Learning for Me! Part 2

NECC Conference Musings

Monday evening notes: Today was a good day for learning. Well, outside of the fact that the rooms set aside for the BYOL laptops turned out to be waaayyyyy too small for the numbers who wanted to be in on the classes. There were long lines, people turned away, and thus - some pretty cranky people! Costs a huge amount to travel to a national conference, so being turned away from the learning hurts in more than one way. We need some 21st Century solutions - no one should have to miss out because of the number of seats available. How archaic is that? At the very least, we ought to web-stream and archive every single session, not just the handouts.

My favorite session today was Will Richardson and friends, who presented on live web-streaming. I liked the fact that it was unstructured and informal and extremely informative. It was, "Here it is, this is what you can do, here's the possibilities and the problems, we need to explore this and see where it takes us!" I already have a UStream account, now I'm going to give it a go. Look out, team - we've got another trial to set up!

I checked out the Apple classroom today for a short while. One of their Apple educators is one of my "teacher's pets" for want of a better term. Tina was in the second wave of teachers I mentored in a four-year ongoing project in a local school district. About a year ago, I prodded and pestered her to apply to the Apple Distinguished Educators Program, and of course, she was accepted. What a joy to watch her now!

Learning for Me!

NECC Conference Musings

Sunday night notes: I'm attending NECC 2008 in San Antonio this week. Yesterday and today were "pre-conference workshops"; you pay extra to attend these in the hope that they will be deeper, more intense than the regular one-hour presentations. The one I chose yesterday was good, but the one today was better! More hands-on, student-directed. The presenters did a good job of practicing a constructivist learning experience.

I was late getting to the major speaker event this evening, so I listened to it out in the hallways where it was being simulcasted on big screens and groups were watching. On the screen next, there was a running commentary in a chat about what the presenter was saying. Quite a bit of that 'chatter' was negative, and I wondered about that. Sure, many of those chatting had read the presenter's books, and already had some insight into what his positions are. Perhaps they had, but probably there were many in the audience who hadn't. I hope the negative people don't discourage those for whom the information is new. The best of NECC should be that there is learning for all, no matter where they are on the continuum.

Why am I here?

I'm giving myself a trip down memory lane this morning, before my teacher-students arrive for their fourth training day in our instructional technology program. As this summer has progressed, I've found myself reflecting negatively about workshops in general. I had scheduled some of what I thought were really terrific workshops this summer - all of them connected to Web 2.0 Tools and 21st Century skills in some way. None of them, so far, have attracted many teachers to sign up. My team is getting interest in some of our 'basic skills' classes, but the others, no. No one seems willing to step out and try these 21st Century tools. Why? Money issues? Salesmanship on our part? I don't know.

So today, I've pulled up videos of teacher presentations I've collected over the years, and I'm doing some reflection. I think it's going to improve my attitude.

You see, as each school year draw to a close, I have each group of teachers I've mentored that year prepare a reflective presentation. In it, they answer four questions:
What makes me a better learner?
What makes me a better teacher?
What makes my students better learners?
How does the technology I have available enable these things to happen for me and my students?

Each year, I get the basically the same reaction from the group, "You want us to what?" Many don't want to do it and think of it as a time-wasting assignment, but with a little grumbling they get it together.

The magic happens at our last group meeting of the year. Each teacher presents to the group. They've been given the opportunity to reflect on themselves both as learners and as teachers, and the results are incredible - sometimes funny, sometimes moving. We get little time as educators for reflection, but when we make the time, the results are powerful. I video the presentations and give each school an edited DVD of their teachers' presentations. This impresses the teachers, and their administrators.

Today, the videos are impressing me again. Reminding me that absolutely, positively, I am doing what I can in my little world to improve education for this generation of learners. Small audiences or large, one teacher, one small group of teachers, at a time.

Still Too True

"It is nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry." ~ Albert Einstein, 1949

Next week, I'm heading out to San Antonio. The NECC Conference beacons me, along with thousands of others, to come together and share and learn and try out new ways to connect our students and teachers to that 'holy curiosity of inquiry' that Eistein spoke of.

I can't wait! Hope to see many of my e-friends there!

:) L.

"Scaredy Cats"?

Have educators all become "scaredy" cats? Is the spotlight of NCLB enabling us – or dissuading us – from making positive change in schools?

I’ll admit that sometimes, I’m a bit discouraged. Like everyone in education, I have too much to do and too little time. That’s not what is getting me down lately, however. What is hurting is the lack of enthusiasm I see on the part of those around me about learning something new. Time after time, I hear the excuse “I don’t have time for anything but the basics.” What on earth does that mean? To you? More importantly, to your students?

Maybe to you, it means, “I have to teach to the test.” News for you: We have ALWAYS taught to a test. How else did you give grades? Most of us certainly did not give grades based solely on the true demonstration of understanding of deep curriculum and ability to apply that curriculum to solve problems.

Maybe to your students, it means, “No use asking questions during class; the teacher doesn’t have time. When I ask a question in the middle of class, he always says he’ll answer that later after we get though the material he has to cover today.” Don’t believe me? I’ve had students tell me this at least twice this past semester.

We need to start making time for the NEW basics! A student who masters the 21st Century Learning Skills will pass those NCLB tests. Paying these tests as much attention as we are is only as good as we make that attention. What needs the attention are not the tests and the scores, it is the STUDENTS!

We don’t have many excuses left. All the research points to differentiated instruction and integrated curriculum as the best way to help all students learn to a level that leads to deep understanding. We all know that learning is not demonstrated by spitting back basic facts, but by learning how to apply those facts to new learning and solving problems. We also know that teachers need 21st Century Skills as desperately as their students do. This world is not going to slow down while we think about getting ourselves ‘ready’ for the future. The future is here and now!

So, I challenge you to give up your excuses. Make the time to get the skills you need, learn something new and practice what you preach to your students.