Learning is Change

Classroom of Distinction: Tools vs. Learning

 ,

Last Week, I was at the Intel Classroom of Distinction Interactive Forum. Technically this was a technology conference about the future of education, but I have learned much more about 21st century learning by listening to NECC, TIE, SXSW, and many others on my iPod.

I have been hearing from so many educators (Wesley Fryer, Steve Dembo, Paul Allison, David Warlick, and others) that all of the learning comes from the conversations, not the sessions. They are absolutely right. In the hallways we were talking about pedagogy and authentic learning with people who have a vision for education, but in the presentation rooms, we only discussed a well formatted agenda for specific (always proprietary) tools.

After going through all of the motions of this day, I have decided that gadget wonks are of no value to me. Although I see that they are disconnected from the classroom, that isn’t what bothers me. Many people who aren’t in the classroom have great ideas for the future of education. What bothers me is that they have can’t see the entire vision. They can’t see the affect of reflective practice, of piecing together the scattered collaborators into a movement.

The entire vision for School 2.0 is of desperate importance. It is the only way that the learning environment will change. Gadgets do not create change, people create change.

If I really believe that, I need to stop asking myself how I can get more gadgets into the classroom. What I really need to start asking is how I can get more people into the classroom, through collaboration.

I want to cram as many people into my classroom as possible. I want parents, students (both mine and others’), teachers, community members, and anyone else who has something of value to feel as though they are a part of my learning environment. They should not feel like a foreigner in my learning environment. But, how do we do this? How do we start to bring in all of the rich voices from the outside world without the dependence upon gadgets and proprietary methods? How do we stop teaching for tools themselves and start teaching for learning?

It may sound like I am making a semantic distinction, but I feel, especially after spending an entire day at an extended sales pitch, that our students will never transfer learning if they believe that they can only do it on one tool, or in one classroom. We need them to know that learning happens everywhere with every person they know in a key role. The only way that they will learn is if the people they are connected to learn with them.

Digital Ex-Patriots and The Formula for Transparency

itunes pic
Well, I may be going out on a limb with this one, but I have described in the podcast a level of discomfort with technology that goes beyond the simple immigrant/native debate. The fear and panic that is associated with technology in the classroom comes from Digital Ex-Patriots. These people (parents, teachers, administrators, etc.) are so sure of their anti-technology stance that they are actively pursuing a life (of education) away from technology integration. These are the people that we must win over if we are going to continue our collaborative efforts and truly create change. Please let me know what you think about this concept in the comments or in an e-mail (benjamin.wilkoff@dcsdk12.org)




Show Notes:

05.14.07

Core 1:

  1. What can I help you with in order to get your Utopia finished?
  2. Work on your Utopias with a specific goal in mind.

Core 2:

  1. After the end: The Belief Files, Discussion and Movement.
  2. Work on your -Isms with a specific goal in mind.

Core 3:

  1. Our First International Hit!
  2. What is the My Meaning question that has gotten you to think the most so far? Why?
  3. Work on your Meaning, knowing that you will finish at least one section today.

Core 4:

  1. This Week: Revision of utopias.
    •  Imagery
    • Writer’s Intention vs. Reader’s Impression
    • A few case study volunteers
  2. Work on your Utopia through revision and new writing. If you are finished, please come see me for the next steps.

What Happens Next Year?

itunes pic
I am very worried about what is going to happen to my students when they leave me at the end of this school year. Not because I think that they won’t be able to handle to rigors of high school life, but rather because I think that they won’t be able to handle going back to a traditional classroom. I wonder what the transition will be like when they know that collaborative tools exist, but they aren’t allowed to use them for school. Will they revolt? Will they create change? Or, will they just take it as another in a long string of disappointments from their learning institutions.



05.11.07

Cores 1-4:

  1. You’re Famous, again.

Core 1:

  1. Work on your Utopias for a specific purpose as a substitute Tech Tuesday. I will come around and conference with you to check on your progress.
  2. Take a second look at The Persuaders.

Core 2:

  1. Reflect upon MAP data: Justify your MAP score based upon what you did/learned this year or based upon the test itself.
  2. Work on your -Isms for a specific purpose.

