I have been blogging for 6 years now…

I have written extensively about blogging (131 posts categorized “blogging” on Langwitches)

I have shared two guides for teachers to start blogging with their students

• “Stepping it Up: Learning About Blogs FOR your Students”
  • Part I: Reading
  • Part II A: Writing
  • Part II B: Student Writing
  • Part III: Commenting
  • Part IV: Connecting
  • Part V: Reciprocating
  • Part VI: Consistency
  • Part VII: Quality
• Blogging Unit Plan
• 1. Blogging with Elementary School Students
• 2. Outline Blogging Lessons
• 3. Introduction to Blogging
• 4. Online Safety
• 5. Commenting
• 6. Writing
• 7. Setting up the Blog
• 8. Logistics of Formatting Post
• 9. Connecting Your Class to the World
• 10. Web Design for Student Bloggers

It is time to walk the walk…

Let me walk the path of Action Research…. to find out if blogging:

• teachers, who are “actively” learning about and participating in the blogging process (beyond attending a workshop or reading “about” blogging), are setting the stage and building a solid platform for their own ongoing professional development and life long learning?
• educators, who are blogging with their students,  can (are) learn(ing) to teach through a 21st century lens (skills & literacies)?
• improves students’ writing skills?
• motivates and engages students?
• touches on multiple 21st century skills and literacies, as well as contribute and support learning fluency.
• amplifies curriculum content, objectives and skills?

As you can see from my questions above, I am looking for answers on three levels. One is about the benefit and learning process for the educator, another is on a student level and a the third level is from the curriculum point of view.

Action Research is defined on Wikipedia:

Action research – is a reflective process of progressive problem solving led by individuals working with others in teams or as part of a “community of practice” to improve the way they address issues and solve problems.

Over the last few years, I have figured out that I learn better COLLABORATIVELY. My immediate reaction to “Where do I start?, was to connect and to surround myself with other educators to walk together down the path. I have also learned that collaborating or working as a group (especially with group members scattered across the globe) could be hard, frustrating and often fizzled out.

In order to move forward and to set my Action Research proposal up for success, I needed to connect with passionate, committed and dedicated educators. I wanted the framework of the research to take on the shape of  Quad Blogging.

Quad blogging, defined on quadblogging.net is a way:

To deliver electrical energy of a global audience to the heart of a blog to allow a rhythm of excitement to kick via the blog’s widening global audience.

Quad blogging meant to find and connect 4 educators to collaborate and conduct action research with their students.

I was able to put together four amazing Action Research teams, ready to start the process towards the end of February. We have:

Team USA (Martin J. Gottlieb Day School) with Andrea Hernandez (21st Century Learning Specialist),  Stephanie Teitelbaum (4th grade teacher) and myself.

Team Czech Republic (International School of Prague) with Nancy von Wahlde (3rd grade teacher)

Team Thailand (International School of Bangkok) spear headed by  Chrissy Hellyer (Technology Coordinator) and Stacie Melhorn (5th Grade Teacher)

Team Switzerland (International School of Zug and Luzern) with Maggie Hos-McGrane (Technology Coordinator) and Dave Secomb (4th Grade Teacher)

We will be planning via a Google Doc and Skype, disseminating and connect our research findings via our respective professional blogs.

Here are some of my preliminary thoughts:

Pre-Planning to include:

• Pre-planning Skype meeting
• Collaborative Google Doc
• Identify Goals & Objectives
• Identify Obstacles/Problems
• Identify Strategies
• Discuss Solutions
• Share resources and Materials
• Data Collection:
• Pre-assessment (writing & commenting rubric)
• Action Research Assessment and Evaluation:
• How will we measure success?
• How will we know if we have succeeded?
• What will we accept as evidence of success?

During

• Monitoring of students writing and commenting
• Coaching, mentoring and guiding students writing
• Anecdotal records
• Record student observations and behavior

Post-Planning to include:

• Debriefing Skype call
• Post-assessment
• Student interviews?
• Self-assessment (students record audio of video reflection?)
• Analyze, interpret and share results
• Was Action Research successful?
• What has been learned, gained and what needs improvement?
• Reflective post on professional blogs

Maggie Hos-McGrane  wrote about Teachers as Leaders. She referred to the Teacher Leader Model Standards that have been developed by the Teacher Leadership Exploratory Consortium. One of them being Accessing and using research to improve practice and student learning.

How about joining us in doing Action Research on your own, as you are blogging with your students! Find out what works and what does not and (maybe) most importantly SHARE your findings.  It’s about being active, reflective and transparent learners as we are teaching.

