Friday, November 15, 2013

Philosophy of Adaptation

My motto for 21st century learners:
Helping children today imagine their tomorrow, and to shape the world in which they will live. 

This is a distilled version of what is more likely a vision statement: 
All children should be given the opportunity to shape their learning by communicating, creating, collaborating, thinking critically, and learning their about their place in the world as a global citizen.  These are the skills and mindsets that will prepare our children to follow their passions, and make their lives and the lives of others better in the 21st century, no matter where they are located.

This motto was influenced my my own experience and constructivist views of education and how children learn best, as well as many specific readings.  Some of the most influential readings (recently) include:

The Leader's Guide to 21st Century Education, by Ken Kay and Valerie Greenhill

Change: Learn to Love It, Learn to Lead It, by Richard Gerver

Invent to Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom, by Sylvia Martinez and Gary Stager

Why School? Why Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere, by Will Richardson

Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, by Chip and Dan Heath

Where Good Ideas Come From, by Steven Johnson

Creating Tomorrow's Schools Today, by Richard Gerver and Ken Robinson

A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change, by Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown

My own strategies for adapting to change really started taking shape at about the same time that I started becoming interested in educational technology.  The more I read, and the more I learned, the more I was motivated to experiment and try things in my own classroom.  Many of these new ideas were not just about technology, they were about a way of looking at teaching and learning that really solidified what my own opinions and gut feelings were, but it gave them structure and a path to move forward on. Until I opened this new door, I had felt frustrated, like my practice was stagnating.  I had a lot of ideas about education that I knew were good, but had run dry on ways to create and express these through my instruction.  The early days of building my PLN not only gave me a flood if ideas, it also opened up a collaborative world that I had been lacking.  As I learned, experimented, and taught, I found it became a never-ending spiral that continually motivated me. I'd learn something, try it out, reflect, give feedback to my PLN, deepen my thinking about the process, realize I was onto something good, and take another step. Everything I did, even the things that didn't work out so well, confirmed that overall, I was on the right path.  I was changing the way I taught.  This opened up the flood gates - it changed the way my students learned, it changed how I perceived them, it made me raise my standards for them constantly, and greatly broadened my perspectives on meaningful learning.

The great thing about this class is that it has created an opportunity for me to really focus and reflect on that aspect - change - in my own career.  Along the way, it's also allowed me the chance to have these discussions with others who are in the midst of it, or who are just beginning this journey.

How do I help my students with the concept of change? I model it for them every day. Whenever we are learning something new, I'll often thrown in a couple of new tools for them to try out that they may be unfamiliar with.  I give them a brief overview of these, with a little, "just try them out and see if you like them or can use them," encouragement.  My students trust me enough now to know that I'll have a lot of patience with a trial run, especially if it's something they think has promise - I'll respect that and give them a little extra time to learn it and work out the kinks.  They also know that when I say this there are no guarantees.  The program may not be what they need, it may be glitchy, or they may love it and it disappears next month.  This is ok, because they also know that there are probably many other, similar tools that will do the same thing.  As I keep saying, "The technology is not the thing," (maybe this should be my motto!).  One piece of software or app is not going to make or break anything - there are lots of ways of going about getting things accomplished. I try to always instill that attitude in my students, and the best way I do this is by modeling this behavior myself.  Sometimes things don't work - what can you do? Don't cry over spilt milk or end the project, simply look for something that does work. Problems like tech not working are trivial.  It doesn't change the fact that things need to get done.

Another way I feel I can help my students is by watching them, listening to them, and learning from them.  Really paying attention to how they solve problems is very revealing.  It's particularly revealing if you've given them a task that they want to do in the first place.  If they are all committed to that task because it's meaningful, really interesting, or just fun, then they are automatically committed to solving any problems that crop up along the way - they want to see it through, so stopping work is simply not an option that's even discussed. I think that this is key in teaching our kids the habits of mind they'll need to adapt to change.  We need to give them meaningful tasks and interesting problems.  If we do this, and also set our own minds to being flexible in allowing them to attack and solve them, we'll have the benefit of seeing them do some pretty incredible things to reach their goal. Having the opportunities to do this on a regular basis changes the habits of mind of our kids.  They begin to feel as though they are in charge of their learning, and they take that responsibility seriously. They are not doing this for the grade, but because they really want to know - it's a worthwhile challenge to them. Thinking and operating this way naturally makes anyone, us and our students, more readily adapt to changes.  Students know that if the goal is a worthwhile and interesting pursuit, they will have to deal with obstacles that come up along the way.

