Konrad Glogowski's Posts - Classroom 2.02024-03-28T14:32:28ZKonrad Glogowskihttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/teachandlearnhttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1949930120?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://www.classroom20.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=teachandlearn&xn_auth=no2007 EduBlog Awardstag:www.classroom20.com,2007-12-04:649749:BlogPost:844522007-12-04T16:46:02.000ZKonrad Glogowskihttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/teachandlearn
<p>Cross-posted to <a href="http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/2007/12/03/2007-edublog-awards/">blog of proximal development</a><br></br></p>
<p>It is a great honour to be nominated again for the <a href="http://edublogawards.com/">EduBlog Awards</a>. I don’t know who nominated this blog in two categories - <a href="http://edublogawards.com/2007/best-teacher-blog-2007/">Best Teacher Blog</a> and <a href="http://edublogawards.com/2007/most-influential-blog-post-2007/">Most Influential Post</a> - but I…</p>
<p>Cross-posted to <a href="http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/2007/12/03/2007-edublog-awards/">blog of proximal development</a><br/></p>
<p>It is a great honour to be nominated again for the <a href="http://edublogawards.com/">EduBlog Awards</a>. I don’t know who nominated this blog in two categories - <a href="http://edublogawards.com/2007/best-teacher-blog-2007/">Best Teacher Blog</a> and <a href="http://edublogawards.com/2007/most-influential-blog-post-2007/">Most Influential Post</a> - but I would like to say that it is nice to see that, after three years, my thoughts and ideas are still relevant and of value to
educators. When I <a href="http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/2005/02/22/a-blogging-classroom/">first started blogging in February 2005</a><br />
I wanted to create a place for thoughtful reflection, a place where I<br />
could use writing to think about my doctoral research and my classroom<br />
experiences. I never imagined that, almost three years later, I would<br />
be part of an international network of educators who not only seem to<br />
find value in what I write here but who also inspire, motivate, and<br />
engage me on a daily basis. It is thanks to you that I continue to grow<br />
as a researcher and an educator. You continue to challenge my<br />
preconceptions and do not allow me to remain complacent.</p>
<p>But there is another group that also deserves to be recognized here - my students. Over the past three years, I have introduced three different grade eight classes to blogging. I cannot say that every
single student enjoyed blogging, I cannot even say that every single<br />
one of them benefited from this innovative and unique approach. One<br />
thing, however, that I can state with certainty is that every single<br />
grade eight student who entered my classroom in the past three years<br />
has taught me one very important thing about both myself and teaching -<br />
the best teachers never stop learning.</p>
<p>This past year - the final year of my doctoral research - has been especially illuminating. It helped put into perspective some of the findings that I collected in the first year of my study. It was a time
of reflection and a time of looking forward, a time when many of my<br />
initial observations in the grade eight blogosphere led to some<br />
important realizations, realizations that have completely transformed<br />
who I am as a teacher. Some of these moments of epiphany are documented<br />
here on this blog. <a href="http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/2007/08/16/creating-learning-experiences/">This is one of them</a>, and <a href="http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/2007/10/27/how-to-grow-a-blog/">this one</a>, which took months to develop and is especially valuable because it emerged from my own often uncertain practice, is <a href="http://edublogawards.com/2007/most-influential-blog-post-2007/">nominated for the 2007 EduBlog Award in the Most Influential Post category</a>.<br />
The fact that the ideas in this entry, although seemingly simple, took<br />
months to develop makes this nomination especially meaningful.</p>
<p>It is also a great honour to be in the same category with some of the entries that I have printed out after the first reading and gone back to on a number of occasions because they seemed to open yet
another door, because they challenged and inspired me. These include:</p>
<p>Ben Wilkoff’s <a href="http://yongesonne.edublogs.org/2007/06/29/the-ripe-environment/">The Ripe Environment</a><br/> Karl Fisch’s <a href="http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2007/09/is-it-okay-to-be-technologically.html">Is it Okay to be a Technologically Illiterate Teacher?</a><br/> Kris Bradburn’s <a href="http://wanderingink.wordpress.com/2007/05/23/how-to-prevent-another-leonardo-da-vinci/">How to Prevent Another Leonardo DaVinci</a></p>
<p>I am also honoured to be in the company of the following inspiring educators:</p>
<p><a href="http://beyond-school.org/">Clay Burrell</a><br/> <a href="http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/">Vicki Davis</a><br/> <a href="http://gwegner.edublogs.org/">Graham Wegner<br/>
</a></p>
<p>who, along with me, have been nominated in the Best Teacher Blog category. Their work has often made me ask that crucial question: “And what am I doing that’s making a difference?” It’s important to have
people like that in one’s RSS reader. Thank you for sharing your work!</p>
<p>As a relatively <a href="http://tinyurl.com/2p8w9t">new resident</a> of <a href="http://www.secondlife.com/">Second Life</a>, I would also like to mention two people whose help and guidance have been invaluable in my journey as a Second Life resident, user, and
researcher. <a href="http://seanfitzgerald.wordpress.com/">Sean FitzGerald</a> and <a href="http://jokay.com.au/">Jo Kay</a> have been nominated in the <a href="http://edublogawards.com/2007/best-educational-use-of-a-virtual-world-2007/">Best Educational Use of a Virtual World category</a>. Jo’s Second Life island, <a href="http://slurl.com/secondlife/jokaydia/113/150/23">jokaydia</a>, has already been host to a number of <a href="http://jokaydia.com/2007/10/30/coming-up-elearning07-on-jokaydia/">meaningful educational events</a> (and will also host the <a href="http://edublogawards.com/some-more-info-about-second-life/">2007 EduBlog Award Ceremony</a>!). Jo and Sean’s <a href="http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/">Second Life in Education Wiki</a><br />
is a rich and indispensable resource for any educator interested in<br />
exploring Second Life. It is great to see that their work has been<br />
recognized.</p>
<p>This year’s EduBlog awards have also made me aware of new voices from many different categories whose work has already been added to my RSS reader.</p>
<p>It’s an honour to be in the company of educators who continue to reflect and grow. Let’s keep in mind, however, that the nominees in this year’s EduBlog Awards are just a small sampling of all the
valuable blogs, wikis, and other resources that we continue to both<br />
produce and rely on as educators trying to make meaning of learning in<br />
the 21st century.</p>Conversation with Pre-Service Teachers - Teacher as Learnertag:www.classroom20.com,2007-11-16:649749:BlogPost:844502007-11-16T16:30:00.000ZKonrad Glogowskihttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/teachandlearn
