These past few months have been extremely busy...as you can tell from the time between blog posts. Typing is starting to become a chore, but I don' t want to release a podcast of stuff because I don't think any of you wants to sit and just listen to me talk for 30 mins. So, blogging it is.
Our Technology in the Lutheran Schools social network is really taking off. At last check we have 56 members with the addition of new ones every day. I have it from a credible source that the Lutheran School Portal is looking to move toward a more "social network" look and feel and integrating more Web2.0 tools for collaboration and sharing. Kudos for the LSP!!!
Subject change....
Just yesterday I was reminded again of why it is important to evaluate the way we teach kids. A class of middle schoolers is studying the geography of South East Asia and in the midst of filling out physical and political maps, some students stumbled upon Google Book Search. They typed in their topic and...voila... they found a copy of the teacher's guide in the book search (with large chunks taken out for copyright purposes).
The immediate question: "Is this cheating?"
Not being too alarmed we (meaning the classroom teachers) soon realized that the "test" portion of the blackline masters book had been taken out (I think) and in fact, the South East Asia maps were not included. BUT other units were included, so at later times students could back and look at the completed maps.
It's amazing at how some of the kids latched onto the idea that that was cheating. I said, "Didn't Ms. So-and-So tell you it was OK to use the web for completing the maps?" After that question we had a great discussion about studying and that even if you could copy the answers and complete the assignment, there will always be "The Test!" Copying these maps was not going to help them "learn" the stuff it only helped them complete the assignment. At which point I proceeded to ask them the most poignant question I head at NECC this past year from Alan November: "Who is responsible for your learning?"
I got a plethora of replies..."Mr./Ms. So-and-So is responsible for my learning"and "Mr. Jacklin, well you are!" Only one child chimed in and quietly answered, "I am."
No matter how they found the answers to the map, ultimately they were responsible for their learning. How they learned it was up to them, bu they were the responsible party here! That's why some Math books have the answers to all the odd questions in the back.
There had been rumors going around that some students were emailing answers from the actually answer key. How they found them, we don't quite know. The test order I do know will be randomized so as to not allow for exact copying. But this brings up a fundamental question about how teach in our classrooms. Are the assignments we give kids ones that foster memorization (which has its place) or do they encourage students to remix what they learning.
This year, I've finally started to let students have the freedom to create in class, instead of regurgitate and the effects have been astounding. Hopefully I'll get a chance to podcast some of their work when I have time over the long Thanksgiving weekend.
I love Lutheran Schools and I love our staff at my school, but the Internet is changing the way we do business in the classroom. Some changes are obvious and we transition in them, and some catches us by surprise! Regardless of our thoughts and inclinations, it's changing. Our job today is not to convey information, but rather to develop life-long learners!
How will you do that today?
Reaction to D.Warlick's Precon Keynote for K12ONLINE Conference
You can download the preconferenece message here.
"Putting kids in touch with the world they are learning about." I can't think of a better quote to start thinking about the Internet and the new tools. This generation of kids is living in a world of constant change...a world with no boundries and now we send them to a school, to a world with rigid boundries (I'll use the same definition of boundries Dave does: physical walls, bricks and morter, not an absence of absolute truth) How do we help kids create learning boundries--a firm place to put their feet--in a world that constantly changes? In a rapidly changing world that forces children to grow up faster, be smarter, and interact with others more precisely and in more powerful ways, what is the "learning" foundation we start them with??
The question really is, how much boundry change is good and how much is bad? Does it even matter? Is change just what it is? We have no choice? Again, I'm not talking about faith issues, Jesus is who he says he is, and that's that, but I'm talking about how kids learn in this world. What would we think about having a classroom that looks like a Starbucks? (A thought from Warlicks chat cast tonight :-) Kids creating boundries in the context of education? What would that look like? That's why they need teachers!
It is hard to imagine how students would be active creators of their own education. I liked Dave's analogy of watching his father get ready for work and seeing his future. Do most of our kids have any idea about what their future will look like? Even if they can, it will most likely change. OK--so does their education prepare them for this changing world?