Planning for teaching this way is not always easy - we often have to do a lot of learning ourselves, and we also have to let go of some of the notions we have (get ready for some heresy) about the importance of sticking to that curriculum. On the up side, by doing this, we are often taking our students far beyond the curriculum.

Resources:

Kay, K., & Greenhill, V. (2013). The leader's guide to 21st century education: 7 steps for schools and districts. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc..

Gerver, R. (2013). Change: learn to love it, learn to lead it. London, England: Penguin.

Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A new culture of learning: cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Lexington, Ky.: CreateSpace?].



8 comments:

  1. Motto - short sentence or phrase encapsulating your ideals or beliefs. Did you ever see A River Runs Through It? The part where the dad makes the kid rewrite the paper, "half as much." After he writes it again, dad says "again. half as much."

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  2. So which sentence do you think should go? Should I keep the first and delete the rest? Or keep the second sentence, deleting the "no matter where they are located" part? I'm flexible. I've been told I'm "verbose" before. It's a problem.

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  3. I think you should leave the whole thing as a mission statement and take out what you think are the most important elements for the motto. How about: Embedding digital learning opportunities to culminate in prepared global citizens. I was struggling with the adjective before global citizens. But I think you get the idea.

    By the way, the rest of the paper is really solid. It's very clear what your philosophy is and how you apply it. Nicely done. And thanks for the referral to Kay and Greenhill's book. It's really good. I wish that had been one of our texts. That is the kind of thinking that needs to be in these classes so that 21st century leadership in education begins shifting. Hope it catches fire!

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    1. Ok that helps - I started with yours, then started waxing poetic a little. But yes you are right - what I had was definitely more of a vision statement - which I'll leave in. Thanks!

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    2. Much better motto, don't you think?

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  4. The GOOD: I really liked your statement, “All children should be given the opportunity to shape their learning by communicating, creating, collaborating, thinking critically, and learning their about their place in the world as a global citizen.” So true, and I believe that you really embrace this idea.

    I also enjoyed reading about you creating your PLN. I feel that I am just starting to build mine.

    Questions: What was your favorite thing that you tried in your classroom? What is something you tried and didn’t really like?

    3. Suggestions: Be brave as you get rid of some of the notions that you have and or what others will think about the new, but wonderful things you are trying.

    I must have read this after you changed your motto?

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  5. I have appreciated your input this year and can tell you have experience with experimenting with technology. One tip I will never forget is "Tag everything... tag away... tag tag tag." That was your reply to my tagging concern. ;) I also agree with the modeling. I have just started a brief research project with my third graders. Wow do we have a bunch of searches that are not ideal but when I modeled the searching I made sure that they saw me fail a few times so they knew it was not a big deal. Teaching them how to scan is a tough concept so I hope that develops as we get more experience on the internet.The students have seen my internet go out in mid search. They have seen the power go out throughout the day and we just keep on moving. I hope these experiences will translate in the future into an understanding that there is more than one way to solve a problem and that you can go around "road blocks". Curtesy of you, Barbra and Lee teh research project I spoke of was created. It has been tough but I have learned so much already and the students love it. They picked their ideas based on questions they asked about Social studies topics. Then they will create a childrens book with that information. focusing on main ideas and supporting details. They have been searching online and that is a first for many but they are more confident now and have been gathering some really great information. I will admit that they are struggling to read much of the material but I have decided to offer more help so they don't quit on it due to frustration of not being able to read it. IT has been much more prep and work on my part but the students are doing great. I hope to be able to continue this type of learning. Thanks for being available and also lending great feedback.

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  6. Thanks Courtney! I am also having to remember that some of these skills and ideas take a little longer with younger students. This year I'm seeing all of the elementary classes once a week for technology (specials period). There is definitely such a marked difference in readiness at each grade level, but I've also been so surprised by how quickly they learn things! The kindergarten teacher said right now they are focused on remembering 5 steps, and for the past month they have been remembering 5 steps to get to their class page in my class, so I thought that was pretty cool! But yes, the reading part is hard for some when teaching about searches. I have middle schoolers who still won't actually read any of the description when they do a search - they just look at titles! I'm glad to hear you are modeling so much for them in terms of what real work with technology looks like - it's so good for them to see that, mostly because it models good attitudes and smart thinking abouttechnology.

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