So what does it look like? - Classroom 2.02024-03-28T16:11:25Zhttps://www.classroom20.com/forum/topics/649749:Topic:22419?commentId=649749%3AComment%3A43035&x=1&feed=yes&xn_auth=noI think the most "progressive…tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-08-19:649749:Comment:430352007-08-19T04:24:58.804Zddeubelhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/ddeubel
I think the most "progressive" classrooms are those that are allowing students to direct the course of their learning, through audience and awareness.<br />
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The product I think most does this David, is digital storytelling. Whether that be in an overtly personal vein or following the traditional approach of telling a story through pictures/text or videos with music or a subject (say science) through the lives and struggles of those involved.<br />
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We should admit as educators that the age of "ideas" in a…
I think the most "progressive" classrooms are those that are allowing students to direct the course of their learning, through audience and awareness.<br />
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The product I think most does this David, is digital storytelling. Whether that be in an overtly personal vein or following the traditional approach of telling a story through pictures/text or videos with music or a subject (say science) through the lives and struggles of those involved.<br />
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We should admit as educators that the age of "ideas" in a sense is dead. We are the dinosaurs, each and everyone of us speaking in this thread. I don't say that lightly. Pictures and "image" are the new tools of self "expression" - that process of which education in its fullest sense embraces, the process of self - awareness through making that invisible/visible. McCluhan's Gutenberg galaxy though, is burning more dimly.<br />
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I really believe we have to create a classroom where there is technology that allows students to inductively discover the truths of "living". As Connie noted, hunting and many other ways.....The teacher as always, the Socratic weaver of these discoveries and leading the learner to a high synthesis. But we have to imagine a classroom of "images" -- students think less like we teachers do and we have to respond to that challenge. Stories will always be an underlying template for human thinking but the form has changed.<br />
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My lesson plan for the future involves students creating stories. Less of the time wasting model in current vogue (my god! how kids waste time in school! This is my biggest gripe.) and more of a model that allows them to produce and participate and present. That's why for me, the model that works best for any subject is to create a story out of it. And from that, let students see the "green fuse" that runs through it all.<br />
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If I were teaching any subject and subject only to my own laws and school design. I'd listen to what the student's own curiousity suggests and then send them scavenging for images/sound/info to meld into something they own and can present. With this, cooperation and community are built. With this, they are truly traveling, which is the goal of education, to see what does not exist and to go there......<br />
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I'll upload a few examples of what I'm thinking/talking about shortly.<br />
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David I just adopted a room in the…tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-08-19:649749:Comment:430292007-08-19T02:08:36.267ZAdina Sullivanhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/adinas
I just adopted a room in the New Century Schoolhouse after reading this discussion thread. I really found it both exciting and difficult to decide what how that room should function and what it would look like. I found that along with the technology tools I currently have and the MANY more I would like to have, there were aspects of my current classroom that I still wanted to include. Plain old butcher papers and markers were just as important for helping students learn, think and process as…
I just adopted a room in the New Century Schoolhouse after reading this discussion thread. I really found it both exciting and difficult to decide what how that room should function and what it would look like. I found that along with the technology tools I currently have and the MANY more I would like to have, there were aspects of my current classroom that I still wanted to include. Plain old butcher papers and markers were just as important for helping students learn, think and process as technology tools. I'm hoping to see more adopted rooms and the ideas others come up with for the 21st century classroom. I would see a wiki as coming…tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-06-05:649749:Comment:251452007-06-05T09:25:41.851ZDavid Warlickhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/dwarlick
I would see a wiki as coming in real handy at some point in the future, but what I'd like to see first off is something that is anchored to what we're already doing. I think that it is critical to offer a bridge between today's classrooms and tomorrow's learning environments.<br />
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More on this later! Just trying to get caught up on e-mail right now!<br />
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-- dave --
I would see a wiki as coming in real handy at some point in the future, but what I'd like to see first off is something that is anchored to what we're already doing. I think that it is critical to offer a bridge between today's classrooms and tomorrow's learning environments.<br />
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More on this later! Just trying to get caught up on e-mail right now!<br />
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-- dave -- why not a wiki?tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-06-04:649749:Comment:248442007-06-04T17:43:33.822ZCathy Nelsonhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/cnelson
why not a wiki?
