It's a flakey world

(wrote this quite a while ago, and now I'm wondering if we have made any progress in using these tools this year)


Just finished with guiding 8 classes of freshmen and one class of juniors through setting up their own web portal. For now, it's a pretty toy for the most part, but with the steps we're taking in trying to really use the technology in transformative ways, it should become more and more useful to them.

It's one of those chicken and egg moments. Do we wait until their teachers begin making assignments and asking for research that demands an understanding of and use of a variety of web tools, or do we introduce the tools to students (and thereby teachers)

wow. just ....wow.

I'm totally blown away by the controversy over President Obama's scheduled speech to students. How is this in ANY way controversial?? It strikes me as mildly positive, perhaps a bit mundane, but far from controversial. The absolute "threat" that some people seem to feel about simply hearing a speech, is enough to give one pause. I'm afraid that folks must be afeared that their offspring are as addlepated as themselves. Junior will be suddenly "polluted" in his mind after twenty minutes of speaking by a politician, albeit a politician elected to the office of President, and a pretty fine orator. Good heavens!

I asked a serious question about this topic on a very large listserv of which I am a member, which elicited a number of fine, thoughtful responses. Interestingly, those responses were primarily in support of allowing students to hear and discuss the President's address. I also garnered a number of responses that were heated, and probably sincere, but woefully lacking in logic. My request had been for logical, reason-based arguments against allowing students to listen to the live speech. I got nothing that I could put into that category.

And so we head into the weekend. What a week it has been. wow. Just...wow.

How long is too long?

Very interesting comment today by a bright and quite thoughtful young person. She said words to this effect (I may not have the exact wording) "The way I look at it, if I can't figure it out in 15 minutes, it's not worth learning." Some background: we were talking about new presentation tools (e.g. NOT PowerPoint) so her remark was addressed to learning new technological tools. But so interesting. If this were the case for me, I'm afraid I would not know much of anything about the tools I've learned to use.

Her expectations are quite high, both for the tools (they should be entirely intuitive) and for herself (I should get this quickly). Not sure how I think about this. Maybe it's just a natural outgrowth of her expected level of comfort with technology, or maybe her constant technological experience leads her to believe that things should come fast and easily.

So where does intellectual persistence enter into this? Is it important? Should we be concerned about this attitude? Does it apply only in the realm of trying to master new tools, or is it just as prevalent when trying to grasp new concepts or ideas? This might involve me for days to come.

Thinking about thinking about social networks

I had an interesting conversation with a fearful parent today centered around social networking, and its potential for endangering kids. In trying to remain professional and clear-eyed, and to resist knee-jerk reactions, I tried hard to see her viewpoint, which, if I understood correctly, was that a school needs to take a position on (read "against") the use of social networks, not just within the building, but outside of it in everyday life as well. She agreed that education about social networking was important for the school to provide, but I think that we parted ways in our understanding of what "education about social networking" means.

My understanding of that is exposure to and education about proactively building a profile or "digital footprint" if you will, that accurately and safely reflects both the person that a student is today, and who she hopes to become. The temptations are many, and the carelessness and invincibility of youth may indeed lead to indiscretions online, but this is certainly as true or more true in the offline world.

In truth, it boils down to this: can we trust ourselves to teach and lead our students and our children in the right directions, and can we trust them to make good choices? Those are both frightening leaps at times, but necessary ones. We can neither abdicate our responsibility to lead them in this digital world by "opting out," nor refuse to allow them to use their sometimes tentative but often surprising decision making skills.

So, to my thinking, far from avoiding and demonizing social networking which shows no signs of going away any time soon, we need to be working with students to develop their "google results" to show who they are without overexposing their personal lives, and what they stand for without compromising their values. They need tools and options for dealing with the unpleasant, the uncomfortable, the downright wrong, so that they can be effective citizens in the global community.

What's at risk when we react in a fearful, strident way to a medium that's part and parcel of their (social)lives or their peers'(social)lives, is their dismissal of the very valuable viewpoint that we need to share with them. All those little risk-taking, hormone driven impulses just decry our staid caution as "unable to understand" how the whole thing works. And once they've dismissed us, that's when we need to worry.

danah boyd, in a recent, very thoughtful post said this: "Technology is a wonderful tool but it is not a panacea. It cannot solve all societal ills just by its mere existence." Indeed. Nor can its mere existence cause societal ills. And the sooner we understand that in this corner of the world, the better off we and our children will be.

Fresh Summer Perspective

Let's talk about the fiction of the 9 month contract. Whenever friends and family members make that "Isn't it so cool that you don't have to work 3 months of the year" comment, I just roll my eyes. True, most days I don't have to fight commuter traffic, or be dressed and out of the house at a specific time, but there is rarely a day that some school work does not get done, and many days that are devoted entirely to school work -- when I'm not doing my summer job.

