Take the Technology out of the Equation

Maybe it is time to take “Technology” out of the equation at our schools. Who still wants bring in technology for technology sake? Technology Integration is not about the skill set, but about the mind set and above all about STUDENT LEARNING. So why is there still resistance (open and quiet) from teachers and/or lack of support from administration?

Let’s not turn the discussion to the reasons and excuses why teachers have no time, no equipment, no interest, no skills to integrate technology and concentrate WHAT schools need to do to support their students in becoming the best learners they can be.

Let’s turn the discussion to what is required to teach well? Now (not last century)! In this society (abundance of cell phones, internet access, video games) !With  students of this generation (always connected, instant gratification, accustomed to media rich interaction)!

• How do we teach students how to learn?
• How do we motivate and engage learners?
• How do we create a climate where learning is valued, not test scores or a covered text book?

Maybe we need to find common ground among the teachers and administrators at our schools. Take the word “technology” out of the discussion. That word seems to mean too many different things to too many different people (even scare). Maybe we need to be talking about something no one can deny as a priority in our schools: STUDENT LEARNING. Maybe we if we talk on that common ground,  there will be less resistance, more collaboration and communication on how to achieve that.

I was trying to come up with a visual that could serve as a starting point in this new conversation.

How does learning look like in the 21st Century?

I started out by brainstorming within Wordle keywords, then asking my Twitter network to contribute their thoughts.

Darren Kuropatwa and participants from an international PLP cohort collaboratively worked on a presentation titled : Teaching Well.

Slide 2 especially resonated with me with a quote from Benjamin Zander

The conductor of an orchestra does not make a sound…he depends for his power on his ability of making other people powerful.

Benjamin Zander by flickr user World Economic Forum

At the same time that I was looking at Darren’s presentation, a tweet from Nancy vonWahlde came about her new blog post  Global Collaboration 102.  Nancy writes:

Perhaps my job title next year should be Global Collaborations Conductor as these projects all can fit easily into the current curriculum and learning 21st Century skills. I would choose “Conductor” over “Coordinator” as I would create long-term plans to make the collaboration more meaningful and also be present each time a related activity was implemented with the class.

Technology Integrators becoming “conductors” in order to empower teachers to support learners.

I then came created the following visual, using PowerPoint’s Smart Art Graphics.

What are your thoughts on finding common ground among our school’s stakeholders? What does learning mean to you and for your students?

Using a Chat Room in the Classroom

While in Bangkok visiting Kim Cofino from Always Learning and Chrissy Hellyer from Teaching Sagittarian, I attended a session of CoTaIL (Certificate of Technology and Information Literacy) that is being taught at their school (International School of Bangkok). Jeff Utecht, from The Thingking Stick and co-teacher of the course,  had asked me to share with their class participants my recent experience with chatrooms in the classroom.

image by teachingsagittarian

I started out the session by creating a chat room on tinychat.com. With no preparation and little instructions, I asked the participants to use the chatroom to summarize what they were hearing.  I was hoping to be able to document a change in usage and focus of the chatroom as the presentation progressed.  As the primary focus of the session taught by Jeff and Chad Bates was “Digital Footprint”, I tried to tie in the use of a chatroom as yet another way of documenting your and your students’ learning. A way to be able to go back and reflect on conversations, questions and threads.

How do we teach with a tool that our students use exclusively (until now)  in a social setting? How to we guide and prepare them to use it on an academic stage and leaving a (positive!) digital footprint behind?

After the session was over, I was eager to go through the chat log to see what kind of thoughts were documented, what transformation (if any) had taken place in the mind of the participants, what kind of thoughts were “circulating” in the back channel while I was giving the presentation?

Well, as the technology gods must have wanted it, the chat log mysteriously only saved about 3 minutes of the about 40 minutes participants were using the chat.  So here is a snapshot of what went on during the presentation. No conclusive, since the majority of the log is missing but still insightful nonetheless. …

