Learning is Change

Kristen Swanson models reflection better than almost anyone else I know.

I find myself trying to rationalize this journey all of the time. But, it isn’t that I need a better answer to why I engage in community the way that I do, but rather it is that I need a better answer to why I need the community at all. 

I think we might need to admit that we NEED the journey because we aren’t satisfied with sitting still. We need the community because those constantly around us aren’t capable of pushing us in the ways that those outside of our immediate sphere of influence can. It isn’t that we can’t be satisfied with family and our “day jobs”. Instead, it is that our family and those around us are enriched by the journey and the larger community. 

It is hard when others can’t see this, but I always come back to the most common question I get whenever I speak about something in which I am passionate: “How do you know all this stuff?” The only answer to that question is by writing and connecting on my blog or reaching out to others and responding to what they have to say. We are pursuing mastery because that is the process of learning. It is all that we know how to do. The moment we stop learning is the moment we become irrelevant. 

Teachers as Technology Trailblazers: Drawing the Line Between Success and Mastery #ASCD15.

Setting goals for teachers is hard.

First, I think these goals are brilliant. In particular, I think these goals are some of the best that I have seen for PD:

1. What is possible to do with technology that could not be done without it

2. Understand that learner questions and questioning are at the heart of learning

3. Know what it “looks like’ when students are using technology in transformative ways

The ones that I struggle with are when you get into jargon like “voice and choice” or “21st Century Skills”. I struggle with putting goals in front of folks that do not communicate the specific outcomes you are looking because the terms get in the way. With that said, I think you mostly have described a session/initiative that I would very much like to attend. The only things I would add would be about how students become a community of learners or how they can capture their learning and reflect upon within a process of inquiry and through a portfolio.

via Innovations in Education – Backwards Planning Professional Development for 1:1.

This metaphor is wonderful for creating a relevant educator. I just wonder if we need to keep on recommending tools or if we can recommend ideas and approaches that are supported by tools.

Your metaphor for relevance in the classroom is wonderful. While most of my salads have fewer ingredients than what you recommend, I think the point still widely holds. Walking in to a classroom where the educator has carefully considered how she is modeling life-long learning is delicious.

I do wonder, though, on your/our reliance on “name brand” items to put into our relevancy salad. By mentioning Twitter or YouTube, do we discount any social network or video service that isn’t those? What if we recommended the idea rather than the product. Say, “creating lasting connections with others online” or “using video for reflective practice”. Could those be like the amazing olives that we get at the olive bar of our grocery store that have no name brands attached to them?

More than anything, I want the classroom (and the teacher) to never be dependent upon a single device or product for its learning. There are just too many opportunities for exploration and change to limit a learning salad to Newman’s Own dressing or Chiquita Bananas.

Nocking The Arrow: A Relevance Recipe For Educators.