<p>Cross-posted to <a href="http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/2007/11/16/conversation-with-pre-service-teachers-teacher-as-learner/">blog of proximal development</a>.<br></br></p>
<p>First of all, thanks to those of you from <a href="http://www.byu.edu/" target="blank">Brigham Young University</a> who added your thoughts to <a href="http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/2007/11/12/conversation-with-pre-service-teachers-the-set-curriculum/" target="blank">my first post on the set curriculum</a>. I enjoyed…</p>
<p>Cross-posted to <a href="http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/2007/11/16/conversation-with-pre-service-teachers-teacher-as-learner/">blog of proximal development</a>.<br/></p>
<p>First of all, thanks to those of you from <a href="http://www.byu.edu/" target="blank">Brigham Young University</a> who added your thoughts to <a href="http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/2007/11/12/conversation-with-pre-service-teachers-the-set-curriculum/" target="blank">my first post on the set curriculum</a>. I enjoyed <a href="http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/2007/11/12/conversation-with-pre-service-teachers-the-set-curriculum/#comment-113440" target="blank">reading your comments</a> and learning more about your concerns and questions regarding teaching 21st century learners. As you can see, this is a conversation that can
continue for a long time, and I hope that it will continue this week<br />
and even after our <a href="http://www.secondlife.com/" target="blank">Second Life</a> meet-up on Monday.</p>
<p>Today, I want to respond to your questions about student-teacher relationship and technology. I’ve selected the following questions from the list you sent me:</p>
<blockquote><p>You mentioned that sometimes you end up talking about things not within the curriculum while you are establishing relationships with the students. What would you consider the balance to
produce such effective bonds, but also obtain the goals of vigorous<br />
curricula?</p>
<p>To what extent do you think you can expose yourself as a mere human being, and not a teacher in your blogs and classroom settings?</p>
<p>Through your blogs, you make yourself seem more “human” to your students and they get to know you on a personal basis. Does that affect the way they treat you as a teacher?</p>
<p>What difficulties do you anticipate as the students start to perceive you in your other role as someone who can learn from them? Do you think that you will come upon classroom management problems? What
feedback have you received from the community about your use of<br />
technology in the classroom?</p>
<p>How do you censor how much you should tell or show your students about yourself?</p>
<p>Do you ever loose the respect of the students when you actively show them you don’t know everything about your given subject?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These questions reveal the same apprehensions that I experienced when I first decided to redefine my teacherly voice and modify my classroom presence. They betray fear of losing control and the
reputation of the content expert. I think it’s understandable - we are<br />
taught, after all, that in order to become successful and effective<br />
teachers, we need to become experts in our chosen fields and project an<br />
aura of expertise. Parents and students expect the teacher to be<br />
knowledgeable. Consequently, the decision to “learn with the students,”<br />
to use one’s own personal blog in the class blogosphere, to engage as a<br />
participant and a co-learner, often leads us to think that we will lose<br />
the respect of our students and that we will no longer really teach.<br />
The question immediately arises - how will my students benefit from<br />
being in my class if I don’t actively teach them?</p>
<p>At the same time, it would be silly to try to use blogs or wikis, for example, and try to preserve the traditional type of teacherly presence. These new tools demand that we assume the role of a
facilitator and a co-learner. They really don’t work very well when the<br />
teacher insists on being in complete control and dictating how students<br />
engage as learners. They demand a more democratic and participatory<br />
approach.</p>
<p>So, how do we reconcile the new technology with the traditional expectations of most parents and students that we enter the classroom as subject experts? How do we encourage personal inquiry in our
students and also maintain the traditional teacherly voice?</p>
<p>Needless to say, as the new technologies open up new vistas for exploration and personal engagement, educators struggle with how they can best meet these traditional expectations and adapt their practice
to suit the new reality of a more conversational and participatory<br />
approach to learning brought about by the new tools of web 2.0. <a href="http://learnonline.wordpress.com/" target="blank">Leigh Blackall</a> echoed many of my thoughts on this topic when he expressed this dilemma and the resulting frustrations in <a href="http://learnonline.wordpress.com/2007/10/12/to-facilitate-or-to-teach/" target="blank">one of his recent posts</a>. His ideas prompted me to <a href="http://learnonline.wordpress.com/2007/10/12/to-facilitate-or-to-teach/#comment-7223" target="blank">comment on the process of losing the teacherly voice</a>. I’d like to reiterate here the thoughts that I shared in response to his entry.</p>
<p><strong>Losing the Authoritarian Voice</strong></p>
<p>First of all, I’ve come to the conclusion that losing the teacherly voice is not the equivalent of losing the voice of an expert. When I first started blogging with my students and using my blog to learn and
not just dispense knowledge or post evaluative comments about my<br />
students’ progress, I was under the impression that, in order to lose<br />
my teacherly voice, I would have to stop being an expert. I thought<br />
that, in order to be a participant and a co-learner, I had to learn<br />
along with my students. It took me a while to realize that I was wrong.<br />
How can I possibly say to my students that we will be learning together<br />
about Elizabethan drama, for example? I already know a lot about that<br />
topic. I cannot pretend that I don’t. In fact, I probably shouldn’t<br />
because they are in my class to learn from me, and they expect me to be<br />
their guide and introduce them to the topic.</p>
<p>And so, the challenge is that when I try to divest myself of my teacherly voice I need to remember that this process is not about losing the voice of the expert but about losing the voice of the
traditional authoritarian teacher who enters the classroom as an<br />
official persona armed with a pre-defined set of goals and very<br />
specific lesson plans for his students to follow. It is about giving<br />
the students the freedom to engage with ideas that they find relevant<br />
and interesting, not about dictating every step of their learning<br />
process.</p>
<p>I believe that it is important to lose the authoritarian voice, the controlling voice, but not the voice of an expert who chose to teach because of his passion for the subject. The students need to see that
the instructor is someone who lives and breathes whatever it is that<br />
they’re studying, that they have in their midst someone who has a<br />
wealth of expertise.</p>
<p>I think that the best way of losing that voice is to say the following:</p>
<blockquote><p>“I’ve been teaching Elizabethan drama for a long time, but there are still many things that I don’t know very well. So, this term, while you research Elizabethan drama and related topics that you
