The First of Many
Well, I have to start off the official Learning is Change blog with something good. I can’t go from Discourse about Discourse, a blog and podcast that were very good to me, to an overly theoretical writing style or business-only approach. That just doesn’t work. I don’t think that way, and I certainly can’t write that way all of the time.
My writing is about making connections between the vastly different elements of the classroom, the pedagogy, the technology, and the entirety of educational institutions. It is not something I take lightly, but it is also not a humorless pursuit.
One of my students showed me mebeam.com the other day while we were having technical difficulties with uStream. He knew exactly what we were trying to accomplish, create a backchannel for a debate we were waging on censorship. So, why was it that while each student made the most astute comments in the backchannel, they had to continuously make the most ridiculous faces into the webcams. Why is it that the most engaging use of technology has to be both academic and absurd. Well, because we are dealing with kids.
Every time I try to get abstract and theoretical in my EdTech theory, my kids always have a way to bring me back. I want to always remember that my students will use the technology in whatever way they see fit, and it is up to us to both learn from them and to teach them. Sometimes, we see education, and they see the entertainment. We meet in the middle as often as we can.
There are so many middles that I am trying to meet within on this blog. The middle of technology and pedagogy, the middle of theory and practice, the middle of conflicting stakeholders (parents vs. students vs. administration vs. school board vs. etc.), the middle of online and offline, and the middle of tradition vs. change.
I will try to manage these middles on this new blog. It won’t be the same as Discourse about Discourse, but I hope to take the best of what was there and hone in on the most important aspects, framing them into something palatable to a wider audience. Please let me know what you think about the change. Leave me a video or audio comment.
12.19.07
Core 1:
- Prepare-on:
- Arrange desks
- Talk about filter issues.
- Do any last minute preparation
- Host the debate.
- Judge’s Decision
- Extension: Reflect on your debate. Turn in Thursday.
Core 2:
- Write-on: Where are you at in your social action plan? What are your next steps?
- Talk about filter issues.
- What obstacles do you think might get in the way of your social actions? How will you combat them?
- Work on your Social Action Plan (one person at a computer):
- Describe problem
- Design data collection
- Describe process for collecting data
- Collect data
- Design Actions and how you think they will change things.
- Design reflection questions
- Reflect
- Conclude
- Extension: Continue your SAP work to turn in tomorrow.
Core 3:
- Share-on: Share your non-human representations with your peers. Explain your choices.
- Talk about filter issues.
- Activity: Create a 2 page comic based upon your representations of you and your friends/family upon a particular injustice that you have experienced or could experience. DO NOT rush through this. Think about the visual and textual aspects of the comic.
- How will you express your problem?
- How will you express the stereotypes of you and your friends/family?
- Extension: Finish your comic for tomorrow.
Core 4:
- Prepare-on:
- Arrange desks
- Talk about filter issues.
- Do any last minute preparation
- Host the debate.
- Judge’s Decision
- Extension: Reflect on your debate. Turn in Thursday.
12.18.07
Core 1:
- Prepare-on:
- Arrange desks
- Talk about uStream
- Do any last minute preparation
- Host the debate, Stream the Debate.
- Judge’s Decision
- Extension: Reflect on your debate. Turn in Thursday.
Core 2:
- Rectify-On: Go into your google docs and make sure that both of your Academy Authentics for this quarter are labeled as Academy Authentics (1 and 2)
- Learn about how our What elements are missing from our Social Action Plan?
-
- How will you reflect? What questions will you ask yourself?
- How will you capture the learning? How will you present it to others.
-
- Continue to work on your Social Action Plan for turning in your planning draft on Thursday.
- Extension:
- Continue to collect data and to plan out your actions.
Core 3:
- Blog-on: How do you make sense of a world that is capable of such atrocities? How do you keep on going in your life if you know that these things have occurred and continue to occur?
- Discuss the final frames:
- What is the significance of the pictures and the way that they are portrayed?
- How does Vladek assimilate back into “normal” life?
- How does Art seem to deal with the weight of his past?
- How much artistic license is Art allowed to take with the holocaust?
- What do you think is missing from Art’s depiction of his father’s story?
- Extension:
- How would you portray you and your friends/family as non-human entities? Why? (Draw or write or both)
Core 4:
- Prepare-on:
- Arrange desks
- Talk about uStream
- Do any last minute preparation
- Host the debate, Stream the Debate.
- Judge’s Decision
- Extension: Reflect on your debate. Turn in Thursday.
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Two New Documents
October 26, 2007 09:17PM
I have been working on a couple new documents that make sense for the development of pedagogy and the future of education. You can find the links to them at the k12online conference: http://k12online.wm.edu/AuthenticLearning.pdf http://k12online.wm.edu/101Resources.pdf
A New Possibility
October 26, 2007 09:04PM
This new possibility (which is now kind of old) is a total reversal of some of the things that I have consistently talked about and advocated for. This only comes about because of a great contact I have made with the principal of our online school (eDCSD). The possibility is this: Starting from a place of amazing technology and bringing in education rather than starting from a traditional school and trying to shove technology into it. What do you think about it
The Act of Creation
September 24, 2007 04:17AM
Sometimes we get so caught up in creating the system and the environment for learning that we forget about the most important element of that environment: creation. The singular act of creation is not something to be glazed over; it is the backbone of all that we do, and sometimes we need people to remind us of this.
Articulating Vision
September 13, 2007 02:10PM
I am now convinced that the only way to create widespread change within our schools is to articulate a singular vision for the future of education. I don’t know if I am the person to articulate that vision yet, but I am working toward it.
Beginning the year, systematically.
September 13, 2007 01:59PM
This podcast is all about how I am starting my year. I would love to know how you are starting your year and how we can collaborate (share) any of the resources and systems that we have set up. Send me an e-mail at benwilkoff@gmail.com
Choices, Choices…
September 13, 2007 01:32PM
This is the first podcast in over a month because I needed to upgrade for more storage space. It is not an enhanced podcast, but I’m sure it will be illuminating nonetheless. I was trying to figure out which content management system to use for The Academy of Discovery. I am still not sure if I picked the best one, but I am pretty confident that we are doing some great things. Check it out at http://academyofdiscovery.com.
I vs. We
July 31, 2007 08:09PM
I don’t know when it happened, but I have started using the word “we” in my podcast and blog when I would normally use the word “I.” I believe that it is due to my increased awareness and involvement of the community that I have surrounded myself with. I also think that many more of “us” should start using “we” when “we” write and speak. It makes me feel like I am a part of something, that “we” are going in a particular direction. I want “us” to be aware of how amazing “our” community can become, so long as we don’t fall into some of the pitfalls that I describe in the podcast. Let me know what you think of this idea at benwilkoff@gmail.com.
The image for this podcast is by http://flickr.com/photos/factoids/. I think it is amazing.
- 00:00:00: Intro to I vs. We
Podcast Blog - 00:02:00: Shoutout to Geeked!
Geeked! Podcast - 00:02:59: The Difference between I and We
Image Attribution - 00:04:51: I have a community!
Edubloggerworld, my community? - 00:07:28: The Coallition of We
Support Blogging - 00:08:12: Chris Lehmann’s Addition
Humility - 00:08:47: The Moment of Switch-Over
- 00:10:54: The 1:1 We connection
Ripe Environment: Connection - 00:14:02: Conclusion to I vs. We
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