Tag: Learning

Professional development does not have to be work. Same with the classroom. I hear teachers talk about their work that day or the workshop that made their brain hurt. Where’s the joy? When you teach to the test and focus on increasing scores, just watch the faces of the students. Are they engaged or motivated?

Look back at preschool and what Kindergarten used to be like. The room was set up with learning centers and students were talking and laughing together. There was learning going on. You could hear it and see it. I used to put on professional development sessions that were more like this type of Kindergarten room. I taught claymation to teachers where they worked in teams, created a storyboard together, assigned each other characters or objects to create with the clay, and so on. The giggles and laughter that ensued was pervasive. The whole room was laughing during the session. Then they would video and lay music over the video. When we were all done, we had a show… with popcorn.

Real learning by doing… and FUN!!! I miss that. There seems to be a whole generation of teachers that missed this type of professional development. For the past 8-9 years, all professional development seems to be focused on data, improving scores, and accountability. I know we need that, but here’s my take on it. The scores are based on standardized tests and our kids are not standardized. They are all different. Teachers are all different. So we use the scores to determine our improvement on AYP and the gaps. We use that data to help us design and drive the curriuclum. But what about supplementing these tests by following a student’s progress by collecting evidence of learning along with reflections in an ePortfolio? Authentic assessment where the student analyzes what they learned and now understands. Teachers could then correlate the test scores with actual evidence and share their own reflections to help the student improve.

I taught a project on advertising for multiple grade levels where I remember the kids saying to me “I didn’t know learning could be this much fun.” I loved that. Think back when you were learning something where you walked away feeling really good and it was fun. Remember that? I do. I remember making a paper maché map of the world with others students and then doing a presentation. That was hard but fun. I remember walking home feeling a joy in my heart that I did it. I know it now.  I had struggled with the concepts, but that project made it real.

We need to make the concepts real to our students and bring the joy back to learning.

What are your priorities in learning?

Care2′s article Are American children growing less creative? shared Tests since 1990 show a steady decline in the creativity levels of American children, despite the fact that IQ tests indicate they are getting smarter.

The focus for the last 9 years has been on increasing student achievement based on standardized tests. Maybe our children are learning how to memorize facts and increasingly doing better on spelling tests and Jeopardy games. Even the TV show “Are you smarter than a 5th grader?” encourages students to recall facts. There is no problem-solving, critical thinking or creativity involved in these activities. The 5th graders on this show are stoked when they get the answer right but there is only one right answer.

Life doesn’t always work that way. What we need are students who come up with the questions and are able to take some risks, find multiple ways to answer any of the questions or solve problems. They need to be able to think on their feet and jump in with new innovative ideas. Who knew even five years ago that people would be listening to mp3 files with an iPod or that cell phones could access the Internet. Email is old school. Now people text, use Facebook and Twitter to communicate. Traditional schools are closing because of so many reasons and, in my opinion, we need to rethink what a school is and redesign our learning environments if we want our students to be productive 21st century citizens.

Being creative doesn’t seem to fit with school and business today. As I was thinking what I was going to write about being anti-creative, Bonnie Bracey- Sutton just shared this video on Facebook about the Anti-Creative Checklist.

My Anti-Creativity Checklist from Youngme Moon on Vimeo.

If you are the creative type, you will get this. If not, you may be scratching your head wondering what’s all the fuss about. Probably will seem very normal for you. Kids today are wired different and their brains work creatively. They grew up with technology that encourages this type of thinking.

Being ant-creative is how my generation was raised. (I’m a grandma so that gives you an idea that I’m older than you think). People of my generation were told to keep our hands on the desk, only raise our hand when we knew the one right answer, and be quiet. Actually, this sounds like lots of classrooms today. Ugh!

A creative classroom is like controlled chaos — there’s alot of noise or buzz happening. Watching a classroom where students are finding problems, trying to figure out some solutions, and sharing, brainstorming, and getting excited about learning is mind blowing. After you teach in an environment where students are engaged and motivated to learn, it is too difficult to go back to traditional lecture mode. Same with people like myself who are entrepreneurs and designed their own product or service. It’s hard to work for someone else who doesn’t think like you. So here I am writing about creativity and anti-creativity. I vote for being curious, creative and innovate. How about you?

students collecting data

Project-based learning (PBL) is a dynamic approach to teaching in which students explore real-world problems and challenges. With this type of active and engaged learning, students are inspired to obtain a deeper knowledge of the subjects they are studying. [Edutopia] PBL is an approach to learning focusing on developing a product or creation. The project may or may not be student-centered, problem-based, or inquiry-based. The main focus is engagement and being motivated to learn something they are interested in learning about.