find interesting, I will research one specific aspect of Elizabethan<br />
drama that always interested me but that I never really had a chance to<br />
explore.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Saying this to my class suggests that I still see myself as an expert. It also shows that I am a learner, someone who wants to use his blog to research things he’s passionate about. The voice of an expert
is still there in that comment, but the traditional teacher persona has<br />
disappeared.</p>
<p><strong>Modeling Personal Investment</strong></p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/2007/09/23/learning-to-be-myself/" target="blank">one of my recent posts</a>, I suggested that I had decided to use my own blog as a more personal space. I decided to give it a meaningful title and blog about things
that I am interested in: film, music, architecture, human rights.<br />
Clearly, most of these entries have nothing to do with the work we do<br />
in class. But the point here is to lead by example, to show the<br />
students that I am more than a subject expert, that I am a<br />
multi-dimensional being whose life is not limited to Elizabethan drama,<br />
or essay writing, or grammar, or reading Victorian novels. It shows<br />
that blogging is about reflection and thoughtful engagement with ideas<br />
that are important to us. How can I expect the students to take<br />
blogging seriously, if I use my own blog in the class blogosphere only<br />
to post assignments and evaluations? They need to see that blogging is<br />
about personal investment.</p>
<p>This strategy can have a very positive effect on building a solid relationship with my students. They get to know me as a person, not just a teacher. They see the richness that is in every human being who
engages with ideas and shares his or her thoughts. When they see how<br />
much you care about different things in your life and how much time you<br />
take to reflect on them, their respect for you as a human being and a<br />
teacher can only increase.</p>
<p>Does all that writing about things that are important to me personally detract from the curriculum? I don’t think it does. I do think, however, that it redefines what we mean by curriculum. It
redefines the curriculum because it shows the students that any topic<br />
is of value if it studied in reflective manner, if it is approached as<br />
a field to be explored. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Frye" target="blank">Northrop Frye</a><br />
once said that “it takes a good deal of maturity to see that every<br />
field of knowledge is the centre of all knowledge, and that it doesn’t<br />
matter so much what you learn when you learn it in a structure that can<br />
expand into other structures.” In other words, knowledge is not a<br />
series of fragmented and carefully compartmentalized units (although<br />
school does a great job of presenting it that way). Young people who<br />
see that their teacher blogs about things he finds meaningful are more<br />
likely to see blogs as personal spaces where they can be themselves and<br />
explore ideas that are personally relevant. They begin to see their<br />
blogs as a powerful medium for research, communication, expression, and<br />
reflection. (For a very insightful glimpse into a classroom where<br />
personal engagement works very well, check out Graham Wegner’s <a href="http://gwegner.edublogs.org/2007/08/08/starting-next-round-of-personal-research-projects/" target="blank">Starting Next Round Of Personal Research Projects</a>.</p>
<p>Once they engage as individuals, once they find something that they want to explore as independent researchers, they become hooked and committed. This presents a perfect opportunity to work with them
individually on specific skills that can help them improve their work<br />
and learn how to more effectively communicate their ideas. In other<br />
words, I don’t need the whole class to study the same thing in order to<br />
help them become better writers, readers, researchers, or critical<br />
thinkers. In fact, my chances of helping them develop in all those<br />
areas are much greater when I can interact with them in the context of<br />
their own research. <a href="http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/2007/07/30/instructional-scaffolding/" target="blank">Instructional conversations</a> work well only when the students’ sense of ownership is already present.</p>
<p>In other words, I think it’s important for me to redefine my teacherly voice so that the students see me as a learner and not only as an educator. I think it’s important to show them that learning
happens when we engage with ideas that we find personally meaningful.<br />
Of course, in order to do that we must first be prepared to grant them<br />
the freedom and provide the forum where they can become independent<br />
researchers. That, let’s face it, is not always easy.</p>Conversation with Pre-Service Teachers - The Set Curriculumtag:www.classroom20.com,2007-11-12:649749:BlogPost:844482007-11-12T16:30:00.000ZKonrad Glogowskihttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/teachandlearn
<p>Cross-posted to <a href="http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/2007/11/12/conversation-with-pre-service-teachers-the-set-curriculum/">blog of proximal development</a>.<br></br></p>
<p>On November 19th, I will be hosting a <a href="http://www.secondlife.com/" target="_blank">Second Life</a> workshop for pre-service teachers from <a href="http://www.byu.edu/webapp/home/index.jsp" target="_blank">Brigham Young University</a> in Provo, Utah. They are currently taking a course on instructional technology…</p>
<p>Cross-posted to <a href="http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/2007/11/12/conversation-with-pre-service-teachers-the-set-curriculum/">blog of proximal development</a>.<br/></p>
<p>On November 19th, I will be hosting a <a href="http://www.secondlife.com/" target="_blank">Second Life</a> workshop for pre-service teachers from <a href="http://www.byu.edu/webapp/home/index.jsp" target="_blank">Brigham Young University</a> in Provo, Utah. They are currently taking a course on instructional technology in teaching. They have already explored technology
integration, internet safety, and information literacy. They’ve read a<br />
number of entries on this blog and then, as a group, composed a list of<br />
questions regarding technology integration in my classroom. For the<br />
next few weeks, we will be using this blog as a discussion platform.</p>
<p>If you are interested in following the discussion and interacting with teachers who, very soon, will be integrating technology into their subject areas in their own classrooms, please join us by responding to
the questions, my own answers, or the comments left by the students. I<br />
hope that you will jump in and join the discussion, either here or by<br />
posting a response on your own blog. I want the students from Brigham<br />
Young to see that the edublogosphere is a varied and rich network. So,<br />
if you are a librarian, a high school teacher, an elementary teacher,<br />
or an administrator, please join me in this collaborative and<br />
mutually-enriching exercise in professional development. If you choose<br />
to express your views on your own blog, please use the following tag to<br />
make it easier for all of us to keep track of this discussion: BYUPD07.</p>
<p>So, let’s begin!</p>
<p>First of all, I’d like to thank the students from Brigham Young and their instructor for the opportunity to engage in this discussion. Those of us who have been blogging with our students or using other