Again...let's ask the question: Where are students finding educational boundries--It's in the network! There is power in the collaboration of a network. When kids are gaming or texting or "social networking" they are learning with in the context of a network. Learning--that's the key word. They are learning! As teachers, we can tap into the network and be a part of their learning. One of the biggest misconceptions is that students come to school to listen to us impart knowledge and wisdom to them, and that they like it (some do because they enjoy learning that way). Most of the learning that takes place on a daily basis could be more easily accessible to students with in the context of a network. In our classrooms, how often do we "create the students we want to teach, instead of teaching students where they are"
Information landscape of today is one of change: how we view the information, what it looks like, how you find it, what you can do with it, how you share it. The information hasn't changed--besides there being exponentially more of it--but it's the landscape of use that changes. Today it flows, it's networked, digital, over-whelming, participatory, reader directed......I COULDN'T AGREE More! These words by Dave are things I run into everyday. Our students live in this world and don't know how to survive it! Thank the Lord for teachers :-) Lutheran Schools have always done a great job of helping students be "gatekeepers" when it comes to the heart and mind, but it is increasingly important to help students develop into information gatekeepers! AMEN! Do you still have students who think that everything on the Internet is true? How do you teach students to filter out the information that competes for their attention? Changing definition of literacy. Students as remixers.
According to Dave --not totally sure where he got the number--57% of middle school students have created digital content. They have had conversations with other people about it, discussed it, analyzed it. How many of us are published authors? Besides you Dave Black :-)
Here is the bigget take-away from the keynote for me:
Students of today are:
"Putting kids in touch with the world they are learning about." I can't think of a better quote to start thinking about the Internet and the new tools. This generation of kids is living in a world of constant change...a world with no boundries and now we send them to a school, to a world with rigid boundries (I'll use the same definition of boundries Dave does: physical walls, bricks and morter, not an absence of absolute truth) How do we help kids create learning boundries--a firm place to put their feet--in a world that constantly changes? In a rapidly changing world that forces children to grow up faster, be smarter, and interact with others more precisely and in more powerful ways, what is the "learning" foundation we start them with??
The question really is, how much boundry change is good and how much is bad? Does it even matter? Is change just what it is? We have no choice? Again, I'm not talking about faith issues, Jesus is who he says he is, and that's that, but I'm talking about how kids learn in this world. What would we think about having a classroom that looks like a Starbucks? (A thought from Warlicks chat cast tonight :-) Kids creating boundries in the context of education? What would that look like? That's why they need teachers!
It is hard to imagine how students would be active creators of their own education. I liked Dave's analogy of watching his father get ready for work and seeing his future. Do most of our kids have any idea about what their future will look like? Even if they can, it will most likely change. OK--so does their education prepare them for this changing world?
Again...let's ask the question: Where are students finding educational boundries--It's in the network! There is power in the collaboration of a network. When kids are gaming or texting or "social networking" they are learning with in the context of a network. Learning--that's the key word. They are learning! As teachers, we can tap into the network and be a part of their learning. One of the biggest misconceptions is that students come to school to listen to us impart knowledge and wisdom to them, and that they like it (some do because they enjoy learning that way). Most of the learning that takes place on a daily basis could be more easily accessible to students with in the context of a network. In our classrooms, how often do we "create the students we want to teach, instead of teaching students where they are"
Information landscape of today is one of change: how we view the information, what it looks like, how you find it, what you can do with it, how you share it. The information hasn't changed--besides there being exponentially more of it--but it's the landscape of use that changes. Today it flows, it's networked, digital, over-whelming, participatory, reader directed......I COULDN'T AGREE More! These words by Dave are things I run into everyday. Our students live in this world and don't know how to survive it! Thank the Lord for teachers :-) Lutheran Schools have always done a great job of helping students be "gatekeepers" when it comes to the heart and mind, but it is increasingly important to help students develop into information gatekeepers! AMEN! Do you still have students who think that everything on the Internet is true? How do you teach students to filter out the information that competes for their attention? Changing definition of literacy. Students as remixers.
