We've begun the senior project, and we're finding out so many things about what kids need to prepare them to be successful. Our freshman course needs work...could this sort of thing form a springboard to get those skills started??
A seminar course for the purpose of developing academic “muscle,” information literacy proficiency and digital citizenship
Personal identity as learners/scholars
Articulate a statement of purpose for the classroom and for individual
Select an area of personal interest over which the rest of the course will be laid.
Process is first area of focus. Read several articles and excerpts and discuss how processes work.
Work through the digital toolbox
• Library catalogs, tagging and electronic books – read at least one full length book on selected topic. Use available methods to tag, annotate, take notes, mark passages. Introduce and reinforce content reading strategies. Introduce and apply citation of books. Begin to keep an annotated bibliography in MLA format. Use appropriate digital tools to assist this process.
• Reflective writing will be part of each section. Select appropriate tools for this purpose – could use Word, OneNote, a blog, a class wiki, etc.
• Online databases will be explored next. Searching, annotating, using features of the databases will be explored. Again, reflection, new information, connections, etc. should be noted and written about. Close reading for bias, missing information and spin should be part of this section as well.
• Other online sources will also be addressed. Advanced searching in Google, critical use of Wikipedia, building a link library and personal web portal will be addressed. Diigo will be used, along with Delicious to create an annotated collection of links related to the topic being explored. Reflections will move to a blog at this point, so that sharing and effective commenting will be able to be addressed.
• Digital tools for sharing acquired knowledge will form the next focus of the seminar. Decisions will have to be made about how to share what’s been learned, and how to answer questions that have been raised by the reading and listening the students have done thus far on their area of interest. Tools for digital storytelling and other online methods of sharing knowledge will be explored. The ethical use of information, images, music and the creation and sharing of those things with the larger world will be discussed and acted upon.
The seminar culminates in a public exhibition of the work that has been done over the course of the semester. (A thoughtful point is made by Dean Shareski about the stages of sharing academic work) Attendees will be encouraged not only to listen to and watch presentations, but to ask questions and engage students In dialogue and debate about their work.
A final reflection about the experience will be the last component of the class. It will include a revised statement of purpose for the individual as learner/scholar.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Here's something to chew on
If the last few months of increasing political/cultural polarization have concerned you, this should really give you pause: http://diigo.com/0iv8w
There is now NO EXCUSE -- read, NONE -- for anyone who is an educator to ignore, overlook or minimize the necessity for kids to build a positive, proactive and principled social media presence. Even less of an excuse for educators themselves to neglect this.
There is now NO EXCUSE -- read, NONE -- for anyone who is an educator to ignore, overlook or minimize the necessity for kids to build a positive, proactive and principled social media presence. Even less of an excuse for educators themselves to neglect this.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Clearing the cobwebs
Found this as I was cleaning files, and as it still rings true to me, will post it.
In twenty years in this “business” of schooling, I've only gradually come to the full realization that all the while I was trying to perfect my lesson plans, trying to understand how I could to come to that nirvana of the full filing cabinet of pre-made, already prepared lessons, I was pursuing failure. I’d mistaken effectiveness for efficiency, denied the inherent messiness crucial to any creative endeavor. I think, sometimes, that the biggest trouble with schooling – the reason that real innovation usually eludes us, is the field's self-perpetuating nature. Those who did best under the industrial era model are now running the show. These are the “good” students – you know, the ones who don't ask questions, don't rock the boat with “unusual” notions. Pair that tendency to complacency with a healthy dose of fear/respect for “authority” and it's a pretty reliable recipe for keeping to the quantifiable. Even when we know (and we do, most of us) that this isn't working to the benefit of our students, we frequently lack the imagination or the guts (or in some cases, both) to make it different. And if we succeed in small ways, we rarely know it – so we’re drawn to what “proves” the worth of what we’re doing – the test scores, the scholarships, the numbers game.
I recently had cause to pull out some old notes from students, (those all-too-rare and precious things you keep in the folder marked Sunshine and read when the darkness is really intimidating). Reading them over, I was struck by a refrain – it goes something like this: “You made it interesting” “I finally began to want to understand” “I used to hate English” and my all-time personal favorite, “You really wanted to know what we were thinking.” Looking back, yes, I did want to know – but that was a pretty suspect position. Why would we want to know what the students think? Don't we know what they ought to think?