interactive tools often begin to live in a sort of bubble and forget<br />
that our first steps were often very hesitant. The questions you sent<br />
reminded me that meaningful integration of technology can be a<br />
challenging task - one that is often dominated by technical and<br />
Internet safety concerns, as well as the need to conform to<br />
institutional pressures at the school or district level. In other<br />
words, as I looked at the questions I remembered all the obstacles that<br />
I had to overcome when I first started thinking of creating a blogging<br />
community in my classroom. Now, I realize that while learning from<br />
other teachers is an important part of this process, implementing<br />
technology in my own classroom is a process that requires a lot of<br />
personal reflection. It’s a great opportunity to engage in some<br />
informal action research, learn more about myself, and the nature of my<br />
classroom practice. In other words, there is no clear, simple answer to<br />
any of the questions that you sent me. They are, however, great<br />
conversation starters. I hope that you will engage in a discussion here<br />
on this blog and that other readers of this blog will join us as we<br />
explore the issues you are interested in.</p>
<p>In this entry, I’d like to address your question on the set curriculum:</p>
<blockquote><p>What are your feelings on a set curriculum? Do you believe we as teachers, and as human beings should have more freedom to be able to study and teach things that are important and that interest
us, such as human rights abuses? What is the limit of going outside the<br />
curriculum? Is there such a limit?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Prior to researching and using a blogging community in my classroom I never had a problem with a set curriculum. I never even questioned it. It seemed logical to me that my responsibility as an educator was
to prepare a collection of texts, resources, diagnostic and<br />
assessment/evaluation tools in order to achieve specific learning<br />
outcomes. I saw myself as a subject expert whose primary responsibility<br />
in the classroom was to teach a very specific set of skills and<br />
competencies. I saw myself as someone who possessed knowledge and<br />
perceived my students as individuals who needed to acquire it.</p>
<p>Then, one day, in my grade 12 English class, Julia came up to me after class and said:</p>
<p>“Mr.Glogowski, could you please take a look at my essay before I hand it in? I just wanna make sure that it’s ok.”</p>
<p>The essay was due at the end of that day. Julia was a conscientious student and thought that asking me to proofread it would give her another chance to revise her work, if necessary, and then hand it in in
the afternoon.</p>
<p>I said, “Sure, let’s take a look.”</p>
<p>I skimmed her work and saw that it was well organized and supported with lots of specific examples from a variety of secondary sources. Julia wrote about the AIDS crisis in Africa and seemed to have a solid
grasp of the topic.</p>
<p>“This looks great!” I said. “You can hand it in now. No need to wait till this afternoon.”</p>
<p>“Thank you. But could you take a good look? You see, I’m worried about little careless mistakes … you know they’re never really serious but they do add up.”</p>
<p>“Julia,” I said, “you’ve written essays in the past. You’re a good writer … I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.”</p>
<p>“But … could you just take a good look at the thesis statement and the hook? Also, I’m not sure my supporting sentences flow very well. The conclusion took me hours to write … now it seems forced.”</p>
<p>I skimmed through her work again, this time focusing on the specific parts that she was unsure about.</p>
<p>“No, I don’t see any major weaknesses here … I’m sure you’ll do well.”</p>
<p>“Thanks … but … will this get me 89%?”</p>
<p>“Why 89%?” I asked, puzzled.</p>
<p>“I need 89% on this assignment to get into <a href="http://queensu.ca/homepage/" target="_blank">Queen’s</a>.”</p>
<p>That’s when I realized that, to Julia - one of the best students in my class, one of the best writers - writing was really only about getting a grade. It had no other meaning or purpose. All of her
learning was reduced to one thing - the need to achieve a certain<br />
average.</p>
<p>Of course, the whole system is based on evaluation. It wasn’t just my classroom and my methodology that transformed Julia into an average-calculating automaton. Yet, as I was driving home that day, I
thought, “She did not engage with her topic at all. She wrote about<br />
human rights in Africa and yet she didn’t really seem to care about the<br />
issues she had researched. Instead, all she cared about was her<br />
average. Writing that paper was a means to an end. It certainly was not<br />
an opportunity to engage with a topic, to engage as a human being.”</p>
<p>I realized that my classroom was a place where there was a lot of teaching going on, but not a lot of learning. When talking to me about her work, Julia had used an adopted voice. She spoke about the thesis
statement, the hook, about effective support. She used the terminology<br />
that I had been using since the beginning of the school year. She<br />
realized that school is about “playing school,” that as long as she<br />
could jump through all of my hoops, she would do well and get into the<br />
university of her choice. My class was reduced to an obstacle course.<br />
She knew that writing a good paper was about learning how to produce<br />
the right reactions in its evaluator - her teacher. That’s why she<br />
asked about specific parts of the essay - the introduction, conclusion,<br />
specific supporting ideas - things that were part of my set curriculum.<br />
What she produced was an example of “school writing.” It was voiceless<br />
and generic, written to demonstrate that she had acquired a skill but<br />
devoid of any personal meaning.</p>
<p>And so, the problem with a set curriculum, regardless of the subject, is that it makes us focus almost exclusively on teaching. It makes us think that the most important person in the classroom is the
teacher. It is based on the assumption that we know all and that the<br />
students know very little.</p>
<p>Should we have the freedom to study and teach things that are important to us as human beings? Absolutely. What is even more important is that we create environments in our classrooms where the
students can explore issues that are important to them. Of course, they<br />
do need to know how to write an essay or organize a written response -<br />
I believe that it is my responsibility to help them learn how to best<br />
express their thoughts. But I also believe that it is my responsibility<br />
to help them learn how to express themselves in more than one medium<br />
and to support them as they engage in this process. In every subject,<br />
there is a set of skills and competencies that the children should<br />
learn, but we often believe that they must be taught in specific,<br />
pre-defined ways.</p>
<p>After that brief conversation with Julia, I realized that I had pre-defined all of her learning. I reduced English and writing to topic sentences and proper organization. No wonder then that Julia’s topic
was not as important to her as the technical aspects of her writing. As<br />
a teacher, I had completely neglected her growth as a human being and<br />
focused instead on peddling pre-selected content. Of course, I should<br />
