Exploring Learning

“There’s probably no better example of the throttling of creativity than the difference between what we observe in a kindergarten classroom and what we observe in a high school classroom.” (Levine) Wherever in the world I have been teaching, one of the most common observations of my classroom by other teachers is that it is "like a primary classroom". This is, more often that not, said in a derogatory and dismissive way, as if the colourful and expressive landscape of learning created through explorations of language and literature is a negative thing. That I cannot possibly be teaching a secondary curriculum if they seem to be creating so much..."mess" (as it has also been called). I have never paid much attention to this; I believe that my IB Diploma English Literature class learnt a great deal about the symbols, motifs, characters, language, themes and setting through the mural we painted all over the classroom. They learnt to problem solve and collaborate...

This seems to be a recurring theme. Ironically, I have been writing this post for over a week and have to keep coming back to it as I have so much else to do. The only way I can catch up with myself is because I am at home, in bed, with a dreadful cold :( The last week was hectic to say the least. I have written many Blog posts in my head - as I am running, cooking, reading, sleeping, talking to colleagues and learners - but have not had the time to sit down to actual type them up. I did manage to find the time this (now last) weekend to pass my Google Apps for Education exams though. I had 'Docs' and 'Other Tools' to go and sat them both on Sunday. It was awesome to get them over and done with - though on sharing with my DP, I was 'shoved' in the direction of applying for 'trainer' status. Which of course I will - there are, at least, no exams for this, which is something I believe more and more strongly against as time goes on. Sitting these ex...

I just read some excerpts from  David Foster Wallace's graduation speech - his only public speech - delivered to Kenyon College in 2005, which has now been immortalised in  This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life.  There are a couple of points that struck home in particular, as intrinsic to what I want to achieve in terms of life-long skills. Wallace deliberates on the idea of suicide by firearms - this is not something I want to teach per se - but rather his idea of how the person wielding the gun is dead long before they pull the trigger. I want my learners to live their lives and embrace their experiences - not go through the motions of being alive. I want them to relish opportunities to grow and learn and share - just as I do. Every time I am stressed with how much I need to do, or how many projects I am planning, or how much reading, marking or planning I need to do, I try to ground myself with the n...

I was amazed today at how much a simple rearrangement of the learning has rearranged the thinking space. Immediately today, my Grade 8s utilised all the different possibilites - the make-shift Chrome Books (though we have some issues there regarding speed and applications), the Macs, the floor, the paper and paint and crayons - they were painting, sculpting with paper, making collages, Prezis and Pixton cartoons; they shared work and gave feedback and collaborated more than they ever had - it was awesome and made me even more exciting to roll out the project. Look what has happened with a shift of furniture. Imagine the possibilities when we rethink and customise the whole space... :)

For Project Octopus's Garden , I have created a thinking space using Mural.ly , a cool Beta site that I discovered over the weekend at the Google Apps Summit. Some ideas I am collecting I like it as it is easy to drop in links, photos and add text to create a collection of ideas from a variety of sources. On my Mural.ly have added articles from sites, photos that have been shared with me, thoughts, images from my Pinterest board that I have also started for this project. What is also great is that it can be shared with other people so it becomes a collaborative drawing board - perfect for this project. I ran this morning and did some more thinking about how to develop this project. I aim to pitch it at my grade 7 and grade 8 classes. They will be responsible for polling the Nexus Community about their ideas to make it relevant and a shared experience. I also want to build in some research skills to prepare them for the IB later in their educational career - as I want thei...

I have had the most exciting morning that has spawned a big project for my learners and me. The Octopus's Garden, A3-4, NISS In our attempt to support all staff in going 1:1, with only one trolley of Macs for the secondary school, in the midst of an explosion of need following the awesome Google Summit at the weekend, I have been asked to host what we are dubbing, The Octopus's Garden . This involves twenty 'reconditioned' laptops that have been stripped and made into make shift 'Chrome Book' type machines being installed in my room. This is great as it means we 'get out there' - they have to be plugged in to work however, hence the 'octopus' of wires. Project Octopus's Garden: Embryonic We set up the plug-in laptops at stations around the room to minimise the 'tentacles' leaving a huge empty space in the middle. My first lesson in The Octopus's Garden  was rated 7/10, which is ok. The idea works, the machines didn...

With a rather fuzzy head really in need of a lie in and a day off from thinking, I head off to day two of Googlicious learning.  My first session of the day is on blogger. I chose this mainly because of the paper blogging project I have been working on with my classes, which is teaching them all the skills they need to blog successfully. Obviously, our next step is to go live and I really want to see how the experience has been for others. Why Blog With Learners? The session delivered little about successful blogging, as the leader was in a similar position and it was a new thing for her. I was looking for a way to manage the blogs easily and effectively  but this was barely touched on. In the past, Google Reader was used but they have just moved to Teacher DashBoard - which is an awesome tool I think we really need to get hold of, as I hear nothing but praise for it and how it is changing things. However, thankfully, the Google Reader session yesterday gave me some tips...

I kick off the Google Summit with the wrong workshop. Ho hum. Anyway, despite not being the workshop I wanted to go to, I decide to stay, as it is about digital storytelling. So the leader said - the learning intention for the workshop was not clear however. He was very full of himself, his abilities, how long he has been using Drive - basically, how goddam awesome he is, man! I learned little due to their being no clear outline or direction other than sharing how fabulous he was. I did learn some little tips though - mainly how NOT to be so self-absorbed and egotistical. Other things I learned that I will use:- - WeVideo - Sound File Site The second session is a fest of useful links in a session about collaboration. Here are the choice ones:- Google Hangout  - up to 10 people conferencing at one time Google Hangout on Air  - broadcasts and saves your hangout Transl8it.com  - to use for text speak Skype in the Classroom Flubaroo  with forms for sha...

I stumbled across a Google Doc of teachers adding details about classes wanting to use Twitter to communicate. Always up for a challenge, I decided to try it out and join in. My Grade 7 class are awesome - lapping up all the new ways of learning I throw at them, and in four short weeks have gone from learners who sat in rows and were spoon-fed to autonomous self-regulating 21st century learners. Who better than to experiment with social networking tools? I set up a class email on my domain and used it to open a Twitter account for them. In class the next day, we all logged on - I wasn't even sure we could all be on at once. But we could - and together they customised it, we added a photo and figured out ways of Tweeting that would be helpful. We then looked at the Google Doc and found some other Grade 7 classes from around the globe to follow. They were really excited and I am sure we can develop it into a useful tool. I also think it is a good step in practising being online...

I have not managed to create a video for my flipped classroom yet - I need to wait until I have more time and have more IT available so I know what I publish can be watched.  However, I was sent this link today for some Webinars that will show "firsthand, from master educators who are experts in their field talk about how they started, how their teaching has changed, what their students (and parents) are saying, and how they will continue to improve their craft", which may be useful and will probably give me the final push to get this going.  Flipped Classroom Webinars