As I am updating  my resume, filling out one questionnaire after another from recruiting companies, to become a candidate in their International Schools teachers’ and administrators’ database, I was asked to share my Philosophy of Education.

I am sharing my thoughts here on Langwitches. Feel free to add, question, probe and inspire.

What does it mean to be educated? Has the meaning of being educated for today shifted from what it meant fifty years ago? What will it mean to be educated for students who are entering our schools today and will graduate in 2024? Are schools preparing our children for their future or our past and present?
These are important questions to ask and answer as educational leaders. What implications do the answers to these questions have on curriculum content and delivery, scheduling, grouping of students, assessment, and technology?

Education is about teaching and learning, which are inseparably intertwined. I realized how heavily influenced my learning has become through the use of social network platforms and the growth of a Personal Learning Network (PLN). My learning has changed forever and in consequence my philosophy of education and teaching has and is shifting accordingly.

The possibilities that are opening up through skills and emerging “new” literacies, often labeled 21st century, will allow us to see completely different patterns of studying, researching, connecting, creating and ultimately learning. These skills and literacies are vital in order for our students to succeed in a flattened world. There is a giant divide between the theory of teaching and the practice of implementing them in our schools though. Nobody can force change on anyone, it has to be experienced.

Albert Einstein said:
“ I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.”

This does not only apply to our traditional vision of who we label students in our schools, but must include teachers, administrators and all stake holders.  A new vision of life long and self-directed learners, transparent in their learning process, is emerging and a significant component of building learning communities in global collaboration environments. These new communities will not only “prepare” students for life, but will allow them to experience life with teachers and coaches who facilitate authentic and meaningful learning opportunities.

Should Teachers Be More Like Conductors? This bog post from 2009 took me to the following TED talk by Itay Talgam.

Although I am not a musician, nor listen to much classical music, I was mesmerized. This TED talk was geared towards organization leaders, but I so agree with Tania Sheko, that it seemed to directly speak to me as an educator.

Click to enlarge image

I am quoting the following passages that made the connection to teaching and the classroom for me:

The magical moment, the magical moment of conducting. Which is, you go on to a stage. There is an orchestra sitting. They are all, you know, warming up and doing stuff. And I go on the podium. You know, this little office of the conductor. Or rather a cubicle, an open-space cubicle, with a lot of space. And in front of all that noise, You do a very small gesture. Something like this, not very pomp, not very sophisticated. And suddenly, out of the chaos, order. Noise becomes music.

Carlos Kleiber clip:

But what about the conductor? What can you say the conductor was doing, actually? He was happy. [...] he’s spreading happiness. And I think the happiness, the important thing is this happiness does not come from only his own story, and his joy of the music. The joy is about enabling other people’s stories to be heard at the same time.

You have the story of the orchestra as a professional body. You have the story of the audience as a community. Yeah. You have the stories of the individuals in the orchestra and in the audience. And then you have other stories, unseen. People who build this wonderful concert hall. People who made those Stradivarius, Amati, all those beautiful instruments. And all those stories are being heard at the same time. This is the true experience of a live concert.

Richard Strauss clip:

Did you see him turning pages in the score? Now, either he is senile, and doesn’t remember his own music, because he wrote the music. Or he is actually transferring a very strong message to them, saying, “Come on guys. You have to play by the book. So it’s not about my story. It’s not about your story. It’s only the execution of the written music, no interpretation.” Interpretation is the real story of the performer. So, no, he doesn’t want that. That’s a different kind of control.

Herbert von Karajan clip:

[The players] look at Karajan. And then they look at each other.  [...] And after doing that, they really look at each other, and the first players of the orchestra lead the whole ensemble in playing together.

And when Karajan is asked about it he actually says, “Yes, the worst damage I can do to my orchestra is to give them a clear instruction. Because that would prevent the ensemble, the listening to each other that is needed for an orchestra.” [...] Meaning that you know you have no authority to change anything. It’s my music. The real music is only in Karajan’s head. And you have to guess my mind. So you are under tremendous pressure because I don’t give you instruction, and yet, you have to guess my mind. So it’s a different kind of, a very spiritual but yet, very firm control.

Carlos Kleiber clip 2:

I’m opening a space for you to put in another layer of interpretation. That is another story. But how does it really work together if it doesn’t give them instructions? It’s like being on a rollercoaster. Yeah? You’re not really given any instructions. But the forces of the process itself keep you in place. That’s what he does. The interesting thing is of course the rollercoaster does not really exist. It’s not a physical thing. It’s in the players heads.