Perhaps part of the reason that teachers still have a hard time being viewed by the community as true professionals is that perception of "summers off". So many excellent teachers already spend their summers learning, preparing and creating for their students, but off the radar and on their own dime. Seems to me there needs to come a time, if this 9 month school cycle is to remain the norm, when teachers' summer time is openly acknowledged as that learning and preparing time that is vital to effective classroom practice. As much as students' "what I did this summer" fall essays, teachers need to be encouraged, and if paid, required, to share the fruits of their summer's intellectual labors.

In tough economic times, (or, let's be honest, ANY time) it's unpopular to suggest spending more on education, but if teacher excellence is the best indicator of success for students in school, doesn't it make sense to pay a summer stipend and require effective teacher learning and planning?? Isn't time the one thing that everyone cites as a stumbling block to school innovation, creativity, collaboration and change? Make it unnecessary for teachers to take on summer jobs, and pay them for the work that many of them know is essential for the success of their students. Just seems to make sense to me as I'm contemplating a long list of school work, and the necessity of putting in hours at my summer employment...

Reading

Just wondering what purpose people put to reading, and what they require of something they read -- must it be gripping, IMPORTANT, something that matches their values, something with which they wholeheartedly agree? Ought we only to read things that fit those criteria? Is there value to be gained from reading that challenges our assumptions, or is outside our comfort zone, that disagrees with our values, or tells a story we don't like? And should teachers denigrate the reading of certain materials -- makes me wonder if they have given students carte blanche to say "your assignment was not worth my effort -- sorry, I couldn't get into it, so I quit..."

Trying not to be sad about the attempts at sabotaging the all school reading this year.

What works

Yahoo Briefcase is closing -- and so I had to clean out some files from a while back. Found this -- and thought it might be worth sharing.
What works – there are education journals and websites and pundits all in pursuit of this, and anyone in education for longer than 15 minutes can attest to the dizzying array of fads and “one size fits all” approaches to teaching everything from the square root of pi to basic literacy skills. And what does it all come down to? Getting kids excited about the world around them. How we do it is pretty immaterial – and certainly what works for one leaves the next one cold.

Picture the perfect school library. Students work on projects and papers at tables, some use computers to complete assignments or check for work on the school’s online system. Several browse the stacks, and use the computer catalog to locate books. Another group makes decisions about a research project, and still others craft a multi-media product blending print, audio and video resources to explain the significance of past events for present people.

Where? Here. While I can hardly claim that this is the case every day, at times it really gels. Kids do care about learning. One young woman teased a friend, “This is the first school project in your life you’ve ever cared about!” He agreed, and I could tell you from my experiences working with him that it’s probably the first one that’s convinced him that he was competent and in control of the product. The highlight of my day was when he asked, “Do you think I could get this whole book at the public library? Library cards are free, aren’t they?” He had been working with excerpts from a personal narrative. After I explained that a parent or guardian would have to sign for it if he was under 18, he became notably less enthusiastic, and I was forced to consider again a world in which a student might not be able to count on any adult for something as simple as a signature on a library card.

I found the book on my shelf at home, so he’ll have it tomorrow – but what care we have to take with these fledgling scholars – to work around those factors that could clip their wings and limit their worlds.

trusting the learners

Today's conversation began with holes in the wall and wobbly table legs, but left me bemused about just how we "do school" to students. There is every reason for the slang use of "schooled" it seems.

The students I was with expressed a real concern about what they are asked to do in the classroom -- the depth or lack of it that they perceive in their classwork and discussions. Add that to a conversation about testing that I had with a teacher returning after a family leave absence and there is every reason to believe that we must take a serious look at what we are doing and how we are doing it.

Students want to learn -- they perceive, even if they are not quite able to articulate it, that in some ways they are being sold out, left out, not quite initiated to the world of thinking deeply. Some are, admittedly, quite happy with the trivial pursuit of remembering the name of the dog in chapter 3 -- but many would like to try to make sense of their world, might even find they are good at thinking once they've been shown how and had it expected of them.

But, oh, is it messy. And we can't really stand much of a mess, can we, as adult learners? I was reading Bill Ferriter's excellent observations about professional development, and was struck by two things: 1. how perfectly obvious this should have been to me, and 2. how very stubborn the human species is.