Think about your own education and what made a difference in your life. We need to get back to how we learned in preschool – it used to be how we learned in Kindergarten, but now these beautiful young children are learning how to fill in a bubble on a test.

Enough! We are draining the creativity and curiosity out of our children. Children love to learn when they are young. They are so curious and want to learn their letters and numbers. We need to let our children ask “why is the sky blue” and “why do we need oil for our cars?” We want our children to ask questions why a certain problem is happening and if they can figure out the solution. Why children can figure out things probably better than adults is that their brains are not clogged with all the thousands of tasks, daily problems, and more that we have as adults. They are born with inquisitive minds and want to use them. However, they need guidance on how to develop critical thinking skills so they can effectively problem solve. Watch project-based learning in action:

For more videos on PBL, check out this library online.

Here’s a few sites on project-based and problem-based learning:

Explore the following websites as needed for more information:

• Introducing Project-Based Learning from Edutopia.
• The Guide on the Side
• Project-based Learning Overview
• Project-based Learning
• Challenge 200 Project-based Learning
• The Project Approach
• Problem-Based Learning – California
• Problem-based Learning – Southern Illinois School of Medicine
• Center for Problem-Based Learning

Looking for lots of examples to share and schools that want the best type of education for their children. This is a moral issue now. Our children are not prepared for their future and are in need of high level critical thinking skills. They need to learn how to work collaboratively and use technology effectively. We are not preparing them for their future. Look at our college graduates who are not getting jobs. Maybe we should we be teaching entrepreneurship and innovation. It is time to look at what engages children in the learning process and to provide an education that they will need for their future NOW!

School districts around the country are rethinking how they deliver instruction.

“The current system of public education in this country is not working” said Superintendent John Covington. “It’s an outdated, industrial, agrarian kind of model that lends itself to still allowing students to progress through school based on the amount of time they sit in a chair rather than whether or not they have truly mastered the competencies and skills.”

Here’s how the reform works:

Instead of moving students from one grade to the next as they get older, schools are grouping students by ability. Students, often of varying ages‚ work at their own pace, meeting with teachers to decide what part of the curriculum to tackle. Teachers still instruct students as a group if it’s needed, but often students are working individually or in small groups on projects that are tailored to their skill level. [Source]

I applaud Kansas City Schools for taking this step. I believe this is the first innovative step school districts need to make to meet the needs of today’s children. The industrial model is broken and needs to change NOW. We are losing children in every school in the US. What this means is that teachers need job-embedded professional development, students need a different form of assessment, and everyone in the school community needs to communicate with each other. Change is difficult. It is difficult to envision that the education that parents received isn’t working for their children. All they know now is that assessment means testing — testing means focusing on facts — and it’s important for their students to get high scores on these tests so they get into college. It is going to take the whole school community to embrace the change to ability grouping and then change how they measure learning.

This is the next thing that will have to change. For today’s jobs and future jobs, our children will not need to know facts. All they need to know is available on the Internet. They need critical thinking skills so they can find the information, determine its authenticity, validity, and appropriateness, and then how to use that information in problems, discussions, debate, and written form. It would be cool to work with them designing student ePortfolios. That’s the next step!

I believe all children are unique and smart in their own ways. Allowing ability grouping gives children the opportunity to spread their wings. I cannot wait to see how they fly!!!

I believe that each learner is unique. If you look at a classroom with everyone the same age, the children are diverse. They may speak different languages, learn at different levels, and be almost one year different in age. Schools group them by grade level and test them thinking that each student has the same understanding of the concepts. Not so! I’m into individualizing learning and assessment. One way to do that is ePortfolios supported with individual learning plans.