And that’s what makes them into partners. You have the plan in your head. You know what to do, even though Kleiber is not conducting you. [...] And you become a partner building the rollercoaster with sound, as you actually take the ride. This is very exciting for those players. [...] It is very tiring. Yeah? But it’s the best music making, like this.

Carlos Kleiber clip 3:

What happens when there is a mistake?

Again you see the beautiful body language.  And now there is a trumpet player who does something not exactly the way it should be done. Second time for the same player.  And now the third time for the same player. When it’s needed, the authority is there. It’s very important. But authority is not enough to make people your partners.

Carlos Kleiber clip 4:

Kleiber not only creates a process, but also creates the conditions in the world in which this process takes place. So again, the oboe player is completely autonomous and therefore happy and proud of his work, and creative and all of that. And the level in which Kleiber is in control is in a different level. So control is no longer a zero-sum game. You have this control. And all you put together, in partnership, brings about the best music. So Kleiber is about process. Kleiber is about conditions in the world.

Lenny Bernstein clip:

You need to have process and content to create the meaning. [...] Lenny Bernstein always started from the meaning [...]  you can see the music on his face. You can see the baton left his hand. No more baton. Now it’s about you, the player, telling the story. Now it’s a reversed thing. You’re telling the story. And even briefly, you become the storyteller to which the community, the whole community, listens to. And Bernstein enables that. Isn’t that wonderful?

I am preparing a pre-conference workshop for Building Learning Communities Conference in Boston at the end of the month. The title of my workshop is: Orchestrating the Collaborative Classroom

Collaboration is one of the most sought after skills in the 21st century. How do you transform your classroom into a collaborative community where each student is empowered to contribute and to take ownership of their learning? How do you become the conductor of an orchestra full of “unique instruments and musicians”?

This session will share examples from the classroom where students take on “jobs” to become part of that orchestra. We will look at and play with different “instruments” that are uniquely tailored to encourage collaborative work. Participants will explore how they can use classroom time as rehearsals in order to prepare their students for a 21st century concerto.

I think snippets from the above video will spur some great conversations…

In my previous post titled Enhancement-Automating-Transforming-Informating, I described the fusion (in my mind) of the SAMR model with Alan November’s concept of Automating vs. Informating to transform teaching and learning.

Since then, my colleague Andrea Hernandez and I have set down to create a visual using the above model to include concrete examples from our school to illustrate to our teachers what tasks are considered in the substitution/augmentation/modification/redefinition stages. We want to be transparent in showing our expectations of basic tasks being led autonomously by the classroom teachers to teach and support students without the necessity of tech support to be present. At the same time, we wanted to emphasize the progression and show what transformational teaching and learning looks like.

As we were populating the chart, it became clear to me that the stages were part of a time line, a process that an individual and an entire school cultures had to go through in order to transform and leap from “preparing students for 1970s, 1980′s 1990′s to preparing them for 2020′s and beyond” (Heidi Hayes Jacobs). Once I saw the imaginary time line, I also felt that that the stages coincided with how (21st century) teaching and learning was seen. We used to see it as a:

Tools Set:

• we taught keyboarding classes
• we had classes that taught a specific version of a office program (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• we emphasized file management
• we supported teachers when they did not know which button to click for printing
• we gave instructions, such as “click in the upper left corner for the drop down menu and save”, we gave new instructions when the software package, platform or version changed
• we gave tech support to upload, download and resize images

Then we started to understand that it was never about the tools, but about the skills teachers and students would acquire when using these tools.

Skill Set:

• we blog to teach and learn about writing, communication, networking, presentation, publishing, commenting, reflection, organization and collaboration skills. Blogging is about Digital Citizenship, Media Literacy, Information Literacy and Global Awareness.
• we use wikis to understand about copyright, evaluation and analysis of Information, collective knowledge and new writing genres.
• we skype in order to expose and connect teachers and students locally and globally to peers, experts, eye witnesses. We become more fluent in networking and and information literacies, speaking, listening and presentation skills are honed.
• we teach bookmarking skills to help teachers and students cope with the exponentially increasing information available. Finding, evaluating, analyzing, tagging, categorizing, organizing, connecting and remixing of information are just some of the skills necessary for that
• we podcast (audio and video)  to allow students to express themselves and their knowledge in more than the written form. We incorporate storytelling in order to give students multimedia skills as well as expose them to visual literacy and information literacy.

