The Tempered Radical

Learning from the Met: Teachers as Digital Learners

Every year, MetLife churns out an impressive report titled Survey of the American Teacher.  Based on one-to-one interviews with 1,000 classroom teachers, 1,000 students and 500 principals, this year's survey---released yesterday and available online here---"documents current attitudes, examines trends and considers future implications" influencing teaching and learning in the American classroom.

For the first time, this year's survey looks closely at how teachers are using digital media to build relationships and communicate with professionals beyond their own buildings.  Noting that teachers and principals have long believed that technology can enhance teaching, the Met wanted to know exactly how educators were using technology to support their own learning. 

  by  drunkprincess 

The results of the survey, however, were not terribly surprising:  Teachers just plain haven't embraced digital forums for personal growth. 

To be specific, less than one out of every three teachers (28%) report having read or written a blog about teaching even as blogs become an increasingly common forum for conversation and resource sharing between experts in every field.  Making matters worse, less than two in ten (15%) teachers have participated in online communities or social networking sites like Tapped In, Ning or Facebook. 

While principal responses to the same questions were---surprisingly---higher, less than half of our leaders (42%) are reading and learning from blogs and less than one quarter (22%) are participants in online communities.

While I can understand the conflict that American teachers feel about these tools----we talk about how important it is to find ways to learn with technology while districts ban any kind of communication between teachers and students in social networking forums and suspend teachers for poor judgment in their personal communication----these kinds of trends should concern everyone who cares about education.

Here's why:

Because our students have embraced digital forums:  I've always been taught that responsible educators try to tailor learning experiences that align with the interests and motivations of their audiences simply because increased levels of motivation most often result in increased levels of learning.  If that's true, then digital forums for communication and growth simply must begin to find a home in the American classroom. 

TWIT: They Always Wonder

It's been a few months since I spent any time reminding myself why I teach.  I guess that shouldn't be a surprise.  I am, after all, a "glass is not only half empty...it's shattered on the floor in a million pieces" kind of guy.  I get lost in the battles I'm fighting and forget that there are real reasons why I love the work that I do.

They're called kids.

  by  John-Morgan 

The past few weeks have centered me, though.  You see, we're coming to the end of a science unit on energy---studying light, sound and heat----and each day has been a bit more amazing than the last. 

Wanting to take advantage of the full science lab classroom that I've been assigned for this nine-week period, I nearly killed myself planning a bunch of hands-on activities designed to introduce my kids to the key concepts behind the ways that sound, light and heat are transferred through our universe.  I spent hours and hours scrounging up supplies and setting up stations that were manageable for my students---not to mention dropping $100 on consumables that we didn't have in our storage room.

Then, I made a bit of a gutsy instructional decision:  I decided to place the focus of assessment in each of our stations on nothing more than the quality of the additional questions that my kids asked after engaging in each activity.   "Kids and scientists are a lot alike," I explained as we began our unit, "They both have incredibly curious minds.  It's just that scientists do a better job documenting their curiosity.

"World Class Public Education?"

It seems like schools are constantly buried under reminders that we're in a competition with developing nations like China and India to produce tomorrow's workforce, doesn't it?  That is, after all, how Friedman made some serious cabbage! 

And let's not forget Compton's Two Million Minutes?  

 

Download Worldclasseducation

Poke through articles on the "crisis," and you'll find quotes like these: 

U.S. students spend too little time and effort on academics in high school, compared with harder-working young people in China and India. (Ed Week)

China’s efforts to develop entrepreneurship among its young is no less than scary for many in the US. The US is also in awe with the education system India. (The Business Standard)

Stating that parents both in China and India contribute their might to shape their children's career keenly, Mr Compton said this was, however, gradually dwindling in U.S. (Web India)

"The Indian education system is more rigorous than the US and students and their family are more dedicated towards an academic pursuit than in the US," said Compton. (India Info)

In our sports-crazed society, Compton uses a sports analogy to drive home his point. The U.S., he says, ranks 23rd or 24th in global academic performance. "If our Olympic team finished 24th, the president and Congress would mobilize our country and never allow it to happen again."  (The Memphis Flyer)

While their peers in China and India study longer hours to sharpen their math and science skills, top students from one of the best high schools in the U.S. are playing video games and watching Grey's Anatomy during a group study session.  (US News and World Report)

Now that we've firmly established that the sky is indeed falling, that American schools are failures and that the time for change is now, I guess it's time to ask one simple question:  What, exactly, would students be doing in a school that was delivering a world class education?

I mean, aren't we just spinning our wheels until we can describe the kinds of learning experiences that can prepare our kids for this "competition" that everyone keeps talking about?  Heck, I'm willing to listen:  What does a 'world class public education' look like?

Is it grounded in basic skills?  Does it promote math, science and engineering above all else?  Would it put creativity and innovation at the center of the school experience?  Should it be globally centered, designed to build awareness of the world?  Must it prepare kids to create, communicate, collaborate and manage information?

And don't tell me that it must do all of these things! 

