Learning from a Book

Curriculum 21 by Heidi Hayes Jacobs

You must have noticed that I have been reading and re-reading “Curriculum 21″ by Heidi Hayes Jacobs. I have posted my first impressions and recommendation here and since then have joined and written about the companion Ning to the book here. I created a Flickr Curriculum 21 group to have a hub for images and videos of Curriculum21 teaching and learning examples.

I was inspired by quotes from the book to write the following blog posts Geography is a Separate Subject. Really? and  Isn’t the Answer Anymore, It is the Question!

Curriculum 21 is a book that is just FULL of information, ideas, thoughts, research, recommendations and exactly about the change in education, life, skills, literacies, and global competencies I am contemplating and working for.

Unfortunately, the book is not available as a Kindle Edition, which means, I am relying on sticky notes and highlighters as a way to make the rows and rows of text more appealing to my visual eye as well as a way to find passages and quotes more quickly later on.

Stickies and Highlights

I am conducting an experiment about my own learning style. How can I read this book and best:

• filter out the information that I want to keep?
• make connections to my previous thoughts, ideas and blog posts?
• remember quotes from different chapters?
• make the text content more visual for my brain?

I am eager to find out:

• Will I be able to learn about the content of the book differently/better/easier/?
• Will I be able to “see” connections that with the text alone I did not?
• Will the process of looking for and selecting the right image that will represent the quote make me think “deeper” about what the quote us trying to say?
• Will the sum of the quotes I selected from the book tell a story in itself?

I wonder how my personal experiment will turn out… but in the meantime, please take the time to share:

• How do you learn best from a book?
• Highlighting, taking notes, talking/discussing it with someone ?
• Do my visuals help you visualize what Curriculum21 is about?
• Do the slides do nothing for you?
• Do the visuals give you a different point of view, than when you were reading the text alone?
• Are you interested in reading Curriculum 21 (if you have not done so) because of the visual “Preview”?
• What opportunities do you give your students to learn from a a book?

Empower Student to Be Lifelong Learners NOT Dependent Learners

Through a  Tweet from @HeidiHayesJacob, I found the Ning of the Curriculum 21 book, I recently recommended.

One video uploaded by Heidi of Alan November, a contributor to the book, immediately caught my eye.

He says:

We have to stop spoon feeding kids curriculum tests and homework. They need to be self directed. They need to be life long learners., which means they need to be empowered to manage more and more and more of their own learning.  [...]

It is not about adding technology… because we add a lot of technology that improves teaching, but it does not improve learning.[...]

The biggest barrier is not technology, the tools or money. The biggest barrier is a culture of the shift of control from the teacher managing learning (creating dependent learners by the way) to a culture of students being inter-dependent while they are globally connected and contributing content, tutorials, to the whole classroom.

From reading the  Curriculum21 book , listening  in on streamed conference presentations to video clips like the one from Alan November below, I am witnessing the shift towards  globally connected students at my school right in front of my eyes. IT IS a shift of culture. IT IS a shift of what a “classroom” means. IT IS about empowering students AND teachers by exposing them to all the possibilities that are within reach through available tools.

I especially am in agreement with Alan about the role tutorials can play. Our Middle School students are continuing to work on on their Math Wiki, which is filled with tutorials, 5th graders are about to create SmartBoard Notebook files for first graders with tutorials and practice lessons about contractions (I + am= I’m/ will +not= won’t, etc). I can’t wait to continue observing the shift taking place in our school as a result of it.

Find more videos like this on Curriculum21

Sowing the Seeds for a More Creative Society

I am thrilled to be publishing a guest post by Andrea Hernandez, cross posted from EdTechWorkshop Blog on Langwitches.

http://www.edtechworkshop.blogspot.com/

In an earlier post, The Science of Play, I shared my ideas about the importance of playful learning, the type of learning observed in very young children. In my personal experience as a teacher, I have seen that as children mature they often lose some or all of their natural comfort with learning through spontaneous and playful exploration.
Think of a toddler with a big pile of blocks. Does the toddler ask an adult, “What should I do with these blocks?” or does a toddler start with a “product” like a big tower in mind and ask, “How do I stack these blocks to make a tower?” No, the toddler jumps right in and begins to explore, trying whatever he or she wants to try. Does the toddler feel upset and frustrated when the tower of blocks topples over? Doubtful. It is more likely that he or she is delighted by this and may knock it over and rebuild it again and again.
MIT recognizes the importance of the creative exploration of early childhood to the extent that they have created an entity called The Lifelong Kindergarten group.

In the Lifelong Kindergarten group, we’re trying to change that. We believe that it is critically important for all children, from all backgrounds, to grow up knowing how to design, create, and express themselves. We are inspired by the ways children learn in kindergarten: when they create pictures with finger paint, they learn how colors mix together; when they create castles with wooden blocks, they learn about structures and stability. We want to extend this kindergarten style of learning, so that learners of all ages continue to learn through a process of designing, creating, experimenting, and exploring.

As part of their mission to “sow the seeds for a more creative society,” the MIT media lab has developed a free program called Scratch that encourages the kind of open-ended exploration and creative problem solving that is not on the test, but that promotes the trial and error learning that is the heart of math, science and technological innovation. The beauty of Scratch and similar applications is that while the processes they engage are complex, most children are naturally drawn to them and find them fun. Kids ask to “play Scratch.”

In my STEM classes and, to a lesser extent, my weekly lab classes I attempt to provide students with the time and space to engage in this kind of exploration using freely available resources. In my role as the teacher I model possible approaches, support students in their attempts, validate and encourage them as they proceed, and open the door by introducing them to what’s out there. When appropriate, I push students to go a little deeper. Some students are more inclined than others to enjoy the open-ended, for those who require more structure I can help by defining a problem or assignment for them. I can also help them to reflect on their learning styles so that they grow in an understanding of their own abilities. Some students can’t wait to get to the computer and play, others prefer a tutorial (there are many tutorials online for most applications. It can be great practice and reflection to have students who are more advanced create tutorials for others), some students are more comfortable watching first before trying. Any and all approaches to learning are valid as long as students understand the process and challenge themselves.

In addition to Scratch, here are some other recommended resources for open-ended, creative exploration:

Whizzball -from Discovery Education, whizzball is a puzzle creator. Students can design puzzles, submit their puzzles for others to solve and solve puzzles created by others. I have found this to be challenging and fun for grades 1-5.

Fantastic Contraption- physics challenge. Use the materials provided to create a contraption that solves the challenge of getting something from point A to point B. There are multiple challenges and endless solutions. I am using this with a first grade STEM enrichment class, and they LOVE it. I could see it being popular with older students as well, although I haven’t introduced to other grades yet.

Lego Digital Designer – design tool using virtual legos.

PHUN – 2D physics sandbox. This one is more advanced. I recommend viewing at least one tutorial before jumping in to play. I used this with 5th grade, and it was fun (phun) at first, but many of them became frustrated quickly.