So how do we overcome the fear, the layers of “good student” behavior that keep us lockstepping, leaving no children behind the numbers. We're born and/or borne, as Fitzgerald would have it, ceaselessly into the past – trying to create the schools we came from, perhaps consciously, perhaps not. Education rarely enters into schooling. Then, too, we often lack the intellectual stimulation necessary to successfully entertain new notions. Our own educations stagnate and stagger, victims of time, responsibilities and the numbers game. If our students are bored with our lessons as they so frequently claim, how much more so must we be if we've done the same thing for years on end?
There isn't a lesson plan on paper in this universe that can make that happen. All the precision planning and pursuit of test scores will not ever gain for us what we say we want as educators – to make a difference in the life of a child. Will a child remember that in your class you had beautiful lessons? Only if those lessons are true
In twenty years in this “business” of schooling, I've only gradually come to the full realization that all the while I was trying to perfect my lesson plans, trying to understand how I could to come to that nirvana of the full filing cabinet of pre-made, already prepared lessons, I was pursuing failure. I’d mistaken effectiveness for efficiency, denied the inherent messiness crucial to any creative endeavor. I think, sometimes, that the biggest trouble with schooling – the reason that real innovation usually eludes us, is the field's self-perpetuating nature. Those who did best under the industrial era model are now running the show. These are the “good” students – you know, the ones who don't ask questions, don't rock the boat with “unusual” notions. Pair that tendency to complacency with a healthy dose of fear/respect for “authority” and it's a pretty reliable recipe for keeping to the quantifiable. Even when we know (and we do, most of us) that this isn't working to the benefit of our students, we frequently lack the imagination or the guts (or in some cases, both) to make it different. And if we succeed in small ways, we rarely know it – so we’re drawn to what “proves” the worth of what we’re doing – the test scores, the scholarships, the numbers game.
I recently had cause to pull out some old notes from students, (those all-too-rare and precious things you keep in the folder marked Sunshine and read when the darkness is really intimidating). Reading them over, I was struck by a refrain – it goes something like this: “You made it interesting” “I finally began to want to understand” “I used to hate English” and my all-time personal favorite, “You really wanted to know what we were thinking.” Looking back, yes, I did want to know – but that was a pretty suspect position. Why would we want to know what the students think? Don't we know what they ought to think?
So how do we overcome the fear, the layers of “good student” behavior that keep us lockstepping, leaving no children behind the numbers. We're born and/or borne, as Fitzgerald would have it, ceaselessly into the past – trying to create the schools we came from, perhaps consciously, perhaps not. Education rarely enters into schooling. Then, too, we often lack the intellectual stimulation necessary to successfully entertain new notions. Our own educations stagnate and stagger, victims of time, responsibilities and the numbers game. If our students are bored with our lessons as they so frequently claim, how much more so must we be if we've done the same thing for years on end?
There isn't a lesson plan on paper in this universe that can make that happen. All the precision planning and pursuit of test scores will not ever gain for us what we say we want as educators – to make a difference in the life of a child. Will a child remember that in your class you had beautiful lessons? Only if those lessons are true
Monday, September 20, 2010
Professional Time Wasters?
Ok, so I’m surprised. The complaint du jour this morning in the coffee room was the professional development/workshop push in my school this year. The take was that the new administration values professional development or attendance at workshops above classroom teaching. Since most of those expressing this viewpoint are people older than me, who have , mostly, been teaching longer than me (I have 25 years) maybe I’ve not been around long enough to believe that my attendance at a workshop will add nothing to my practice upon my return . Maybe I have yet to be convinced that my presence in the classroom is utterly vital for student learning every day. (Ironically, today, I’m subbing in a foreign language class for a teacher who is away (though not at a workshop), and if the assignment left is any indication, maybe teacher presence IS utterly vital to any learning.)
