Last night I began reconsidering my approach to the 20% project. My original ideas revolve around my work with my students, which is where I spend most of my energy. But thanks to some gentle prompting, I started wondering, "What about me?" So I have a new idea, but it's needs some fleshing out. Any suggestions to help me develop this idea? Idea 4: I will incorporate yoga practices into my life at least once a week. Questions:
I'm excited about this idea .... what do you all think? New poll: | |
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Idea 1: Wouldn't it be cool if I could connect my students to experts during our study of ancient civilizations?Initial Questions: Who are the experts in the field of ancient history? What methods/tools can I use to enable the connections between students and experts (that do not require email addresses for students?) How can I involve my students in creating the experience I have in mind? What digital tools can I use with the technology I have available to me in my classroom? Will I need parent permission to involve the students in these types of learning experiences? What kind of product(s) will students produce as a result of their connection to experts? Idea 2: Wouldn't it be cool if my students created their own 20% projects? Initial Questions: How much time can be committed/dedicated to 20% projects at school? Or can this be an alternative to traditional homework? How can I support students in their quests with limited resources? What Web 2.0 tools can I introduce to my students to help them on their quests? How will I help students who struggle to come up with their own ideas? How will we showcase the projects? (one possibility: #geniushour) Idea 3: I'd like to explore the possibility of using Minecraft with my Tech Support class. Initial Questions
What are the educational benefits of playing Minecraft? Can Minecraft be downloaded onto district netbooks? And if not, how can I provide access for students? How can I promote Minecraft as a learning activity? What types of lessons/activities should be done in preparation for providing this experience to my students? What learning outcomes will I expect from my students? How can I involve students in the development of this idea?
So, my question is ... how do we bring this type of educational experience into public schools? How do we shift our focus from driving students to make life decisions about what they will become when they grow up to giving them the experiences and tools to actually make a life they will be happy living?
Maybe the Google 20% Project, or a variation on it, is a step in the right direction. I can envision providing time in my school day for students to ask the "wouldn't it be cool if ..." questions and then spend time collaborating with other students, or experts in the field they are interested in, to try to figure it out. It would be challenging because our curriculum is very demanding and already more than can realistically be accomplished in a school year, but wouldn't it be cool if there was a way to make it happen? In his book, "Why School?" Will Richardson calls out two types of school reform. In one type of reform, teachers are evaluated based on student test scores, schools are privatized and and curriculum is personalized via computers. In the second type of reform schooling "prepares students for the world they will live in, not the one in which most of us grew up." The goal is to give students more ownership over their own learning. It includes encouraging students to work with others to solve problems, and enables students to focus on "what they can do with what they know." That is the type of reform I can get behind!
Of the six unlearning/relearning ideas proposed by Richardson, I can commit to "sharing something." I feel like I do that on a local level by using an lms to share ideas with teachers in my department, as well as sharing with other teachers that I work with at district tech classes. I like the idea of talking to strangers, too, and I'd like to try to find a way to make that work in my classroom. I do find it challenging to get 6th graders engaged in learning about ancient civilizations, but maybe tapping into experts, or people living in the areas we are studying, could help. Discovering, not delivering the curriculum, is an unlearning/relearning ideas that might be a struggle for me. I can see the value of the concept, but the expectations of my school and district are that I will use the curriculum we are given. We did try some project based learning at my site last year, and like I said, I see the value, but the time involved in planning, and the time the project took away from other concepts I was expected to teach that year, was overwhelming. Richardson's book gave me a lot to think about as I start a new school year! I hope I will find the courage to commit to some news ideas Richardson, W. (2012). Why School? Kindle Store: TED Conferences. That idea really resonates with me, but what a challenge. While I see many teachers engaged in interesting dialogues about how to create innovative experiences for their students, I also see examples of teachers conducting their classes with the same methodology they've used in the past. And I watched my sons experience high school in much the same way I did -- seated at a desk, every period, every day, listening to teachers lecture, rarely using technology or reaching out beyond the walls of their classrooms to connect with a wider audience. That being said, I totally agree with Dr. Wesch that although it is now "ridiculously easy to connect, organize, share, collect, collaborate and publish" thanks to the internet, it is also "ridiculously hard" as well. There is so much out there "in the air" - so many lesson plans, ideas, places to share and collaborate; a wealth of resources. But that "so much" can be overwhelming as well; that's the "ridiculously hard" part. For me the challenge is how to find the time to review and choose from all of the resources that are available. Wesch's ideas that I would like to try out this school year include :
Just watched Dr. White's video and I can't decide whether I'm a visitor or a resident! I've defined myself as a digital immigrant in the past because I grew up without a computer or a cell phone or the internet. But Dr. White's video broadens the definition significantly! Can I be a little bit of both?
White describes a visitor as being someone whose online network is comprised mainly of people they already have a real life community with -- that describes me. And I do see the web as a toolbox. Okay, that is me. Part of me bristles against that because I think of myself as so technologically savvy -- but I guess that puts me solidly in the visitor category, too ("no more or less technically adept, just more focused.") My children (teenage boys) are definitely residents. They "feed" their social media tool of choice (Instagram for a while, but I'm not sure which tool they're using more often now.) For them the web is where they socialize, comment on each other's thoughts and photos, etc. So it is 'communal,' but not 'collaborative.' They're "together," but not focused on a goal that needs to be accomplished (which is what drives me). So I am a visitor of the internet. Do I like that better than being an immigrant? Not sure. Maybe as I put myself out there more through this course by blogging, tweeting, etc., |
Dena HauseMom, Wife, Educator, Student Archives
December 2014
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