be proud of the fact that I had, after all, taught her a great deal<br />
about writing essays. But, at the same time, I wish that I had done it<br />
in an environment where knowledge was not presented as a static product<br />
to be absorbed. Imagine how much more competent she could have become<br />
as a writer if she had been given the opportunity to arrive at the<br />
importance of solid support as a result of trial and error, peer<br />
editing, and in the context of her own journey as a budding writer.<br />
Instead, she acquired the skills through automatic drills. In other<br />
words, I wish I had taught those skills in an environment where she<br />
could also explore her own passions and grow as a human being.</p>
<p>This brings me to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dewey" target="_blank">John Dewey</a> and his notion of experience. In <a href="http://tinyurl.com/23sdgr" target="_blank"><em>Experience and Education</em></a>, Dewey argues that amid all uncertainties in education “there is one permanent frame of reference: namely, the organic connection between
education and personal experience.” He goes on to say that:</p>
<blockquote><p>There is no such thing as educational value in the abstract. The notion that some subjects and methods and that the acquaintance with certain facts and truths possess educational value in
and of themselves is the reason why traditional education reduced the<br />
material of education so largely to a diet of predigested materials.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>and</p>
<blockquote><p>What avail is it to win prescribed amounts of information about geography and history, to win ability to read and write, if in the process the individual loses his own soul; loses his
appreciation of things worth while, of the values to which these things<br />
are relative; if he loses the desire to apply what he has learned and,<br />
above all, loses the ability to extract meaning from his future<br />
experiences as they occur?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In other words, Dewey argues that no subject has inherent educational value. It is the interaction between the individual and the subject matter that makes the experience “educative” and that our job
as educators is to ensure that the environment in which learning takes<br />
place allows learners to interact with the subject matter. He argues<br />
that “educative experiences” must “arouse in the learner an active<br />
quest for information and for production of new ideas. The new facts<br />
and new ideas thus obtained become the ground for further experiences<br />
in which new problems are presented.”</p>
<p>The environment in which Julia wrote her essay did not provide opportunities for interaction between the learner and the subject matter. The skills she had learned were removed from any meaningful
context. They were neatly pre-packaged and delivered. As a result, her<br />
learning stopped once she finished the paper. There was nothing to<br />
motivate her to keep exploring her topic of the AIDS crisis in Africa.<br />
Dewey would have said that since no experience has an inherent value, I<br />
erred when I selected experiences ahead of time for my students and<br />
neglected to create an environment where personally relevant<br />
interactions could take place.</p>
<p>Julia taught me that my classroom needs to be first and foremost an inclusive and welcoming environment that encourages exploration and knowledge-building. It needs to be a place where students can engage as
individuals. In this kind of environment students can learn through<br />
personally meaningful experiences which engage them in what Dewey calls<br />
“an active quest for information and for production of new ideas.” This<br />
cannot happen if the curriculum is pre-selected for the students. If<br />
the experiences they are to have in the classroom are pre-defined ahead<br />
of time, the opportunities for meaningful involvement are greatly<br />
reduced.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, such an environment is not easy to create. First, because it must be co-created with the students. It must take into account their interests and goals. Second, because it dethrones the
teacher and forces us to assume the role of a facilitator or a<br />
co-contributor. It requires that we participate as human beings and not<br />
just content experts. It requires that we engage in learning with our<br />
students.</p>
<p>I’ve been trying to create that environment in my classroom for the past two years. I cannot say that I’ve succeeded or that everything I do always works out. I can say, however, that I have learned a lot from
these attempts to create an engaging and participatory environment, and<br />
that they have tremendously affected my classroom practice. That’s all<br />
it really takes … finding in ourselves the courage to admit openly that<br />
we enter our classrooms every day not just to teach but also - perhaps<br />
primarily - to learn.</p>Parent-Teacher Interviews 2.0tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-11-04:649749:BlogPost:742912007-11-04T21:30:00.000ZKonrad Glogowskihttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/teachandlearn
<p>Cross-posted to <a href="http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/">blog of proximal development</a></p>
<p>Yesterday, we had our first parent-teacher interviews for the current academic year. Some of my colleagues don’t like them. I do.</p>
<p>I enjoy parent-teacher interviews because I always see them as an opportunity to reflect on what I’ve accomplished with each individual child. Getting ready for parent-teacher interviews is an opportunity
for reflection and self-assessment. It’s an…</p>
<p>Cross-posted to <a href="http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/">blog of proximal development</a></p>
<p>Yesterday, we had our first parent-teacher interviews for the current academic year. Some of my colleagues don’t like them. I do.</p>
<p>I enjoy parent-teacher interviews because I always see them as an opportunity to reflect on what I’ve accomplished with each individual
child. Getting ready for parent-teacher interviews is an opportunity<br />
for reflection and self-assessment. It’s an opportunity to look beyond<br />
the province-sanctioned learning outcomes that often define my work and<br />
focus on the individuals in my classroom, on individual human beings<br />
and their strengths, weaknesses, and the quality of the learning<br />
journey that they’re on. It is a great opportunity not only to ask what<br />
the student has accomplished, how she or he is progressing in my class,<br />
but also to ask myself “What have I done for this child? How has this<br />
student benefited from being in my classroom?</p>
<p>I’ve always thought that the only weakness of parent-teacher interviews, at least at all the schools where I’ve taught over the
years, is the fact that the student never participates. Parent-teacher<br />
interviews are conversations about the learner that, in most places I<br />
know, purposely exclude the learner.</p>
<p>Imagine my surprise when, yesterday, one of our new parents (her daughter came to our school only a month ago) arrived with her daughter!</p>
<p>As soon as the mom introduced herself and they both sat down, I thought, “Fantastic! Finally, an opportunity to experience a
parent-teacher interview with the student.” I was so impressed and<br />
thankful for this opportunity that I actually wanted to congratulate<br />
the mom for taking this bold step and bringing her daughter to talk to<br />