We are not going to stop testing even if it drives you crazy. It’s just the way it is. There are several types of ePortfolios: assessment, showcase, and resume. I don’t recommend replacing testing with ePortfolios. That’s one way to kill the excitement about them. Using an ePortfolio for assessment and/or evaluation can impact how the learner presents it. There is no risk-taking, creativity or innovation. Everything follows the rules similar to testing. Okay – so use the tests to determine if students are learning at grade level. Personally I don’t believe students have to learn at a specific grade level. That’s following the industrial model that’s been dead for years. We are in a very weird place – a transition to a new type of learning environment. We are stuck in the same old traditional school model: teachers in front the room as the all-knowing expert, schools open 9 months from 9-3 for 5 days a week, and with students grouped by age.

I had lunch with Helen Barrett at ISTE 2010 where we talked about ePortfolios. Helen knows everything about ePortfolios (www.electronicportfolios.org) and she and I agree about keeping ePortfolios as a separate entity from assessment and evaluation. Before you start your ePortfolio, determine your purpose, goal, and audience. If you decide you want to create an assessment ePortfolio, then design it for your target audience. Is it to meet graduation requirements? If so, start collecting evidence of learning right from the beginning of your freshman year. To do that, then create a separate digital file cabinet for collecting that evidence. Collect whatever you think might demonstrate understanding. Then select the most effective artifacts for your ePortfolio.

Okay – back to the showcase ePortfolio. You can create either a personal or professional showcase ePortfolio that provides a forum for reflective writing where learners respond to key questions like:

• What? What have you done well?
• So what? What difficulties did you have?
• Now what? What can you do next time to improve?

Reflection encourages learners to think critically about their own thinking. This process allows learners to take responsibility for learning how to think not what to think.

Technology may not make the difference in how a student learns. What makes a difference is the learning environment: how the teacher designs learning, and how they use and integrate technology appropriately. In some cases, maybe no technology is appropriate. In-class discussions may work better. Think-Pair-Share where students are looking into each others’ eyes works well and may increase their self-esteem. Maybe going outside or on field trips. However, there are wonderful opportunities for technology where there is no access to valuable resources.

Add video conferencing for a field trip to a museum outside of your school, state or country where your students could talk to the curator. Add web conferencing to connect classrooms in collaborative projects. Add a website to publish interactive projects and links to resources. Technology allows you to connect, share, and learn beyond classroom walls. If used correctly, the technology with multimedia and interactive capabilities, the student can become more engaged in the content and wanting to learn and share.

No matter what the teacher does, it is important to start with the student. I believe that each student can learn. The problem is motivation and engaging students in the learning process. Much of the curriculum is designed around what we believe children should be doing by a specific age. I believe we need to rethink how we learn, when we learn and how the brain works. Having a teacher present content in front of a class with or without technology where we force feed facts into our students is not going to work anymore. Today, students have access to all the facts they need on the internet. The problem is how do they know these are facts, opinions. or lies. Our students need critical thinking skills to determine authority, bias, and credibility of the facts they find.

What if we redesign our learning environments so students can work together and even alone, at school or at home, from anywhere, anytime and at any age. The Internet, social media, and cell phones are changing the way we live, learn, work, and play. When you look at how students are interacting online, they share everything, play games collaboratively and connect with whoever they want. What if…

• teachers learned how to be the facilitator of their students learning?
• curriculum designers made up of curriculum specialists, teachers, librarians, and students designed critical thinking strategies that scaffolded what students were learning?
• students had individual learning plans based on prior knowledge and not their age?
• classes were composed of people from age who want to learn the content?
• students would have to provide evidence of learning with artifacts, reflections, videos, audio files, and interviews from peers, teachers, and parents?
• learning environments could be designed around a concept where you could use multiple places on-site and online?

My 2 year old granddaughter has been using an iPhone since she was 8 months and knows how to call me on Skype. She knows her ABCs and counts to 50. She sings the lyrics to several songs in key. She understands sequences and how things build upon one another. I believe she’s brilliant because I’m her grandmother and she is smart. However, she has parents that work with her and give her opportunities to learn. I believe all children can have this opportunity to learn early, to reshape how they learn. All children have gifts and can reach their fullest potential.