Core 3:

  1. Check out some My Meaning goings on.
  2. Work on your Meaning with a specific purpose.

Core 4:

  1.  Reflect upon MAP data: Justify your MAP score based upon what you did/learned this year or based upon the test itself.
  2. Work on your Utopia for a specific purpose.

05.10.07

Cores 1-4:

  1. Explore Safety vs. Panic

Core 1:

  1. Plan A: Work on your Utopias for a specific purpose as a substitute Tech Tuesday. I will come around and conference with you to check on your progress.
  2. Plan B: Watch The Persuaders and compare/contrast the tactics of advertising to the propaganda of Animal.

Core 2:

  1. We will go over MAP results tomorrow, but thank you for trying as hard as you did on the test even thought you can smell summer vacation coming.
  2. Analyze the following Movement page excerpt:

What my ism represents.
My ism is who I am, and how I live my life. I based my beliefs on my personal experiences and encounters. All of my core beliefs are the cores of myself, because I am my beliefs. Without them I would be nothing more than a face that stood for another number in the population. My ism stands for the right to think for yourself intuitively, and knowing your place in society. Andrewism is structure. It is all about the game of life, and how to win it.

When contemplating how I would transform my ism into an official movement, I came to realize that the only way to do that would be to let people know what it’s all about. I have to get my ideas out to the rest of the public through some means of communication. The act of expanding into new minds I thought was so much like the advertisement, and as hard as I thought about it, I couldn’t think of any other ways to do it except advertise. I have to showcase my ism so that people will learn about it, and become interested in believing the same things I believe. That is the thing that creates a movement, advertisement. Beliefs are no different than products when it comes down to the very concept. How are you going to sell your ism? That to me is what everything is. Controlling the populations interests into a profitable form. But in this case there is no profit, just dedication. You are now just trying to make people dedicated to believing in what you think is best for the world.!
Is that really what a movement is? I think that is so shallow, because all we are doing with this project is really trying to do what millions of people do every day, which is sell. I believe that beliefs should be self centered, because they are what you are. Why do you want to make more copies of your thought in other people’s minds? Original thought is perfect, and letting it out to be transformed is suicide for something so good.

So what am I trying to say in this long paragraph? I want to let everyone know that I don’t want them to have the same thoughts as me by believing what I believe. I have no expectations for growing my ism into anything more than this wikispace, and I am fine with the knowledge that nobody will ever stand for the same thing that I stand for, because I don’t want to advertise my ism. I just think that framing your beliefs so they look more applicable to the minds of the public is shallow, and cheap. But it is the only way. If people want to come and look at my ism specifically thats fine, but I’m not going to try and make them believe it. They can make that decision by themselves. Believing something shouldn’t be based off of a commercial or advertisement. Rather, beliefs should be found by an individual and without any persuasion, decided upon with serious consideration for all that follows.

  • Is this more or less persuasive than an “advertisement” would be?
  • What is the difference between advertising a belief and a product?
  • Do you advertise for your beliefs every day?

Work on your -Ism for a specific purpose, and don’t forget your movement page.

Core 3:

  1. Listen to the first Meaningful Gcast Interview.
  2. How are you answering the questions that is meaningful to you?
  3. Work on your Meaning with a specific goal in mind.

Core 4:

  1. We will go over MAP results tomorrow, but thank you for trying as hard as you did on the test even thought you can smell summer vacation coming.
  2. What are real life failed Utopias? Why did they fail?
  3. Work on your Utopia for a specific purpose (not failing as a perfect vision of society).

Safety vs. Panic

For over a month, my students have engaged in working on a few different wiki projects (Utopias, –Isms, and Book Discussions), but the excitement climaxed when they started collaborating with a group of 8th graders from Wallingford, CT. The students started to create their own spaces to talk about the issues that were close to them as well as some issues related to the projects that they were collaborating on. Daily, I would have students come up to me and tell me about a conversation that they were having with a middle schooler on the other side of the continent. This, needless to say, was unassailably cool.