According to Dave --not totally sure where he got the number--57% of middle school students have created digital content. They have had conversations with other people about it, discussed it, analyzed it. How many of us are published authors? Besides you Dave Black :-)
Here is the bigget take-away from the keynote for me:
Students of today are:
- info-savvy (don't know what to do with it or determine what is good and what is not, but they know how and when to get it)
- wanting to work in responsive information environments
- wanting to share experiences, personal and educational
- wanting to form and participate in communities
- intrinsically questioning, inventive, and accomplishment driven. They want a place where they can invest themselves.
- wanting a place where it is safe to make mistakes.
- yearning to earn audience and attention
These student attributes can be the new boundries for education. Instead of having the 'test' lead the way, teachers can use this new information landscape coupled with these student characteristics to create a new way of "doing school." Did a Concordia University prepare you to teach like this?? Did any state university prepare you to teach like this? NOT ME! Might I have to relearn teaching?? Maybe!
If our students can't really predict what their future will look like, imagine how we teachers should feel as we prepare them for that.
Where will you start--I think I'll start with the parents :-)!!
More to come on that later.
Technology Curriculum
I started a blog post on the Technology in Lutheran Schools Ning social network about curriculum, but quickly back tracked to here instead.
I am a bit torn when it comes to curriculum. At NECC this year they unveiled the newly refreshed NET-S standards and encouraged us all to take them back to our school and put them to great use. The only problem is, our K-4 staff wants something a little more specific. They really want GLE's (Grade Level Equivalencies). There is a part of me that is scared of getting that specific. Why? Maybe it's the amount of work involved in putting together a "detailed" scope and sequence? Maybe it's the ever changing amount of software at our disposal that we use as tools? Or maybe I really believe that kids are naturally intuitive and will pick up anything they put their hands on? I don' t know, but this is my struggle right now.
We currently have a "Scope and Sequence" for K-8 and it identifies at what grade level students will learn to format text in Word and when we'll teach them how to use Inspiration and even when they should learn how to do a Webquest! (I wonder if our pencil and pen curriculum is as detailed :-)
I want very much to give our staff a copy of the refreshed standards and say, "Here you go...now you have the freedom to address each these in your classroom!" "But Rob, how do I know my students can do Standard 6b, if I don't know what productivity software they know or don't know how to use?" Valid Question--Does that mean we need a more specific curriculum guide of "This is what a 3rd grader needs to know by they time they leave my class"?
I want to work as broadly as possible (Standards :-) but I definitely understand the comfort ability of specific objectives.
I know the answer is somewhere in the middle. Does this issue have something to do with a teachers comfort level with using the computer and its many tools? Hhmmmmm.
Any thoughts??
I am a bit torn when it comes to curriculum. At NECC this year they unveiled the newly refreshed NET-S standards and encouraged us all to take them back to our school and put them to great use. The only problem is, our K-4 staff wants something a little more specific. They really want GLE's (Grade Level Equivalencies). There is a part of me that is scared of getting that specific. Why? Maybe it's the amount of work involved in putting together a "detailed" scope and sequence? Maybe it's the ever changing amount of software at our disposal that we use as tools? Or maybe I really believe that kids are naturally intuitive and will pick up anything they put their hands on? I don' t know, but this is my struggle right now.
We currently have a "Scope and Sequence" for K-8 and it identifies at what grade level students will learn to format text in Word and when we'll teach them how to use Inspiration and even when they should learn how to do a Webquest! (I wonder if our pencil and pen curriculum is as detailed :-)
I want very much to give our staff a copy of the refreshed standards and say, "Here you go...now you have the freedom to address each these in your classroom!" "But Rob, how do I know my students can do Standard 6b, if I don't know what productivity software they know or don't know how to use?" Valid Question--Does that mean we need a more specific curriculum guide of "This is what a 3rd grader needs to know by they time they leave my class"?
I want to work as broadly as possible (Standards :-) but I definitely understand the comfort ability of specific objectives.
I know the answer is somewhere in the middle. Does this issue have something to do with a teachers comfort level with using the computer and its many tools? Hhmmmmm.
Any thoughts??
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