I know that they will bitch no matter what, and that bitching doesn’t necessarily indicate a deep level of resistance, but what does that complaining really say? It says that
A. their experience of professional development or workshops has been largely negative, and
B. that they see no connection between their learning and their students’ learning, and
C. that all the lip service we pay to “developing lifelong learners” is just that: lip service.
Yes, there’s plenty of worthless professional development out there. Just as there is plenty of worthless classroom practice.
Another thing I find disturbing is found in this remark: “Just tell me where to go and I’ll go there” -- no agency of the learner/teacher in this case at all. There’s no desire to learn being expressed, no excitement about learning, and no effort to seek out opportunities for learning. Wake up, folks. We have no reason to complain about our students’ apathy toward learning if they see it reflected in us every day!
So there are some things to tackle here – both locally and in the big picture.
Issues for us – clarifying the intent of the professional development focus, strengthening the expectation, and finding worthwhile opportunities so change can be modeled.
Issues for education at large: improving the quality of available professional development , creating a school year schedule that doesn’t require robbing classroom time to make room for PD activities.
I know that they will bitch no matter what, and that bitching doesn’t necessarily indicate a deep level of resistance, but what does that complaining really say? It says that
A. their experience of professional development or workshops has been largely negative, and
B. that they see no connection between their learning and their students’ learning, and
C. that all the lip service we pay to “developing lifelong learners” is just that: lip service.
Yes, there’s plenty of worthless professional development out there. Just as there is plenty of worthless classroom practice.
Another thing I find disturbing is found in this remark: “Just tell me where to go and I’ll go there” -- no agency of the learner/teacher in this case at all. There’s no desire to learn being expressed, no excitement about learning, and no effort to seek out opportunities for learning. Wake up, folks. We have no reason to complain about our students’ apathy toward learning if they see it reflected in us every day!
So there are some things to tackle here – both locally and in the big picture.
Issues for us – clarifying the intent of the professional development focus, strengthening the expectation, and finding worthwhile opportunities so change can be modeled.
Issues for education at large: improving the quality of available professional development , creating a school year schedule that doesn’t require robbing classroom time to make room for PD activities.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Describing Elephants
I'm feeling rather like one of the blind men describing the elephant. When I proposed this workshop, I had a vision, probably similar to the visions I've had for the classes I taught back 10 years or more ago when I was in the regular classroom. I know enough to understand I had to expect that that vision would be altered by the reality of the kids in front of me, but wow. This has thrown me far more than I expected.
When I proposed and described the workshop, I envisioned educators who had assigned a research project to their students for several years running deciding that the project needed a facelift, a little extra umph, a little more relevance. I thought I'd get some folks who'd decided that they needed to introduce a little project based learning into their class, so they were thinking of adding a project to their study of.....
In other words, I made the fatal mistake of assuming my class would be coming with all the pre-requisites for learning that tend to make educational experiences worthwhile. But they're like the kids...(see the lightbulb?) So, hmm. I'm glad I asked, but how am I going to fit all this into one day? What are the MOST important things for us to explore? How will I offer something worthwhile to the collaborative team working on strengthening a portfolio research project (whatever that is) and something equally useful to the individual who wants to make a powerpoint about classroom rules? Good reminder for me about the challenges of the classroom.
When I proposed and described the workshop, I envisioned educators who had assigned a research project to their students for several years running deciding that the project needed a facelift, a little extra umph, a little more relevance. I thought I'd get some folks who'd decided that they needed to introduce a little project based learning into their class, so they were thinking of adding a project to their study of.....
In other words, I made the fatal mistake of assuming my class would be coming with all the pre-requisites for learning that tend to make educational experiences worthwhile. But they're like the kids...(see the lightbulb?) So, hmm. I'm glad I asked, but how am I going to fit all this into one day? What are the MOST important things for us to explore? How will I offer something worthwhile to the collaborative team working on strengthening a portfolio research project (whatever that is) and something equally useful to the individual who wants to make a powerpoint about classroom rules? Good reminder for me about the challenges of the classroom.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Musings on Project-Based Learning
As a student, I hated projects. As a teacher, I love them. Why did I hate them? We rarely had time to work on them in class – lots of homework never made me happy. There was too much opportunity to procrastinate, which I did all too often, then ended up miserably trying to cram it all into the last minute. I was not always clearly aware of why the project was assigned, nor of what I was expected to produce. And frequently, the project consisted of collecting things/facts/pictures and presenting them in some “fancy” or “artistic” way. Kids with fewer siblings and more competitive parents always ended up with the beautiful posterboards enhanced with store-bought stickers and letters, while mine always had that “not so skillful DIY” look.