Now, it seems that teaching and learning will not necessarily move from the “enhancement” to the “transformation” stage with a tool set and the necessary skills alone. In order for teaching and learning to become transformative there also needs to be a

Mind Set:

• Our world has flattened and is interconnected
• Information is just going to continue to grow exponentially
• Students of today and tomorrow learn differently than we did
• We are life long learners
• We are self-directed learners
• “How we connect with each other is how learning occurs” (Stephen Wilmarth)
• “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read or write, but the ones who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn” (Alvin Toffler)
• “Collaboration and sharing knowledge are highly prized skills” (Alan November)

Take a look at the following graphic and keep a time line in mind, as well as the stages mentioned above to move from substitution to redefinition. Does this make sense to you? What would you add?

I am constantly wrestling with the issue of using technology in schools to TEACH and to LEARN.

Long ago, I have resolved that teaching and learning DO NOT depend on technology nor are “not real”, good or effective without it (see Changing-Shifting a School Culture, Bringing in Experts.  Transformative Teaching and Learning? and It’s not about the Tools, it is about the Skills ). The best “tool” for good teaching and learning…is… a good teacher! That teacher can be a professional educator…it can be “yourself”… it can be a group of your peers… it can be a book, film, audio…(insert whatever media) or it can be… (insert whatever suits you, your learning or teaching style). What technology has done for me (it came naturally) is that it makes everything CLEARER!

Through the technology lens, I am:

• amplified… I learn amplified…I can teach amplified..not only to physical bodies that I happen to share time and space with at the moment…
• reachable… I reach and can be reached whenever I choose to
• worldwide… I am in contact with people from around the world… I disseminate, ask, receive, share, publish to a worldwide audience
• connected… to information, an audience,  a personal learning network, etc.
• collaborative…I am collaborating with educators from around the world to figure out “this thing”…how to best prepare the citizens of the future, so they can solve all the problems of the world awaiting them…
• available…I am available to others asynchronously via my online presence. Limitless information, opinions, experiences, expertize from others are available to me anytime, anywhere in whatever media and platform I prefer to learn with/through…
• exposed to multiple teaching styles… I am stretching my own teaching style by exploring and experimenting with media and platforms beyond my normal comfort zone…
• exposed to multiple learning styles… I am able to differentiate multiple learning styles by giving students choices that allow them to demonstrate their learning in multiple ways…
• networked… I am part of a network…I am not alone…a network of peers, experts, learners… a network that helps me be fluent in accomplishing tasks, solving problems, being inspired by ideas, remixing of information…

Without the lens… teaching & learning seems fuzzy… uni-dimensional…monolingual…not reaching its full potential… to me…

When I became a “Technology Integration Facilitator“,  I wanted to use and help teachers use technology in their classroom NOT as an add on, but as a way to support their teaching. As I grew in my own learning process and became a 21st Century Learning Specialist , I realized that it was not enough to integrate technology. There had to be a change (an amplification) in what learning and teaching could be in the 21st century. Technology was merely the tool, not the end in itself.

In the article Creating a New Culture of Teaching , Alan November points out the difference between AUTOMATING a task for learning (“using a $2000 pencil”) and INFORMATING teaching and learning (“think about information systems, whole systems of the flow of information and communication”).

It has been hard…I have not always been successful… in trying to help teachers see beyond the technology and the logistics of how to use it in order to TRANSFORM the way we teach and learn. There seems to be the need of keeping the change (that needs to happen) wrapped up in a “technology bow” in order to have excuses WHY the paradigm shift can’t happen. It seems easier (and more acceptable) to say “I don’t do computers” than “I don’t know how or don’t care to prepare my students for a different future than I am used to and adapt MY teaching to THEIR learning needs”…everything is fine the way it is…it has worked for the past 20 years…!

Technology integrationists, computer lab teachers or whatever the title , still seem to serve as the crutch some teachers want to/ need to lean on, instead of taking responsibility of becoming “21st Century literate“.   If classroom teachers are taking their students to the lab to “do computers”, then they can CHECK OFF the use of technology. If a 21st century coach/facilitator/specialist/resource is in a classroom to co-teach with them, then they can CHECK OFF the use of technology integration… no matter if the classroom teacher physically leaves the room, checks mentally out or grades worksheets in the back of the room…

How can we support the paradigm shift in teaching and learning if teachers and administrators are still hung up on the logistics and basics of technology use? How can integrationists, facilitators and coaches best use their time in moving forward and supporting TEACHING and LEARNING when they are asked to hold hands with AUTOMATING tasks that have been done with paper and pencils before? They are asked to :

• fix printers to print out worksheets
• upload and edit images and videos that will be forgotten on hard drives
• help students type their book reports to be displayed on the bulletin board outside classrooms
• be on call for teachers to help them when students need to take computer based tests
• supervise students with kill and drill math and vocabulary games
• bookmark Internet resources to be accessed by students
• help students with digital drawings to be printed out
• help with basic tasks like text formatting and file management

I had the pleasure of meeting and listening to Maggie Hos-McGrane at ECIS in Frankfurt, Germany last month. Her presentation The Role of ICT in the PYP was an incredible eye opener. Maggie mentioned The SAMR Model, which immediately caught my attention.