I've only got 2 million minutes to spend.

(Image credit:  Day 432/365 by ooOJasonOoo, licenced Creative Commons: Attribution)

Creativity is Dead, Ken. . .

Last February, I stumbled across a TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson titled Do Schools Kill Creativity that left me completely energized.  In it, Robinson lays out a case for why creativity should be reintroduced to our classrooms that echoed themes being shared by writers like Daniel Pink, who argue that the most effective workers in tomorrow's world will be those who can innovate and find connections between and across disparate fields. 

Knowing that my own practice did little to encourage creativity, I was challenged----and I spent the better part of the last 8 months trying to find ways to allow my students to spend more time creating and innovating. 

My efforts have been a complete failure, though. 

Creativity is dead, Ken. 

  by  Michel Filion 

As I see it, here are some of the biggest barriers to creativity in the classroom:

States define MASSIVE curricula for our kids:  Regular Radical readers know how much I hate the required curricula that I'm expected to teach. 

Like the $12 burrito you order at the local Taquerita when you're feeling randy, state curricula in almost every subject leave teachers and students feeling bloated and gassy.  While we might enjoy the first few bites of our studies, by the end of the year, school becomes nothing more than a pleasure-less mechanical chew.

Creativity and innovation are inherently messy activities that take time to develop in students.  With the pressure of packing away thousands of concepts in less than 10 months, time is something I just don't have.  Want to see creativity creep its way back into the classroom?  Then cut our curricula in half.  Maybe then we'll have time to take a breath and think a bit.

Teacher Leadership and the NBCT. . .

I've got an interesting speech to give this week.  I'm talking about what exactly teacher leadership means to a group of teachers in my district who just earned certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. 

In it, I begin a list of things that I would consider to be examples of "teacher leadership."  My goal is to provide concrete definitions of teacher leadership for teachers and principals to refer to. Read through my speech and see if you can add some more specific roles that teacher leaders fill in the comment section:

First, whenever I speak to a group of teachers like this, I like to be completely sure that I'm actually speaking to National Board Certified teachers.  Call it my own little "letter of verification."  So I'm going to share a collection of statements with you, and I want you to raise your hands each time you hear one that resonates with you.

Let's start simply:  Raise your hand if you thought the little blue box that landed on your doorstep last fall looked pretty harmless when it first arrived.  Now raise your hand if your mind changed round about December when your spouse and children were distant memories and your computer had replaced your best friends.

Yup.  National Board Certified Teachers.

Now raise your hand if the term 'assessment center' still gives you nightmares.  Me too!  Raise your hand if you ever cursed the margin and font size rules of the Board, just knowing that if you had a little more space you would be SURE to certify.  Raise your hand if you ever panicked after sealing one of your entries in those seemingly indestructible plastic baggies because you weren't sure that you put the right entry in the bag.

Those guys are National Board Certified!

Blog Comments = Digital Goodness

One of the lessons that edubloggers consistently send to those newest to the digital soup is don't forget to check out the comment sections of the entries that resonate with you.  Rarely is the actual blogger the only bright person writing in any digital forum.  In fact, most entries are just the beginning of what become vibrant conversations between readers. 

Skip the comments, you're likely to be skipping content that will change the way you think. 

My recent entry on the tension that I feel between giving students meaningful and messy opportunities to wrestle with learning and plugging through the monstrous curriculua defined as essential by the state was just another example of this principle in action.  Don't believe me?  

Then check out this strand of conversation between K. Borden, Mike and Joe:

Living with My Pedagogical Tension. . .

In a comment on my recent post about Motivational Herrings, Adam asked:  "What do you mean by this statement, 'After all, in most situations, the one doing the talking is the one doing the learning.'
I think what you are saying is that students need to be able to articulate the learning in their own voice."

(click to enlarge)

 

Download Talking_Learning

You got it, Adam.  For me, learning has always been about articulation.  A perfect example is this blog, where I reflect on what it is that I think I know about teaching and learning.  Writing---just like talking----forces me to think deeply about topics because the act of putting what I know into words that others can understand is inherently challenging.  What's even better is that once I make my thinking transparent, it can be challenged----and challenged thinking goes through the "refining fires" that lead to true understanding.

What's unfortunate about schools is that we're so completely buried in meaningless content that opportunities to talk----which can be time-consuming, messy affairs----are pushed aside in an attempt to maintain our "pacing."  I can't give my kids 30 minutes to think through a concept together---even though I know it's the way that I learn best----because I've got 647 concepts to get through this year! 

You should live inside me sometime and wrestle with the pedagogical tension that I feel on an ordinary day.  I'll watch my kids working on a science lab and be completely jazzed by the new knowledge that they're building together but completely impatient by the process.  In those moments, I'm forced to make painful decisions: Give the kids the answer and stay on a schedule that sees me covering the entire curriculum or let them work out the answer on their own and experience real learning.

More often than not, I end up giving out the answer. 

Can you blame me? 

Remember, getting through the curriculum is the only thing I'm held accountable for.