We want that "professional development" to be delivered in 30 minutes or less, in an entertaining style, with minimal effort put forth by us, for maximum return in our classrooms -- as long as there isn't a whole hell of a lot that we have to do differently there. When I get a bit cynical like this that's when they begin to whisper among themselves -- "She doesn't know what it's like in the classroom." And maybe I don't any more. It's been almost 10 years -- have kids changed that much? I don't really think so -- it's just the way that they think that has changed...or maybe that's the same as actually changing altogether.

what it could look like

This is the frame that could change substantially how secondary education is done.....maybe....perhaps..it could!

You’re a freshman. You take Freshman seminar, in which you read good books, many of your own choosing, and talk about learning and how you’ll accomplish this thing called your high school education. You’ll find out about brain research and learning styles and you’ll play with multiple intelligences and experiment with ways in which to learn things. You’ll find out about all the mysterious standards you’re expected to master during your 4 years, and you’ll help to plan how to make that happen. And you will learn about a great many tools that you can use to accomplish this learning experience – tools like research process models and technological notetaking, electronic writing, self-publishing, social bookmarking and myriad others.

Then you’re a sophomore. In this year you will add to your portfolio, begun in Freshman Seminar, at least one major exhibit of your knowledge in the area of science, social studies or mathematics. The same will be true for junior year, but your exhibit will need to be in an area different from the area you exhibited in during sophomore year. At the end of each semester during these two years, you will add to your portfolio a reflective piece that considers yourself as a learner and your contributions to the learning community.

Senior Capstone, also a course, will involve creating a major exhibition of mastery that will clearly show how you have mastered the habits of mind and the skills of learning that are most important to have as an informed citizen in the 21st century.

Re-visioning Education

At the risk of sounding chauvinistic about my field, I would offer that there is no single concept in education today more important than what has become referred to as Information Literacy. It is by nature multi-disciplinary, multi-media and has applications across both the academic and personal spectrums. It requires discriminations of an ever-finer nature as students age, and is at the core of what educators now refer to as “21st century skills” – just a buzzy way to say “prepared to function productively in society.”

On the info lit front I want my grads to be articulate in stating their information needs, and sophisticated enough in their thinking to understand and choose among multiple methods for retrieving info. I want them to have at their disposal ways to evaluate the accuracy and value of that info and ways to participate ethically and appropriately in the global conversation and production of knowledge. That involves claiming their voices and learning to question effectively.

I want them to walk away with a portfolio of steadily more complex and multi-disciplinary knowledge products. The learning activities that seniors engage in should be significantly more complex than what is expected of freshmen. So, for instance – no junior should be just collecting facts from indiscriminate sources for a list or paragraph a la 4th grade info seeking.

The rub lies in the fact that all of this is dependent on the whims or willingness of others, who hold the classroom keys and who have their own agendas – or don’t as the case may be. So it’s frustrating to get beyond the polite agreement that’s the hallmark of how schools operate. In theory, yes, many would agree that these things are important. But the actual desire to make them part of the daily lessons, or to take the time to teach in this more messy, time-consuming way, is not so apparent.

We live, too often, I think, the unexamined life in education. It is only to our students’ detriment. Socrates’ assertion holds true. Unexamined lives may not be worth living, but unexamined educational practices are the next thing to malpractice. How many among us have had to articulate our vision for our students in so many words? Maybe in our undergrad philosophy of education courses, but once in the field? Isn't that important? Not simply a “philosophy of education” statement for your resume, but a real,” in-my-classroom-we-do-this-because…”sort of statement that is the super-ego (yes, my psychology background is way too old) of the classes taught in that space. That sort of backdrop makes the whole procedure less mysterious and less arbitrary. Or at least makes the arbitary plain.

And kids need that examination as well. How often do they have to reflect on their own efficacy as learners? Their own goals and needs as scholars? How often are they encouraged to think of their education as something they seek, something they do for themselves, rather than something that is done to them?

What would happen if we built an experience of explicitly addressing learning/brain function with freshmen? How would that be detrimental to any student? Make a space wherein they identify learning preferences, road blocks, both academic and social/emotional, and set expectations for themselves as well as examining the expectations that faculty have. Engage in conversation around the disconnects that are bound to occur.

Plan with them (but, they say, the kids won’t do it, or they will do it poorly. Well, they’ve been doing pencil and paper tests poorly, too. Any reason not to try it??) for a learning project that addresses what they are interested in. Give them the areas that they need to cover. Make them come up with possibilities for projects, then work with them to build the project around the skills they need to develop. It's far too easy to quit trusting (or to never trust in the first place) the kids themselves.

Think about the “education fantasy” movies you’ve seen. There’s our collective imagination about what school could be, ought to be. What are the salient factors – the elements that have to be present for the fantasy to work? A subject with intrinsic interest and/or importance. A passionate teacher. Time devoted to student exploration/discovery and creation. Why is any of that hard to provide??