SAMR, a model designed to help educators integrate technology into teaching and learning , was developed by Dr. Ruben Puentedura.  The model aims to enable teachers to design, develop, and integrate digital learning experiences that utilize technology to transform learning experiences to lead to high levels of  achievement for students.

Maggie explained how she is using the model to move teachers from substitution, where “technology acts like a direct tool substitute, with no functional change” to a redefinition, where “technology allows for the creation of new tasks, previously inconceivable”.

The SAMR model seems to perfectly align with Alan November’s Automating and Informating distinction.

Maggie and her team are deciding what skills their teachers will need to start taking on:

In the case of substitution we felt that teachers themselves should be able to lead lessons that involve simple data handling – adding information into spreadsheets to produce graphs for example. They should also be able to support students using a simple graphics programme, have students take photographs and transfer them onto the computer, use a digital microscope to view images, access the internet for research and use word processing software.

I liked the idea of the model to illustrate and formally outline for teachers the different stages. By pointing out their responsibilities in taking on the roles of leading and supporting their own students in the Enhancement/Automating stage of substitution and augmentation, the “crutch role” of the facilitator in the classroom should be diminished, limited and even eliminated. Classroom teachers take on the responsibility of these tasks. If they need help to learn the tasks for themselves, they receive training outside of the classroom without students. When teachers are ready to redesign and transform tasks (not automate) to create learning opportunities that previously  would not have been possible, the facilitator becomes the co-planner, collaborator, co-teacher, connector and coach.

I wrote previously about the issue of teachers relying on coaches/ facilitators too much in 2009 in a post titled Interested? Supported? Let’s move on to taking the Reigns.

How do we keep moving from one stage to the other? How long do we “allow” teachers to stay in one stage? How do we make sure we don’t enable teachers and get stuck? How do we increase the chances of sustainability? How do we prepare teachers so they are able to take the reins and enjoy the ride?

Almost 18 months later, I am still contemplating the issue…I have not found a solution yet… I believe  the SAMR/November model/idea can give us a roadmap.

I will be working with Andrea Hernandez on creating a customized chart with example tasks to illustrate for our teachers  what stage their “technology use” in the classroom falls under. We will formally outline what kind of responsibility we are expecting teachers will assume in leading and supporting 21st century teaching and learning through technology.

Here are a few more of Maggie’s blog posts describing how she is using the SAMR model at her school:

• The SAMR Model – From Theory to Practice
• Moving from S to R
• Moving from S to R part 2

What kind of task do you see in your own school, classroom or work that would fall under the 4 stages outlined in the model? What stages/tasks do you support directly? Which ones are classroom teachers’ responsibilities?

As promised here is the follow up video to the trailer from my previous post Bringing a 1:1 iPad Program to China. I am back in the US now and am trying to sort through and make connections to my experiences from the past 2 weeks.

Taking videos and pictures while we were traveling in China… has helped me tremendously in reflecting on these experiences. Choosing the right images (from over 1000 files between Mike and my Flickr account) and then editing the movie was an integral part of my learning experience.

1:1 iPad Initiative in Wuhan, China from langwitches on Vimeo.

What are your thoughts when viewing the video? What parallels can you draw to education in the US? What implications do you see for the global future of our students?

Mike Fisher and I had the pleasure to sit down with Stephen Wilmarth and five of his Chinese High School students in the International Experimental Class at the Number 1 Middle School attached to the Central China Normal University in Wuhan. Steve is piloting the first 1:1 iPad program in all of China.

In the audio podcast, Steve refers to the following movie he had shown to his students. He asks them to look for evidence of learning. These students come from nine previous years sitting in rows facing the front of the class and their teachers. They work individually on their multiple choice test booklets or work page by page  through SAT/AP prep books or listen to their teacher lecture.