Last night, though, every student from Wallingford was removed from the spaces that they formerly had called home. The following were the reasons given for this total reversal of technology integration and collaboration:

A parent has complained about wiki and even contacted the State General Attoney to see if it violates anything. Her grievances about the wiki were the following:

1-there were three personal pictures — all on the map of the home page
2-some kids used their real names on pages or as a username
3-in my post on icon I identified that where I live and that I teach at a “blue collar school”
4-I had pictures of the school and the rooms which could provide a blueprint for a killer
5-some kids put personal descriptors “I am five feet tall with brown hair named Sam”
6-on my “lesson plan blog’ One thing i wrote down last Thursday was something like “Myspace words of Wisdom” which she interpreted as me telling the kids about how they should join. I actually had a heart to heart talk with the kids about what they were including and the problem with the public sites. We just had two students in CT have full scholarships revoked after the University saw their MySpaces.
The other part of this is that the school system looks down upon “outside” websites run by teachers.
So because the attorney general is now possibly involved, that implies risk to a minor, and that’s frankly not something I am going to play around with.

The question I kept thinking about after reading this e-mail is, “Who failed?” Was it the teacher who didn’t set up enough rules and guidelines for the students that were written down? Was it the parent who failed to work with the teacher and understand the nature of the collaboration? Or, was it the students who couldn’t grasp the public nature of the internet?

Because of one or a combination of these factors, these students are being shut out of an avenue for self expression and learning. What can we do so that this doesn’t happen to us?

05.09.07

Core 1:

  1. Write-On: What do you think that the little pigs are learning from napoleon? Do you think that education can be dangerous?
  2. Finish Animal Farm and look for what Animalism transforms into.
  3. Work on your Utopia for a specific purpose.

Core 2:

  1. Go to room 105 for MAP testing and bring an AR book.

Core 3:

  1. Tutorial on embedding spresent and other interactive items.
  2. Reflect upon Meaning Statements
  3. Work on your Meaning for specific purposes.

Core 4:

  1. Go to room 105 for MAP testing and bring an AR book.

05.08.07

Cores 1-4:

We have used the Weekly Authentic model of writing throughout this year based upon the assumption that one paragraph of authentic writing would be enough of a challenge for most of you every week, but ever since we started working on wikis, you have started writing paragraphs, answering questions, and posting discussions as if it were nothing. You are writing more now than at any other time this year (and we only have 3 and half weeks left)!

With that in mind, I have decided that merely telling me that you have done an authentic paragraph on delicious isn’t very descriptive. At this point, it makes me look like the gatekeeper, giving you a step that isn’t really related to your project. So, instead, what I would like you to do is to put a discussion post on the newly created Progress page telling me (and everyone else) what you have gotten done (this week, or in the entire project) and what your next couple of steps are. This will allow others to benefit from all of the things you have done, and start conversations with people who are struggling with the same things.This page can also be used to discuss elements of the project and get ideas. Each of you must post at least once this week and once next week. This will take the place of your Weekly Authentic grade, but each of the weeks 7-15 still apply to this quarter, so make sure you have a blog post or edit on delicious for those weeks.

Now, if you choose to blog on Tuesdays (or throughout the week), which I highly recommend as a way of getting out “non-project” ideas, you can submit those to delicious for weeks that you forgot about, or you can continue to submit them without week tags so that others can read all of the amazing writing you are doing.

  1.  Work on your Wikis with a specific goal.
  2. Follow the directions on the Progress page in order to get credit for your Weekly Authentic grade this week.

05.07.07

Core 1:

  1. Discuss-On: Who is in charge of keeping a vision (animalism) intact throughout the implementation of the vision?
  2. Read the rest of the Chapter and look for signs of the perversion of animalism.
  3. Work on Utopias for a specific purpose.

Core 2:

  1. Discuss-On: How do you question someone’s beliefs without coming off sounding like a jerk?
  2.  Brainstorm discussion questions for -Isms.
  3. Ask at least three deep discussion questions, and follow up with at least one this week.
  4. Work on your -Ism for a specific purpose.

Core 3:

  1. Exploring the possibilities of My Meaning.
  2. Avoiding Easy Answers to Complex Questions.
    1. Expectations
    2. Enchancements
  3. Work on your Meaning with specific purpose.

Core 4:

  1. The beginnings of Wallingford’s Utopias.
  2. What advice would you give to the Wallingford kids upon starting their utopias.
    • Put your suggestions on their discussion page.
  3. Work on your Utopia for specific goals.