her teachers. Now, looking back, I know that I should have.</p>
<p>It was a fascinating learning experience. My biggest fear, throughout the interview, was that I would spend too much time
addressing the parent and discuss her daughter in the third person. I<br />
don’t think the mom would have been upset by that, but it just did not<br />
seem right. So, I spoke to both. My comments about the daughter’s<br />
progress and the curriculum were interspersed with questions addressed<br />
to both mom and the daughter. We talked about specific assignments and<br />
tests, I summarized my plans for the rest of this term, and ,throughout<br />
this conversation, both the parent and the child were actively engaged.<br />
It was not easy and, occasionally, I did revert back to the familiar<br />
third person when discussing my student’s progress. But, overall, this<br />
was a conversation about learning that included the three key figures<br />
in the child’s academic progress - the parent, the teacher, and the<br />
student herself.</p>
<p>On my way home, I kept thinking about what I had said and how both the mom and the daughter participated in the interview. I still
remember the look of empowerment and confidence in the daughter’s eyes<br />
when I told her, in front of her mom, that she performed very well on<br />
an important assignment last week. I still remember how often the mom<br />
glanced at her daughter to make sure that she was listening intently to<br />
my comments about her habits, skills, accomplishments to date, and the<br />
upcoming assignments.</p>
<p>Of course, one could argue that the interview went well because the student in question is a hard-working and dedicated individual. I’m
sure skeptics will say that things would have been very different if I<br />
had to deliver bad news and comment on the student’s lack of effort or<br />
some failing grades. I disagree. The interview would certainly have<br />
been different, but the impact on the student would have been just as<br />
valuable. The interview would have provided an excellent platform to<br />
openly discuss challenges, past difficulties, and develop a plan for<br />
the future. How can such a plan be developed if the student is not<br />
there? How can we ensure that the student is involved in her learning<br />
if the conversation about learning takes place without her? How can we<br />
have a meaningful conversation about learning, if the student herself<br />
is not considered important enough to attend the meeting about her own<br />
achievements, challenges, and goals for the future?</p>
<p>The educational blogosphere is filled with posts and conversations about the participatory nature of learning in the 21st century. We all
write about making our classrooms more democratic, about the importance<br />
of empowering the learner and suppressing the autocratic teacherly<br />
voice. We discuss how blogs, wikis, and many other participatory<br />
educational tools have the power to transform learning into a process<br />
of discovery, knowledge-building, and personal meaning-making. Yet,<br />
when it comes to talking to students and their parents about learning,<br />
we rely on the traditional and outdated model that excludes the learner.</p>
<p>And so, as I was driving home, it occurred to me that we often reduce teaching in the 21st century to a handful of digital tools that,
in our opinion, should drive learning in our classrooms. I’m not saying<br />
that they shouldn’t. I’m not saying that these tools are not valuable.<br />
Many of us have done a lot of work with blogs, for example, to know<br />
that they can have a significant impact on student engagement,<br />
motivation, and achievement. But, in our rush to implement these 21st<br />
century tools, we shouldn’t forget about other school practices that<br />
tend to alienate the learner. Learning today is also about transforming<br />
outdated institutional practices that no longer work - that cannot work<br />
- in this new paradigm. My blogging community, no matter how<br />
participatory and engaging, will have a limited impact if, outside my<br />
classroom, the school as institution insists on treating the students<br />
as recipients of knowledge rather than participants and meaning-makers.</p>
<p>It’s time to insist on conversations, not just in our classrooms, but also in our schools and communities. It’s time to remind everyone
involved that we are not here to dispense but to converse and engage.<br />
We cannot do that if the doors to our classrooms are closed to our<br />
students when their teachers and their parents meet to talk about their<br />
learning and the plans and strategies for the future.</p>How to Grow a Blogtag:www.classroom20.com,2007-10-31:649749:BlogPost:687452007-10-31T01:41:30.000ZKonrad Glogowskihttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/teachandlearn
<b>Cross-posted to <a href="http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog">blog of proximal development</a></b> <br></br><br></br><p>Last month, in preparation for my <a href="http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=166" target="_blank">K12Online Conference presentation</a>, I re-read <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Csikszentmihalyi" target="_blank">Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s</a> <a href="http://tinyurl.com/2qqo6t" target="_blank"><em>Good Business. Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning</em></a>. In it, he…</p>
<b>Cross-posted to <a href="http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog">blog of proximal development</a></b> <br/><br/><p>Last month, in preparation for my <a href="http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=166" target="_blank">K12Online Conference presentation</a>, I re-read <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Csikszentmihalyi" target="_blank">Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s</a> <a href="http://tinyurl.com/2qqo6t" target="_blank"><em>Good Business. Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning</em></a>. In it, he states that the experience of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29" target="_blank">flow</a> - when the person is totally immersed in an activity and genuinely
enjoying the moment - comes from “the steps one takes toward attaining<br />
a goal, not from actually reaching it.” He adds that:</p>
<blockquote><p>People often miss the opportunity to enjoy what they do because they focus all their attention on the outcome, rather than
savoring the steps along the way. Where does the pleasure in singing<br />
come from - finishing the song, or producing each note or phrase? … To<br />
be overly concerned with the ultimate goal often interferes with<br />
performance. If a tennis player thinks only of winning the match, she<br />
won’t be able to respond to her opponent’s powerful serve … our primary<br />
concern here is not with what constitutes a successful performance, but<br />
with the quality of experience during performance. If we agree that the<br />
bottom line of life is happiness, not success, then it makes perfect<br />
sense to say that it is the journey that counts, not reaching the<br />
destination.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In education, however, the product - the grade, the final draft, the test mark - still often takes precedence over the process of learning -
the sense of personal journey without which the final destination is<br />
meaningless. What is even worse is that many of our students are very<br />