Steve has to teach his students step by step what (new form of ) learning looks like. Evidence of learning, Steve reminds his students, is not reflected in high test scores for him, but by showing:

• Participation in their own learning: go beyond rote memorization and regurgitating and reciting
• Presentation: be able to communicate ideas in a variety of forms and media
• Research: looking for a variety of information that connects a myriad of subject areas- Breadth of knowledge
• Design: goes beyond basic problem solving to include imagination and creativity
• Development: deals with the concept of the skill to be able to test and strengthen their ideas by digging deeper into them- Depth of knowledge

Steve Wilmarth with five of his students.

We asked students, Mickeylla, Klaus, Kathy, Clair and Mike, the following questions in the podcast:

• How do you like learning by collaborating and discussions rather than just listening?
• What did you think about the movie (see above) you saw?
• Do you think you saw hard work? Did the movie capture just fun or learning?
• Why does learning look messy?
• How do you imagine university life in the USA will be like? How will it be the same? How will it be different?
• What will you do with all your (free) time (after used to sitting in class for 14+ hours during High School)?

I am in Wuhan China… Don’t know off the top of your head where that is? Take a look at the map below. It is on the same latitude as Jacksonville, Florida where I live…just on the other side of the globe…

I have traveled with Michael Fisher, a fellow Curriculum21 faculty member, to visit Stephen Wilmarth, contributing author to Heidi Hayes Jacobs‘ book Curriculum21 and Program Director of the International Experimental Class of the Number 1 Middle School attached to Central China Normal University in Wuhan, China.

Wuhan, China

Other side of the Globe

Number 1 Middle School in Wuhan, China

The school’s name is misleading for us in the USA, since it is a High School serving 3 grade levels (Grades 10, 11 & 12). It serves over 5000 students. The International Experimental class is similar to an academy within the school. About 50 students, all focused on learning English, American history and culture in order to prepare for the TOEFL (Test Of English as a Foreign Language) and the SAT, in order to get accepted to top Universities in the USA. These students do not take the Gao Kao, the Chinese College entry exam.

Take a read of the NY Times article titled “China’s College Entry Test- Gao Kao is a National Obsession” to gain a better understanding of the motivation, perseverance, determination, fear, stress, and pressure for Chinese students to be admitted into universities.

The past week, we have spent in Wuhan, observing and talking to students and faculty, the pressure described well in the above mentioned NY Times article is obvious and can be felt even by us foreigners. The pressure to perform well on these everything-determining exams is what drives ALL decision making.

Chinese students study over 14 hours a day in an educational system that is known for rote memorization, lectures, test taking and conformity. In a system that seems to value “training” above “education”, Stephen Wilmarth has taken on the challenge to start defying this perception that most Westerners hold of Chinese students. A perception which paints a picture of students being only good test takers, but not for being creative nor possessing critical thinking and problem solving skills.
He wants to break his students out of the mold and allow them to reach beyond this perception and prepare them to be admitted and study in the USA. Steve has chosen iPads as the vehicle to help him accomplish just that.

You HAVE to take the Chinese cultural background (history as well as current realities…think Great (Fire) Wall of China) into consideration to be able to realize the immense undertaking of this program of bringing a 1:1 iPad program into a Chinese Public school.

This background includes teacher-student respect in addition to the immense pressure of passing (with top scores) their exams in order to not loose face nor bring dishonor to their families . Teachers stand in front of the class, often on a physical stage and lecture. Students take notes, memorize and are expected to stand up to answer questions and/or recite in unison. Classes have mostly over 50 students in small physical space. The one-child policy in China also plays a pivotal role in the education equation. Parents are heavily involved and want and expect top quality educational opportunities for their children.

Typical Student Desk

More room for books, papers and copies

Steve is creating a model for other Chinese schools to bring technology into the classroom and into the hands of students that for the first time in Chinese history is re-aligning where information comes from.

• from rote-memorization to critical thinking…
• from reciting disconnected facts to connecting and remixing content…
• from individual test scores to a collaborative and a participatory culture …
• from consumption to production…
• from transmitting information to transforming information…
• from handed- in written communication to presentations in multiple media forms…
• from multiple choice to multiple modalities…
• from a paper-based classroom to paper-less learning community…
• from ethnocentrism to global awareness

The goal of the program is to give students the skills to take control of their own learning.

Having the iPad at their fingertips to store, organize and retrieve information anytime and anywhere IS a game changer…

Using the iPads to encourage collaborative work…IS a game changer…

Using the iPads to negotiate meaning that support critical thinking and problem solving skills IS a game changer.