(5:13 am) breedlove – @teresa what about mandating students read the log of the chat and reflect on that?
(5:13 am) bedridden – Can someone move the camera so I can see the smart board?
(5:13 am) Karen – Application: Feedback on an oral presentation in real time.  Useful as we don’t always video tape presentions.
(5:13 am) Ida – I’m having a hard time writing while looking at Silvia and trying to digest everything she’s saying!
(5:13 am) Margherite – So could we have kids in different countries chatting at the same time?
(5:13 am) Stargirl – @carole @gaby…students can then check in and check others
(5:13 am) Teresa – @Jon: Yes, I like that idea.
(5:14 am) teachwatts – it seems like we all stop chatting when someone asks a question
(5:14 am) Chrissy – @Jon I like that idea too
(5:14 am) Andy – Sorry, but this really hits me as verbal diarrhea… people just throw so many thoughts out without filtering their thoughts. Does this lead to deep understanding?
(5:14 am) Kim – @margherite we have adults in this chatroom outside of thailand right now
(5:14 am) Karen – Question: Could you repeat your whole presentation when we’re done chatting.  I enjoyed chatting but I feel I missed a lot of your presentation.
(5:15 am) teachwatts – shouldn’t we give the same respect to the teacher?
(5:15 am) breedlove – @ andy that is ironic
(5:15 am) Teresa – @Andy: Love your question
(5:15 am) Chrissy – @Andy as the novelty wears off – most definitely
(5:15 am) Margherite – What’s Jono’s idea. I can’t find it
(5:15 am) bedridden – 1
(5:16 am) Guest66623 – Focused
(5:16 am) Chrissy – @margherite what about mandating students read the log of the chat and reflect on that?
(5:16 am) Diane – What Jeff is talking abou is what we’ve been doing…checking it out!
(5:16 am) mj – good point @jutecht
(5:16 am) Carole – How about access to computers….?
(5:16 am) breedlove – /msg Margherite the idea was to have the students read the log and reflect on that
(5:16 am) beachbum – @carole…good question

Since the presentation a few of the participants have reflected on their own blogs about the possibilities that a chatroom might bring to their classroom and what it might mean to  student learning.

Jono in his post Chatological Etiquette

I understand that this kind of set-up is second nature to a lot of kids, and that they often spend time chatting in this format. I can see how this may certainly be a big advantage to kids who find speaking up in class very difficult. With this, they can find a voice and have time to compose their thoughts and make comments without the fear of “looking stupid”.

Mary Belloney jumped right in and used tinychat with her elementary school students. She reflects on her blog post “Have you experimented with TinyChat?”

We have a lot of work to do when it come to chatroom etiquette but it was a great experience. I discovered that I need to break it into smaller groups as the slower typers didn’t have a chance to respond. As a class we are going to look at the transcript and see how we can work to make our chat more learning focused. I’ll update you the next time we use it!

I believe that using a chatroom can be a powerful opportunity to use a tool, that students find motivating and engaging, turning it from a social into an academic focus AND teach at the same time about:

• auditory skills
• writing skills
• online safety
• digital footprint
• collaborative work

It is up to us to harness these opporunities and be creative when implementing them with the ultimate goal of TEACHING our students. No matter what grade level, subject or skills.

Here are some ideas of chat integration:

• Collaborative classroom discussion of a video (Back Channeling in Middle School Social Studies)
• Documenting and summarizing Skype Video Conference (Using Chat Rooms As a Tool in the Classsroom)
• Beginning of class Foreign Language Review (Stinto takes a casual chat to a study activity)

Have you used a chatroom with your students? How are you integrating? What has been your experience? Would you do it again? How are you tweaking your lessons?

Inspirational Teaching- Inspired Learning

Kindergarten teachers at my school proved this past week that they are a team of AMAZING teachers. I am in awe the way they :

• worked as a team
• were enthusiastic about the topic/content that they were teaching
• taught with excellence in mind
• did not use excuses why their students could not do this or that (Ex. they are too young)
• understood that learning increases when students are involved, creative and teach others
• were creative
• helped their students shine and celebrated their successes
• allowed them to reflect
• integrated technology

Successful technology integration is as Kim Cofino said a

Mind set, not a skill set

I believe that that applies to successful teaching in general too.

Teaching, no matter if it integrates technology or not, is an art. The “art” that these Kindergarten teachers created for their students inspired me to write about it. It literally gave me goose bumps, while I was witnessing the commitment, preparation, the design, the delivery and the reflections that took place in their rooms. Again, I am in awe…

The mission: Learn about the country of Brazil as part of our Global Studies program.

The commitment: Let’s not just “cover” the facts, but let students EXPERIENCE and apply what they learned. Let’s work as a team to collaboratively create that experience.

The preparation: Three classes working together to create an experience for their students. Once class became experts about the Brazilian rainforest, one class focused on general information about Brazil, and one class learned all that they could about the city of Rio de Janeiro.

The design: Each teacher would prepare their students to not only learn, but guide them to be able to teach about their area of expertise to the rest of the school. Their rooms would be converted into the country of Brazil, the rainforest and Rio de Janeiro. The students would be tour guides for the day, explaining and answering questions from “tourists” (teachers and students from the rest of the school, PreK-6th grade)

The delivery: 5 years old students became experts, who taught the rest of the school. While some  might have been nervous, a little quiet and shy with the first visitors, students became more sure of themselves as the classes rolled through. They exhibited their knowledge, their confidence and expertise in such a way that was inspiring.

The reflection: Teachers took the time to not just let the day end, but give students a chance to reflect and talk about what they experienced and learned.

Do I think that these 5 year olds will forget what they learned about Brazil? Do I think that they, as grown ups, will place the country of Brazil into Asia or lump them together with Spanish speaking countries of South America?

I am in awe…

Stay tuned for upcoming post about the creation of 3 podcast episodes to document the Kindergartener’s Brazil experience.