Technology will be part of our childrens future because they already have cell phones and access to the internet, no matter if we teach them about technology or not. Even if we continue to ban these technologies, our children will find a way to get access. What if…

• we designed community learning centers where the entire community was involved with the learning process?
• our students were also the faclitators and helped other students learn?
• each learner created their own learning plan based on their learning goals?
• each learner requested support from different mentors or facilitators based on their goals?

Around the world schools may continue to look like they have for over a hundred years. That’s all we know and continue to build. Yet, if we want our children to reach their fullest potential, we need to redesign learning environments that meet their needs so they have rewarding futures. Putting them in the traditional school environment will give them the same education that we had and the same opportunities that we give our students today. It’s time for all of us to put our heads together to think of new ideas of learning environments for all learners.

Since Facebook made changes to their privacy issues, users have made some drastic moves like removing themselves from Facebook. Trust is a big concern online. Dan Martell in his study on Flowtown by Pew wrote:

If you cannot trust your network, then what type of information will you be sharing? How can you trust your network or an online community?

There usually is one manager of an online community. The manager can be called a community manager, a team manager, or an eCoach. The members of your community will need to trust you to feel safe in your community. Here are seven tips to ensure a trusting relationship with the members of your community.

1. Personalize your Community

Ask your community members to fill out their profile, add a picture, and share information about themselves. Encourage members to introduce themselves right away in the discussion forum. Personalize all communications you have with each member. If you send out automated emails, use a program that includes their first name at the beginning of the message.

Feature different members or projects weekly. If your community is still small, try to keep track of a few of the people a week and promote what they are doing. If your community is large, it is difficult for one manager to select and feature members. Encourage different members manage a welcoming committee so the community builds on its own.

2. Lead by Example

As the community manager, you set the tone of your community. You are the person who your members look to for guidance. You are modeling what you want your members to do for a healthy virtual community. If you nudge your members to participate, pretty soon they will start nudging each other. It is important to welcome your new members by offering advice and pointing to relevant information. What you want to do is promote the purpose and value of your community through your behavior. Hopefully, the purpose and value will rub off on your members and they will follow your example.

3. Be True to Yourself

Be authentic. Don’t try to be someone or something you are not. Your community has figured you out as the leader probably from the time they signed up. They will eventually see through any activities that don’t reflect who you are.  Don’t lie to your members. Don’t tell them that a new feature will be available soon when it will take a lot longer. If you say something that offends a member, and you believe in what you are defending, hold strong in that position you are taking and explain why. You will not be able to please everyone all the time especially if your community scales up fast.

4. Share What You Learn

Every community has a purpose built around a topic. Whether your community is about cooking, digital storytelling, or home schooling, try and learn as much as you can about the topic. Your members will be more willing to trust someone they perceive is helping them make better decisions. Take the time to understand what your community’s personal challenges and issues are, and attempt to address them yourself or encourage others to provide solutions. Investigate what the community might be promoting and share tips and guides on how best to use it. Dish out advice and showcase your most active members that add value to your community.

5. Learn from Mistakes

Even the best of us makes mistakes and online community managers will make mistakes. Always try to correct your mistake if it involves one member or the entire community. Mistakes usually happen because you are overly tired. The problem with being an online community manager is that the community is open 24/7 and it can be difficult to achieve a balanced life.

So you may get some negative feedback which can be a positive thing for an online community. This is where the community manager can respond to the comments which shows respect and that you care about the community. Find your community evangelists and ask them to jump in to the conversations.

6. Be Consistent

Your community will not trust you if you are not consistent in your actions. You need to treat everyone the same and follow the terms of use that you ask everyone to accept. If you present erratic behavior, your members will not feel safe with you. Remember #2 Lead by Example means that if your behavior is erratic, then your members will be confused.

It is real easy to spend more time with one member over another especially if one of the members is an evangelist for your community. However, if you constantly showcase this one member and forget others, you may be accused of favoritism.

7. Let it Go

It’s not a good idea to beg your members to stay in your community, if they just don’t want to be part of your community anymore. There could be a lot of reasons that they want to leave, but, sometimes, it is because they don’t visit that often and belong to too many communities. They may not like another member or the purpose of the community.

If someone wants to leave, do not ignore their request. Remove them from your community, and ask them why they want to be removed so you can determine if this is a problem for others in the community and possibly resolve it.

This post was adapted from Social Media Today: How to Build Trust in an Online Community