comfortable with that idea. To them, school is often about “playing the<br />
game.” They follow along, raise hands, submit assignments, study for<br />
tests. Of course, there is nothing wrong with these activities as long<br />
as they do not impede their progress as independent thinkers,<br />
researchers, and writers. Unfortunately, most of the time, “playing the<br />
game” means following the rules that we’ve set up for the students. We<br />
bring in the hoops, and the students jump through them. It’s an easy<br />
process for everyone involved.</p>
<p>In my classroom - a predominantly blogging classroom - things have to be different. I believe that it is my role as an educator to ensure
that my students are given opportunities to grow as individuals, and<br />
are not treated as mere pupils who passively receive information. As a<br />
result, the traditional approach to teaching and learning, to<br />
assessment and evaluation, has to be modified. It is a difficult<br />
process for both the students and the teacher. It is a process in which<br />
the classroom becomes more of a <a href="http://remoteaccess.typepad.com/remote_access/2007/03/studio_classroo.html">studio</a><br />
where learners engage with concepts that they find interesting and<br />
personally relevant. It becomes a place where they are given<br />
opportunities to create their own networks and become experts in their<br />
chosen fields.</p>
<p>In order to create that classroom, however, I need to continue to tweak my classroom practice. The students need a different, more
conversational, expressive, and individualized kind of support. They<br />
also need to be gradually eased into their new roles of independent<br />
researchers.</p>
<p>At the beginning of the year, I always talk to my students about “growing” their own blog. It is a challenging concept because, when
they are first introduced to blogging, they are all under the<br />
impression that everything they write will be graded and that their<br />
blog is just an electronic version of their notebook or journal. So,<br />
when at the beginning of the year, I start talking about blogging and<br />
the steps that the students need to take to “grow” their own blog, they<br />
are always a bit confused and surprised - my words suggest a lot of<br />
freedom, and freedom, as we all know, is not something that students<br />
associate with school.</p>
<p>For two years, I struggled to verbally explain the concept to them, with varying results. This year, however, I had a visual tool.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/teachandlearn/1776430181/" title="Photo Sharing" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2128/1776430181_dfa151c295.jpg" alt="How To Grow a Blog" height="488" width="500"/></a></p>
<p>I created it this past summer and could not wait to use it in class. When I finally used it last month, the results were encouraging. The
students looked at it and, when I said “I’d like you to think about how<br />
you are going to grow your own blog,” they knew exactly what I meant.</p>
<p>The diagram I created is intended to help them visualize their progress over the course of a school year. It assumes that blogging is
not about posting an entry in response to a homework assignment but<br />
about engaging in writing that is personally relevant. The diagram<br />
helps students define their goals and ways of reaching them. It helps<br />
them realize that blogging is not about posting well thought-out<br />
entries, and that each entry does not need to present a definitive and<br />
complete view on a given topic. Rather, it helps them see that blogging<br />
is about engaging with ideas.</p>
<p>Blogs are perfect tools to encourage and assist students in cognitive engagement. Blogging is a process, a conversation.
Unfortunately, at the beginning of the year, my students tend to see<br />
each blog entry as the equivalent of a well-composed paragraph response<br />
or even an essay. I admit, there is nothing wrong with producing<br />
well-written and well organized entries as long as the entry is not an<br />
end in itself, as long as the process of intellectual engagement does<br />
not end once the piece is posted. I want my students to understand that<br />
bloggers blog because they are on a journey, a quest, and that every<br />
entry is an opportunity to continue that journey.</p>
<p>So, when they see this handout, this planning sheet, the students realize that the academic year ahead of them is an opportunity to
produce a body of work, to stay engaged, to use their time productively<br />
doing things they’re interested in as opposed to completing assignments<br />
for their teacher.</p>
<p>This planning sheet, called <em>How to Grow a Blog</em>, consists of three parts.</p>
<p>The first part refers to the blooming flower - the goal of any gardener or a serious blogger. This is the long-term goal. When I
explain this first part, I say to my students that they should think<br />
about what they want their blog to represent at the end of the year. I<br />
tell them that they need a personal goal. I say that once they start<br />
blogging, they will continue to add to their blog thus creating a body<br />
of work. “What,” I ask them, “do you want to see there right before you<br />
graduate? What do you want the visitors to your blog to think when they<br />
see it in June? What do you want to accomplish?”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/teachandlearn/1776729889/" title="Photo Sharing" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2284/1776729889_1ed973a0c8.jpg" alt="How to Grow a Blog - The Goal" height="187" width="500"/></a></p>
<p>Keep in mind, this is not easy. Generally speaking, the only time students in grade eight think about long-term goals is when they worry
about grades or getting into the high school programme of their choice.<br />
Engagement with ideas lasts only until the assigned deadline. Once the<br />
assignment is handed in, the engagement ends. Blogging is very<br />
different, of course, and the diagram helps them realize that.</p>
<p>Once they choose a personal goal, a topic that they want to pursue, I ask the students to fill in the bottom part, called “The Right
Habitat.” Here, the students have to think about the steps they need to<br />
take in order to create the right environment for their blogs.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/teachandlearn/1777576584/" title="Photo Sharing" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2197/1777576584_79abebdad5_o.jpg" alt="How to Grow a Blog - The Right Habitat" height="256" width="312"/></a></p>
<p>This part asks them to think about the root system for their blog. Where are the nutrients going to come from? Where will I find
nourishment as a thinker and researcher? This is an opportunity to<br />
consider the fact that in order to learn and engage with ideas, one<br />
needs a habitat that will support it, and that the best way to build<br />
just such a habitat is to find other people and resources that one can<br />
converse with. In other words, I want the students to learn that<br />
blogging is about initiating and sustaining conversations. So, I ask<br />
them, “Now that you know what you would like to research or document on<br />
your blog, where is the inspiration going to come from, where are your<br />
ideas going to come from? What kinds of resources are you going to<br />
include in your habitat to help you grow your blog and extend your<br />
thinking?”</p>
<p>So, having chosen their goals, the students look for online resources that will help them learn more about their chosen topics.