why not a wiki? Ginger,
Well said. It has be…tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-05-29:649749:Comment:230552007-05-29T02:12:32.309ZRic Murryhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/rrmurry
Ginger,<br />
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Well said. It has been interesting to me to hear/read that nearly half of new teachers quit before year 5. I have wondered why. Is it because it wasn't what they thought it would be? is it that they find something that pays better? Is it that they became disillusioned with the institution of education?<br />
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It also makes me wonder why teachers stay. Is it because they move up the ladder to adminstration (non-teaching role)? Is it because they become comfortable with the reality that with…
Ginger,<br />
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Well said. It has been interesting to me to hear/read that nearly half of new teachers quit before year 5. I have wondered why. Is it because it wasn't what they thought it would be? is it that they find something that pays better? Is it that they became disillusioned with the institution of education?<br />
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It also makes me wonder why teachers stay. Is it because they move up the ladder to adminstration (non-teaching role)? Is it because they become comfortable with the reality that with every new adminstrator/superintendent comes a new bag of tricks that removes the teacher's need to really grow in their craft...they just have to go along with whatever new idea is presented for a short period of time?<br />
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I don't really know the full answers. However, I know from personal experience and observing others in my district, and reading ed-bloggers extensively that most educational leaders and school boards are still afraid of 21st century tools or unaware of them altogether. When teachers do "put on suits of honor-armor" the students benefit, but the students seldom have any say in which teachers are most valuable.<br />
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In business it is a risk-reward model. Higher risk can bring higher rewards. In education there is seldom, if ever, any reward for those who take risks. Risk in education almost always relates to consequence instead of potential reward. So is taking the risk worth anything in the educational arena? Again, it might be for a few students. But how many teachers want to become an educational martyr?<br />
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So we continue to fight the good fight, knowing that reward must be an intrinsic feeling of doing the right thing.<br />
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Best practices, as David seeks, are few, even though the ed-bloggers began the conversation of sharing best practices at the 2006 NECC. There are still few examples. I have read more about policy struggles than classroom successes. There are the Vicki Davis (private school), Brian Crosby (Skype for inclusion), and Miguel Guhlin (most wish he would come to our district) successes. Most of us still fight fear-filters, and leaders who think email is the end-all, be-all communcation tool, and an electronic gradebook demonstrates technological leadership.<br />
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In order to use many tools, I and others, have had to "go underground" so our students could be exposed to the literacies they need. I had classroom blogs, until our tech director heard the term and said the educational value did not outweigh the possible threat to student safety because they were in Blogger (2003). No blogs from any source are allowed. I created a wikispace page, until the tech director heard that wikipedia might not have 100% accurate information. Both were blocked, even though they were not related except for the word "wiki" (2004). I gave students Gaggle email accounts, but was told students could open viruses through email, so the accounts were discontinued (2005). Four of us fought for Moodle in 2005, and we have used it for two years. But because of student behavior (calling another student a name) there was consideration of disallowing Moodle. Moodle is housed on district servers, and inappropriate comments could "get the district in legal trouble" (2006).<br />
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Before we can get our students literate, we need superintendents, tech directors, principals, and teachers who are literate. You can't teach what you don't know...You can't know what you refuse to understand...You can't understand it if you don't use it...<br />
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This is too long, but perhaps someone can filter and edit for something useful in David's question as to what Learning Literacy "looks like." Ric--
You bring up a good poi…tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-05-28:649749:Comment:230082007-05-28T23:27:24.153ZGinger Lewmanhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/GingerTPLC
Ric--<br />
You bring up a good point. I fully believe that actions speak louder than words and every single one of us needs to stop closing our classroom doors to do our work in isolation. Yes, it's tough to be exposed out in the big world with our work under public scrutiny. It's tough to not be the one who's doing all the good stuff with all the good ideas--and to actually see that some are doing more/better.<br />
But taking away tenure and expecting us--EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US--to be learning and…
Ric--<br />
You bring up a good point. I fully believe that actions speak louder than words and every single one of us needs to stop closing our classroom doors to do our work in isolation. Yes, it's tough to be exposed out in the big world with our work under public scrutiny. It's tough to not be the one who's doing all the good stuff with all the good ideas--and to actually see that some are doing more/better.<br />
But taking away tenure and expecting us--EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US--to be learning and improving our skills as teachers (as evidenced by student products) will be the key to actual change. Right now, too many mediocre teachers are comfortable in their jobs. It's easy to blame parents/children/society for the changes in our teaching environments, but if business doesn't change for their customers, they die (or the workers are fired before the entire company dies).<br />
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Contrariwise, we need to be speaking loudly about the good each of us is doing. Yes, our consequences are high, but NOT doing anything is NOT going to make all the struggles *poof* disappear. It's time for us to put on our suits of honor-armor and bring the good to the people--by actions in the everyday classroom. Cathy,
