One Step at a Time...

I've been doing a lot of talking lately about Web 2.0 with various groups of teachers and inevitably, there are always some who are unsure - about themselves and their ability to understsand and effectively use the technology with their students in a meaningful way or that using the web-base applications will in some way compromise the integrity of the work they have been doing up until now. Let's face it - this sort of stuff makes people really itchy. I received this vides clip in an email:



Why I love it so much is because it illustrates the point that I try to make when I do try to bring awareness to teachers about Web 2.0. Like in the video, there will be some who feel so confortable with these new options that they will run up the proverbial stairs like it's nobody's business. Others will cautiously toe-tap their way up. Others still will continue doing what they've always done - take the escalator. The point is that we've all got the exposure and more information, which is one step ahead of where we were before in the use of this technology. Whether teachers use it or not is not of great concern to me, although our kids would appreciate the engagement it brings, but simply knowing about the benefits and potential will allow teachers to provide students with even more choice that is far more relevant to them. Imagine! Allowing students to use technology at school the way they LIVE it their lives outside of school...

In the meantime teachers, relax! Give yourselves a break and afford yourselves some time to become comfortable. I promise, you won't see this stuff popping up in curriculum documents or in board mandates. Play a bit and see for yourselves. The possibilities are endless.

The 21st Century Learner: Part One of the PLS for Teachers

I love, love, love my time at work when I can spend a day dialoguing with teachers about the craft of teaching. Today, Cathie and I ran part one of our Professional Learning Series called The 21st Century Learner. Today we looked at what categorizes 21st century learning and we asked some really tough questions (peruse the power point and you can find them in the first few slides). One of the goals that I had for this session was to demonstrate that 21st century skills as a concept is kinda gimmicky. Yes, I said it! When you really drill down to what defines a successful learner in the 21st century, it's all the "stuff" we're already doing - front-loading content with skill and teaching those "soft skills" (valuing and accepting diversity, collaboration, tolerating ambiguity and encouraging risk-taking so as to foster resiliency) that are seen as unimportant in the face of evaluating overall expectations. I think that participants were somewhat releived to know that not all 21st century learning is reliant upon technology, that most of these skills are skills for living and interacting with living, breathing people. Teachers built a timeline to show the evolution of the profession - in practice, pedagocially and technologically. It was neat to listen in on some of the conversations as they were remembering what it was like to be a student. Here are some of the photos:











One really interesting discussion that kept coming up throughout the morning conversation focused on whether or not it was important to teach a lot of stuff, or to simply drill down on few things. A debate arose whether it was necessary that English teachers cover so many works in a semester (thinking they are facilitating a rigorous program), as opposed to choosing one or two and really going to town in teaching a number of different skills through fewer works. Something to definitely chew on...



The afternoon session consisted mostly with "mucking around" Blogger and learning about the different ways to incorporate blogging in the classroom. I was pretty miffed that the Board's network blockages were at work. I think we need to have some serious conversation about the fear behind allowing (at least teachers) access to certain online spaces.



All in all, it was a terrific start to the series. Next time we meet on December 3, we are going to be focused on the Inquiry Model and Powerful Questioning. I think it'll be great!

Part One

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