Tag Archives: change

07/12/13

Summative Presentation Week 2

@BrianneMelnyk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With today’s summary, I’m trying something somewhat experimental.  We’ve been told to feel free to try new things, take chances, and expand our educational thought.  I decided to take inspiration from something I’d seen on Pinterest a few months back, but was too late with my class to try.

A teacher had used memes to explain class rules.  Being nerdy like that, I found it hilarious.  Memes have such visual appeal, and I decided to try and create my own, educational memes, in order to present my learning for the week.  What is a meme?  It can be thought of as an element of culture passed from one individual to another, or an image or video being passed on the Internet.  The word meme comes from a Greek word meaning something imitated.  Memes are very popular amongst kids online.  And me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the week started, I had come to a realization.  I love technology.  I use technology.  I’m an advocate for technology.  However, I tended not to use it to create connections.  I used it with students, had students use it, but usually in isolation.  We may have looked at something on Twitter, such as Chris Hadfield’s pictures from space, but didn’t add anything back in.  We were consumers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I realized that this was reflected in how my school district has offered technology pro-d.  There are often some interesting things, usually about how to use a program, and usually never a reason why.  Our last districtwide pro-d was entirely tech based, yet I couldn’t find a single session that inspired me.  Even as I began my inquiry, I was focused on the end product rather than the why.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a group, we began researching and pulling in ideas from different sources.  We found that while there are varying opinions on whether the use of technology and social media is positive for students, the gains were far more valuable than the losses.  One article gave an excellent outline for issues to consider when considering using new technology, the first being, why are you using it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How is it better than what you already do?  What new connection or aspect to the project can the technology bring?  This formed the basis for my thought this week.  It is not enough to simply use or consume the technology.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As educators, we’ve all experienced resistance to change.  This change can be both simple and complex.  This can happen for various reasons.  Some have been frustrated when trying to use technology.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some haven’t had the experience in using it, or training.  Some simply haven’t ever heard a reason why they should.  Some educators are nearing the end of their careers and have little interest in changing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many of us have felt overwhelmed and frustrated in the last two weeks as we navigate Mindmeister, Pearltrees, Diigo, Twitter, Kindle, blogs, and more.  The next time a colleague says they’re frustrated by technology, think back to how you’ve felt and empathize.  It isn’t easy to change.  But change is part of the process of life.  It is our role to help facilitate that change.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We change, we adapt, we hopefully try and make things better.  Better isn’t always easy.  However, our students are worth the effort. They’re worth our frustrations as Internet connections grind to a halt, as programs freeze, as we sift through 20 different apps that are all so close, yet not quite exactly what we need.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even if Grumpy Cat thinks otherwise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They’re worth sharing ideas and reasoning at a staff meeting.  They’re worth offering a session for other teachers as professional development.  They’re worth spending far too much time on Twitter than could possibly be healthy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When thinking about the why of why we’re using technology, don’t forget our biggest reason why.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our students.

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07/3/13

Why School?

Will Richardson’s Why School? seemed to reach out strongly to readers as evidenced by our in class discussion today. In it, Richardson posits that a new educational model is needed, one that moves away from traditional methods and the focus on testing. He states that “institutional change is everywhere,” and the institution of school is not immune (Richardson, 2012, p. 108).

Over the course of our discussion, we hit on many shared opinions. We agreed that many of the practices that Richardson recommends are already used by teachers, or perhaps more specifically, the effective teachers that we have encountered in our careers. An example of this is inquiry-based learning, something several of us do in our schools. While we agreed that ideas such as inquiry are incredibly important, we struggled with the extreme that Richardson seemed to endorse. We shared his view that there are skills that all students need, ideas that need to be learned, but felt that teacher direction and modelling have a stronger place than what seemed to be indicated (Richardson, p. 283). A group member brought up that perhaps this model was more suited for some subject areas than others, such as Social Studies, and worried about needing sequence such as in Math.

There are rival schools of thought when it comes to what students need in the future. A web search reveals an incredibly interesting article on CNN entitled Classical Schools put Plato over iPad. The article explains that there are schools in the United States taking a different approach to what they feel will be needed, namely an appreciation of “truth, goodness, and beauty” (Duin, 2013). Where the classical approach seems to differ is the belief that “you can’t reflect on something if it’s not in your brain in the first place (Duin, 2013).

I personally found it both interesting and difficult coming from a self-directed high school where I both graduated and taught. Since the opening of the school, the self-directed program has been scaled back year after year, with more constraints and controls put into place. When I attended, I think the school was the best combination of Richardson’s ideal and the reality of a public school with detailed IRPs and PLOs. However, the community struggled with students taking more time to complete work (yet with the highest GPA and exam scores in the district, and high levels of success in university), with students not necessarily being taught what they were familiar with, in the format that they were familiar with, and with the idea that students did not always need to be under direct instruction from a teacher.

In discussion, we came to the conclusion that any change needed both support and time to have a chance at success. A change such as Richardson’s would be difficult within a single classroom or single school, without the support of the larger community, which would include the school district, the public, and the Ministry of Education.

Duin, J. (2013, 06 21). Classical Schools put Plato over iPad. Retrieved from http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com/2013/
06/21/classical-schools-put-plato-over-ipad/

Richardson, Will. (2012). Why Schools?.

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