Teachers I know hate assigning projects. They are too frequently disappointed in the outcomes, but for some very basic reasons
1. “Their presentation/speaking skills are awful! I just can’t stand to listen to all this drivel” Well…they need to be taught this as well as the content that they’ll be presenting! A walk-through for a mini-audience, a chance to pre-present before the teacher can do wonders for the final product. This is where schools need to spend some time, in my opinion. From little on, kids need to get up and present and be given age-appropriate, gentle feedback on their effectiveness. Sure, it’s hard. It’s school. It’s supposed to be!
2. “Group work is a nightmare. One kid carries the group and the rest skate and goof off” They need to be taught group skills, too. Don’t come to the library, or give class time for project work, and use that time yourself to grade papers or have an extra cup of coffee in the teachers’ room. Your involved presence alone will do a lot to ensure that they stay on task.
3. “But I do circulate…” And ask task-related questions? Ask each student to log his or her activity during the class period? Give feedback on how they are working, what they’re choosing to focus on? Reserve a few minutes at the end of each period for groups to record their progress and share it with you?
4. “I clearly told them what to do, and they just aren’t living up to my high standards” Is there a prototype? Do they know what a successful project looks like? What about a not-so-successful project? Do they understand what they are supposed to be learning, and why you assigned the project? Did they help to develop the rubric for defining success? Did you help them to employ and work through a research-process model?
5. “I’m embarrassed. They made so many mistakes” Hello? School? This is where you make mistakes, so you can learn. If there are no mistakes made, no learning is taking place. That being said, there needs to be a refining process in place that allows for feedback before the “final product” stage. Substantial feedback, multiple times. There is NO final draft – just the best version so far.
At bottom, there is nothing that can salvage a project with which the assigning teacher is bored. Teacher enthusiasm for the subject matter, and clear, obvious interest in student learning and mastery go very far in ensuring a project’s success with students. If you don’t believe these things are valuable, how on earth do you expect your students to value the experience?
Teachers I know hate assigning projects. They are too frequently disappointed in the outcomes, but for some very basic reasons
1. “Their presentation/speaking skills are awful! I just can’t stand to listen to all this drivel” Well…they need to be taught this as well as the content that they’ll be presenting! A walk-through for a mini-audience, a chance to pre-present before the teacher can do wonders for the final product. This is where schools need to spend some time, in my opinion. From little on, kids need to get up and present and be given age-appropriate, gentle feedback on their effectiveness. Sure, it’s hard. It’s school. It’s supposed to be!
2. “Group work is a nightmare. One kid carries the group and the rest skate and goof off” They need to be taught group skills, too. Don’t come to the library, or give class time for project work, and use that time yourself to grade papers or have an extra cup of coffee in the teachers’ room. Your involved presence alone will do a lot to ensure that they stay on task.
3. “But I do circulate…” And ask task-related questions? Ask each student to log his or her activity during the class period? Give feedback on how they are working, what they’re choosing to focus on? Reserve a few minutes at the end of each period for groups to record their progress and share it with you?
4. “I clearly told them what to do, and they just aren’t living up to my high standards” Is there a prototype? Do they know what a successful project looks like? What about a not-so-successful project? Do they understand what they are supposed to be learning, and why you assigned the project? Did they help to develop the rubric for defining success? Did you help them to employ and work through a research-process model?
5. “I’m embarrassed. They made so many mistakes” Hello? School? This is where you make mistakes, so you can learn. If there are no mistakes made, no learning is taking place. That being said, there needs to be a refining process in place that allows for feedback before the “final product” stage. Substantial feedback, multiple times. There is NO final draft – just the best version so far.
At bottom, there is nothing that can salvage a project with which the assigning teacher is bored. Teacher enthusiasm for the subject matter, and clear, obvious interest in student learning and mastery go very far in ensuring a project’s success with students. If you don’t believe these things are valuable, how on earth do you expect your students to value the experience?
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