Using iPads to support communication and presentation skills IS a game changer…

Using the iPads to replace expensive printed content and text books IS a game changer…

New Forms of Teaching & Learning

Take a listen to an interview, Mike and I recorded, with Lara Zhang, co-teacher in the International Experimental Class.

It is a new idea for many classroom teachers/students to move from writing, reading and “doing” work, not only for themselves, supervisors/parents or for a monetary compensation/grade, to share their work openly and freely with others. The idea of putting oneself “out there on the internet” (on a larger scale than the teacher lounge) and publicly “brag” about successes, admit failures, ask for help or document one’s learning and teaching process,  feels unnatural and even scares many of them.

It is not the first time I am thinking about this “sharing thing”.  You can read about my train of  thought by looking at previous posts about the topic:

• It’s All About Sharing & Collaborating
• There is a responsibility of sharing among Educators
• Sharing in Education- Is it Changing?

In the last few months I am reading and hearing more and more about sharing from others. Starting with Dean Shareski‘s keynote at the K12Online Conference 2010 “Sharing, the Moral Imperative“.

Dean starts out his presentation with a strong quote by Ewan Mcintosh.

Dean says that we are in the early stages of a sharing revolution that includes so much more sharing than previous generations would have ever considered. Dean makes us think about how we share so much nowadays,  our “immediate presence, location, photos, thoughts, videos, reading lists and more”. He continues to ask: Is sharing an obligation in education? All the “sharing” that was required of teachers before was an occasional presentation at a conference, a faculty meeting or with a colleague down the hall. Sharing was “rare, hard and a luxury”. Now that these obstacles seem to have evaporated due to technology tools and social network platforms, they have been replaced by the “who, where and the how” part of sharing.

What is your reaction to that statement?

You have a moral obligation to share as an educator!

What are your reasons to share or not to share as a teacher?

Alan November in his book “Empowering Students with Technology” says:

Collaboration and sharing knowledge are the highly prized skills. This expectation of collaboration will eventually reach the teaching profession. Teachers will be valued for their ability to share their knowledge and solve problems about teaching and learning than an individual teacher could not solve alone.

Sharing seen as a valued skill for educators? Wow! What a divergence to the concept of teaching behind closed doors and holding on to all the resources, lesson plans and expertise a teacher has developed and reserved for the students they have in front of them. Not only does November predict that sharing will be valued, but he also designates sharing as a “skill”, which is defined as the:

Capacity to do something well; technique, ability. Skills are usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities, which are often thought of as innate

If sharing is a skill and a skill is “usually acquired or learned”, then we might have to re-think start thinking about sharing as something we need to point out, incorporate, teach, model and coach others in.

Clay Shirkey also talks about sharing in his book “Cognitive Surplus”. He makes the point, like Shareski, that “sharing” is changing. It has changed because of social media and networking tools, that allow anyone to produce and publish. He is very clear about the effect large quantities of people who share are having on media and society. They share for free, simply because they can and because they enjoy being able to connect with each other. We have not grasped the potential sharing might have on society and more particular on learning and education, due to the vast (and growing) number of people who share and aggregate an infinite number of topics.

Expanding our focus to include producing and sharing doesn’t even require making big shifts in individual behavior to create enormous changes in outcome. The world’s cognitive surplus is so large that small changes can have huge ramifications in aggregate.

We are increasingly becoming one another’s infrastructure. This may be a cold-blooded way of looking at sharing- that we increasingly learn about the world through stranger’s random choices about what to share- but even that has some human benefits.

Our ability to balance consumption with production and sharing, our ability to connect with one another, is transforming the sense of media from a particular sector of the economy to a cheap and globally available tool for organized sharing.

Once we understand the moral imperative  of sharing (Dean Shareski)…once we buy into our part in the cognitive surplus to solve universal problems too big to solve on an individual basis (Clay Shirkey)… once we acknowledge that  sharing knowledge is a valued skill nowadays (Alan November), then we NEED to make “sharing” a vital component of our professional planning, collaboration, curriculum mapping, unit plans,  lesson plans and daily interaction with students.

What do you have to lose?

