they outline skills and standards that we should use to inform classroom instruction. Who could not endorse creativity, communication and collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, and the rest as skills that students should develop.  The framework for 21^st Century  includes many of the same skills  and adds learning core subjects and life and career skills.  As the overview of the framework says, it is a more holist view of education.  These standards and desired outcomes are the starting place for Understanding by Design.  The most important thing to me about UbD is that it focuses on essential questions.  I firmly believe that it is the questions that we ask that drive learning. 

However, in one of the comments on Scott McLeod’s blog the wrtier mentioned that the standards movement measures in the narrowest way.  Which is true of many state standards.  If one just taught to the standards learning would be pretty narrow and dry but I agree with the writer that the best teaching is responsive to the student.  Good teachers are always asking, “what next? “ (Allowed and built into UbD).The questions raised about whether these standards are anything new or enough is a good one.

The profound difference technology has made is opening up the world for teachers as well as for students.  Information and resources are at our fingertips. It is a very challenging and exciting time.  Although quality teaching and learning can be done without technology, it is a lot easier with it. The risk is to be dazzled and distracted by technology and loose sight of our goals and that’s where the standards help. I think we are just beginning to come to grips with what it means to live in a world where information and communication is at our fingertips all the time. 

 

A student centered classroom

I’ve been spending way too much time at my computer lately as I have been gathering ideas and information for a website and developing a UbD unit.  Much as I hate to admit it, it has been thought provoking and productive.  I’m working on a unit to meet 6^th grade outcomes for reading (distinguishing fables, fairytales, tall tales, myths and legends from each other) and I find my head swimming with ideas.  My goals are to engage everyone in the class and to have the students not only have some choice about the content of the unit but the products as well.  I find I am not the only person thinking along these lines.  I read a blog that was started last fall by Bill Ferriter that mentioned the same thing.

http://teacherleaders.typepad.com/the_tempered_radical/2010/08/upcoming-conversation-teaching-for-tomorrow.html

I have always believed in the student-centered classroom.  My ideal classroom would be one in which the student learns from the teacher, the teacher learns from the students, the students learn from each other and the learning extends beyond the classroom in some way (on-line, connected with another school or classroom, etc.)  That gives kids a real audience, which is critical for deep and intentional learning.

Teaching with technology

Thinking about teaching with technology can be so overwhelming because there are so many possibilities.  I spent hours today looking at the app store for my iPad and learning more about using my iPad and the apps I have.  We have classroom sets of iPads and every teacher has one so, I want to use them and use them effectively. I have discovered that the iPad is by far the most accessible technology that I can put in the kids’ hands.  It’s one thing for me to use the technology and quite another for the kids. 

Today I was specifically looking for applications that can help me move the kids forward in math.  There are lots of math games but they are all basically skill and drill applications.  That’s all well and good because kids need to master basic skills and the apps are motivating (not a flashcard) but I want problem solving or the possibility to be creative.  After 3 hours I’m still looking.  This is not the best use of my time.  I need to consult with my collegues.