This is a perfect opportunity for me to make it very clear that blogs<br />
are about learning. Once they choose their topics, I always ask them<br />
how much they already know about the topic. The answers vary, of<br />
course, but fairly quickly the students realize that they do not know<br />
much about the chosen topic, even if it is something they are very<br />
passionate about. And so, a discussion about blogging turns into a<br />
discussion about learning. “Where will you go online to learn more<br />
about your chosen topic?” I ask them, “Who will you interact with and<br />
learn from?” This is how they begin to build their networks.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/teachandlearn/1776730809/" title="Photo Sharing" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2037/1776730809_0e7dd25e17_o.jpg" alt="How to Grow a Blog - Habits and Commitment" height="225" width="323"/></a></p>
<p>Finally, I give them time to consider habits and commitments - that’s what the stem represents in my diagram. I want them to think
about the kinds of habits that, in their opinion, will be necessary to<br />
accomplish their goals. If the goal is to produce a body of work on<br />
globalization, for example, then they need to ask themselves what is<br />
required of them, on a daily and weekly basis, to achieve that goal.<br />
This is a difficult part for them to fill out because it requires a<br />
certain degree of self-knowledge. If they want their blogs to bloom,<br />
then they must think about the steps they need to take every day to<br />
ensure that they are on track. They must also know themselves and<br />
decide on the steps they need to take to develop good habits.</p>
<p>I believe that the most effective part of this diagram is that it gives the students an opportunity to do some long-term planning, which
is not an easy task because, as students, they are used to short-term<br />
goals, such as finishing tonight’s homework. At the same time, they<br />
have to think about the little steps, the daily activities and posts<br />
and where they will come from. They need to find the right habitat that<br />
will inform their work. They need to think about strategies and habits<br />
necessary to both start and continue their journey.</p>
<p>In short, the goal of using this handout is twofold: to help students plan and begin their journey, and to think about the habits
they will need for that journey. I want them to understand that the<br />
most valuable part of blogging is the process of interacting with ideas<br />
and people, not producing finished assignments on assigned topics. This<br />
planning sheet helps them define their long-term goals but, at the same<br />
time, it also helps them see that blogging is a journey. I have already<br />
noticed that this handout and the instructional conversations that it<br />
initiates help the students realize that successful learning is not<br />
about submitting definitive pieces on assigned topics, but primarily<br />
about what Csikszentmihalyi calls “the quality of experience,” a sense<br />
of meaningful immersion in one’s pursuits.</p>
<p>The challenge, of course, is that the students perceive traditional school work as something that is safe, much safer than becoming an
independent researcher. They often find comfort in the fact that as<br />
long as the questions are answered and the work handed in, they will<br />
continue to do well as students. Blogging, on the other hand, is<br />
initially a big unknown. There are no deadlines and no clear<br />
guidelines. After years of jumping through hoops, students are suddenly<br />
faced with a lot of freedom which they often find overwhelming. I’ve<br />
noticed that the planning sheet I developed can provide a solid support<br />
mechanism that many young bloggers need at the beginning of this<br />
journey. It’s a good tool to use in order to start a process of<br />
conversational feedback and assessment.</p>
<p>Below, you will find some examples of how my students filled out their <em>How to Grow a Blog</em> planning sheets. Keep in mind that what these sheets represent is the
start of their journey as researchers and writers. They provide me with<br />
an opportunity to engage students in meaningful conversations that can<br />
eventually lead to meaningful and long-term personal engagement on<br />
student blogs. Your feedback on this handout and the strategy behind it<br />
would be truly appreciated. If you are interested in using or modifying<br />
this planning sheet, please <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/431640/How-to-Grow-a-Blog">feel free to download it</a>. If you do choose to use it, either in its original or modified form, please send me your feedback.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/teachandlearn/1776454477/" title="Photo Sharing" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2092/1776454477_b7b51bf548.jpg" alt="How to Grow a Blog - Students 001" height="500" width="364"/></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/teachandlearn/1777282804/" title="Photo Sharing" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2007/1777282804_65a438cc3b.jpg" alt="How to Grow a Blog - Students 002" height="500" width="364"/></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/teachandlearn/1777290114/" title="Photo Sharing" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2412/1777290114_80e3b02274.jpg" alt="How to Grow a Blog - Students 003" height="500" width="364"/></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/teachandlearn/1777311174/" title="Photo Sharing" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2360/1777311174_d54d0a5696.jpg" alt="How to Grow a Blog - Students 004" height="500" width="364"/></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/teachandlearn/1777320198/" title="Photo Sharing" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2219/1777320198_3441db6b3f.jpg" alt="How to Grow a Blog - 005" height="500" width="364"/></a></p>