• Look at the fifth grade teacher who shared her Christopher Columbus unit with the world by producing a video newscast and is receiving requests for her students to be “experts” to teach others about what they have learned.
• Look at the fourth grade teacher who uploaded her students’ book trailer videos to her classroom blog only to be contacted by one of the book’s author. They are arranging a Skype call by the author into the classroom.
• Look at the Middle School Language Arts teacher who shared her student’s essay on the classroom blog only to have the family and friends of the fallen soldier  she wrote about contact them to express a thank you.
• Look at what happens when I created a blogging unit and someone from St. Petersburg, Russia chose to translate the work into Russian for teachers and students, who most likely I will never meet, to benefit from.
• Look what happens when a college professor, Alec Couros, creates and shares a diagram of “The Networked Teacher”.
• Watch more “Amazing Stories” (of sharing) collected by Alan Levine (2009)(2010)

How do you, as an educator, share your wisdom, your experience, your knowledge? How do you enable and encourage your students to share for the sake of sharing? How do you share to contribute to a larger goal of solving a problem or teaching others who you might never meet or hear from?

What are some of the kickbacks you have gotten from sharing on a larger scale?

Take a few minutes to watch Dean’s excellent video and his view on the moral imperative of sharing and… well…share your thoughts!

Cross posted on Angela Maier’s blog!

In the month of November, Angela Maier, asked a number of educators to write about PASSION. Each one of the contributors will add their perspective on PASSION in education. It was an honor to have been asked to be one of these contributors.

I am realizing that Angela has stumbled upon (or  has strategically moved towards) THE NEW FORM of how we learn:

• Together (on a large scale)
• Global
• Across age, gender, time and physical boundaries
• Virtually
• As part of a whole
• Connected
• As part of a discussion
• Contributing our experiences
• Discussing and reflecting
• Participatory

I invite YOU to experience this new form of learning, to form your own opinion, to create strategies to bring this new form into a classroom and to rethink how “classrooms” are/will/should look like in the present/future. Participate in the discussion. Comment here, comment on Angela’s blog and contribute via Twitter, using the hashtag #passiondriven.

Wikipedia defines Passion as:

Passion ( from Latin verb patior meaning to suffer or to endure) is an emotion applied to a very strong feeling about a person or thing. Passion is an intense emotion compelling feeling, enthusiasm, or desire for something. The term is also often applied to a lively or eager interest in or admiration for a proposal, cause, or activity or love. Passion can be expressed as a feeling of unusual excitement, enthusiasm or compelling emotion towards a subject, idea, person, or object. A person is said to have a passion for something when he has a strong positive affinity for it. A love for something and a passion for something are often used synonymously.

Create a Wordle by using this definition and you will get the following visual representation (Well, I added a few extra “Passions”). I immediately see the words “enthusiasm”, “feeling”, “emotion”, “compelling” and “strong” pop out at me.

As I am googling “Passion in Education”, I am running across snippets such as:

• rekindle your passion
• passion and humor
• passion and potential
• passion and persistence
• passion and excitement
• passion and conviction
• motivation and the passion to learn
• passion for knowing
• passion is contagious and provocative
• passion driven learning objectives
• feel their passion for students and education
• passionate about what we believe
• passion is what keeps teachers looking forward

I am also intrigued by some of the quotes I am finding from educators and their thoughts about passion.

Eric Sheninger

[...] students are permitted to follow their passion, which results in the active pursuit of self-directed learning opportunities.

Sir Ken Robinson

Finding your passion changes everything.

Steve Irwin

I believe that education is all about being excited about something. Seeing passion and enthusiasm helps push an educational message.

These three quotes above seem to address three different aspects of passion (in education):

• Teachers’ Passion
• Students’ Passion
• Passion in itself and for Education

As an educator, ask yourself: What is YOUR passion?

Image licensed under Creative Commons by rAmmoRRison

• What makes you get up every morning?
• What makes you continue doing what you believe in, although it is harder?
• What makes you take the road less traveled?
• What makes you share your work?
• What makes you love what you do?

As an educator ask yourself: What are my students’ passions?

• How can you tap into your students’ passions?
• How can you relate to passions that you could not have even imagined a few years ago?
• How can you connect your students’ passion to the academic content you are teaching?

And how can you use your passion to make a difference and move education forward?

• Why should you contribute?
• How do you share your passion with the world?
• How can you add your passion to others in order to move forward?
• How can you be part of a bigger picture?

I tried to look at the topic “Passion in Education” from yet another angle…from consuming different media and sources such as posts, tweets, quotes, slides, literature and Google Searches about the topic…to playing with and producing media…

Passion in Education from langwitches on Vimeo.

We have the capacity to interact with other passions and have the privilege of living in a time in history when we can connect anytime, anyhow and anywhere.

We are able to express our passions in more ways than ever before. We are talking about a myirad of passions, present in the field of education. By choosing to share our passion with the world, we contribute a puzzle piece to a bigger picture.

What is your puzzle piece and how are you choosing to add it to the bigger picture?