Hey everyone! Sorry this is a little late; I pinched a nerve in my neck that has made school/laptop work a little difficult. I have enjoyed reading your posts and your questions for the interviews. It will be great to read the abstracts next week. The common threads I am finding amongst our challenges and successes are reassuring.
In many ways, I saw myself and my colleagues in these videos. Like the teacher in the video, I am a coach who works closely classroom teachers and their students. In these cases, I noted a few key values that my colleagues and I share:
- Collaboration – the importance of working as a team.
- Risk Taking – in the safety of the classroom
- Adaptability – on the part of teachers and students
- Challenging Ways of Thinking & Being Open Minded
I also heard common frustrations regarding time, teachers’ skill set, and an overall lack of knowledge. What I didn’t hear was a lack of access to technology, as that is a widespread issue and source of contention for our context. I am curious, how do these schools manage the technology so that each classroom and child gets what they need? How much control do they have over the technology budget and what devices are purchased for them to use?
The characteristics I observed and noted about student learning was overwhelmingly positive and reflective of the skills and values we want students to develop. I recognized many of the criteria we highlighted in our “Unpacking Assumptions” posts. These include:
- Students using background knowledge and applying the knowledge they acquire.
- Technology facilitates deeper, more authentic engagement.
- Activities and lessons are more hands on.
- Students have more control over and ownership in their learning.
In Case 6, one student commented that he maybe didn’t understand the content until he applied it using technology. It led me to wonder, how often does this happen? How often are students not given the opportunity to timely apply what they have learned and it negatively impacts their understanding? How many times do we as educators and a system assess surface level understanding, in many cases without even knowing we’re doing it?
I also wondered what kind of questions are being asked? Who is asking the questions? How are they arriving at these key, essential questions that are required to facilitate these learning experiences?