It is a shame that be…tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-05-28:649749:Comment:229642007-05-28T19:00:33.950ZRic Murryhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/rrmurry
Cathy,<br />
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It is a shame that because people went to school 50, 40, 30, 20, 10 years ago, they truly believe they are <b>experts</b> of education. This includes politicians, many of whom send their own children to private schools, while claiming to support public education. Going to school does not make one an educational expert any more than walking into a garage makes one mechanic. Unfortunately, everyone outside of education has an opinion (a passionate opinion) about what would make schools…
Cathy,<br />
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It is a shame that because people went to school 50, 40, 30, 20, 10 years ago, they truly believe they are <b>experts</b> of education. This includes politicians, many of whom send their own children to private schools, while claiming to support public education. Going to school does not make one an educational expert any more than walking into a garage makes one mechanic. Unfortunately, everyone outside of education has an opinion (a passionate opinion) about what would make schools better. Going to school may give someone information on what doesn't work, but seldom on what does work.<br />
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Professional educators (ones committed to, and trained in the field) fight an uphill battle against parents, politicians, and ne'er-do-wells who believe they know better. "If it was good for me, it's good for them," they will exclaim. Their children sit by, embarrassed in many instances, and are denied the type of education that might just engage them.<br />
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I believe before we are able to assist David in Learning Literacy and the debates therein (i.e. tech literacy, info literacy, etc.) we have to discover some way to be taken seriously among people outside of education. We have a long way to go to be taken seriously. Education communities are at least a decade behind businesses, and yet education being mostly theoretical is afraid to experiment. We take few risks because we fear the consequences.<br />
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So how do we not only think outside the box, but get our message outside our education box? I've watched that podcast alr…tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-05-28:649749:Comment:228932007-05-28T11:56:27.099ZDavid Warlickhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/dwarlick
I've watched that podcast already! Outstanding.
I've watched that podcast already! Outstanding. I also agree that talking to…tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-05-27:649749:Comment:227092007-05-27T05:38:40.001ZGinger Lewmanhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/GingerTPLC
I also agree that talking to students who've only experienced schooling in it's present one-dimension can yield somwhat limited results. However, students who've seen another side of the mountain usually have much more insight to possibilities.<br />
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Kevin Honeycutt has spoken with my students after our inaugural year of our new charter school. You can hear their words <a href="http://classroom20.ning.com/profile/kevinh">here</a>, in his Driving Questions podcast series. He questioned the grades 5-8…
I also agree that talking to students who've only experienced schooling in it's present one-dimension can yield somwhat limited results. However, students who've seen another side of the mountain usually have much more insight to possibilities.<br />
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Kevin Honeycutt has spoken with my students after our inaugural year of our new charter school. You can hear their words <a href="http://classroom20.ning.com/profile/kevinh">here</a>, in his Driving Questions podcast series. He questioned the grades 5-8 students and created 3 podcasts called "Kids speak out about what education should be focused on parts, 1-3."<br />
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These kids just needed fertile ground and someone to listen to them. I talk with them frequently about what we're doing together and about how together, we're breaking new ground. They're developing metacognition in leaps and bounds, and I've learned more about teaching/learning this year than I have in all my previous years.<br />
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I'm also a bit envious of Kevin--he and I have a similar approach toward them, but because he's a sporadic and novel addition to their daily lives, they just SHINE for him! I'm learning to be content in all aspects of the "guide on the side." :) Again, together, educators have the ability to bring out the best in kids! (and a now for a shameless plug -- please consider popping in on a few discussions, spurring on the efforts of those of us in the <a href="http://classroom20.ning.com/group/distancecollaborations">Distance Collaborations group</a>.) I'm going to make a suggestio…tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-05-26:649749:Comment:225692007-05-26T11:11:41.238ZDavid Warlickhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/dwarlick
I'm going to make a suggestion to accompany this fabulous conversation. ..and this is not the project that I was "envisoning". More on that later!<br />
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Some of you may be aware of a project that I have been running on the Net since 1997 called "The New Century School House." It is a virtual make-believe school where educators can adopt an empty classroom and repurpose the room for 21st century teaching and learning by describing (1) what people will be doing there, (2) the hardware, software,…
I'm going to make a suggestion to accompany this fabulous conversation. ..and this is not the project that I was "envisoning". More on that later!<br />
<br />
Some of you may be aware of a project that I have been running on the Net since 1997 called "The New Century School House." It is a virtual make-believe school where educators can adopt an empty classroom and repurpose the room for 21st century teaching and learning by describing (1) what people will be doing there, (2) the hardware, software, furniture, books, etc. that is present in that room.<br />
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You are all invited to come to The New Century School House and adopt a room. If all of the room in the first floor are already adopted, then go to the elevator and click to the next floor!<br />
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Have fun!