The Living and the Dead
Sometimes stark contrasts just fall into your path. In one meeting today, a faculty member wanted to know more about why class participation is important and how to grade it. We had a delightful conversation, unpacking what we mean by “class participation” and I got to pull out stuff about constructivist theories of knowledge, and what piece conversation plays in learning vs. what part reading plays vs. what part lab time and experiential learning play, etc. We discussed formative and summative assessment, and also what her content is about and Bloom’s Taxonomy and how you can apply it to all content areas… We were both so engaged, and she was writing furiously and coming up with ideas for her class that she was quite excited about. She had new frameworks to work within to help her and her students be more satisfied. Ahhhh. That is a good day for me.
But then, I went to meet with an older professor turned partial administrator on a non-teaching matter. When asked what I do in my new job, I explained that a big part of it is working with faculty to make community-based learning truly integrated in courses, and to look at their learning objectives and match them with community partners, to design assignments so the students are reflecting and bringing the experience into the class in ways that encourage rigourous application of the course content, and assessment, and… He stopped me there. “Are you working with the Institutional Effectiveness people? Because I know we have to do all that for SACs but I have to tell you I think it is all crap.” I tried to say that phd’s are experts in their fields, but when do they ever get to learn about how people learn in a classroom? “We have faculty mentors,” he said. I refrained from making a blind-leading-the blind comment.
How insulted would someone be if I stepped in to a, say, psychology classroom and said “I know all about this human brain stuff. I have one myself and have been using it for 40 years!” I do not dispute that there are some people who have a natural knack for teaching. And I know that not everything that will make someone a successful teacher can be learned in an education class. Still–between those two extremes is a wide world of conversation and support and development and information. Some lucky people may have a great mentor. Most faculty I hear from don’t have very good mentors. More importantly, the first faculty member walked away energized and inspired (and so did I). The second one was going to do it the way he’s always done it, and all conversation was shut down.
My friend Val always says: go with the living. Don’t focus on those who don’t want what you have to offer (the dead); focus on and support those who DO want stimulation (the living). I am happy to report we have enough living faculty here to keep me busy for a long time. But what scares me is that we have some of the dead in positions of power. That scares me.
Laptop Study: the News is Good
Buried in the Times Dispatch today was an article on the study done of the Henrico “One to One” Initiative. Is it cynical to say that if the report had come back negative, the study would have been on page one? I’m too pleased to be cynical now, so disregard that…
My favorite quote is:
“Students say their teachers lecture less and walk around the room, interacting with students more. They also report more group projects and differentiated instruction. ”
It has taken years of hard work to get to this point, and it asked a lot of teachers to make these kinds of changes to their teaching strategies. To the school board and administration who did not fold to the pressures of a vocal minority: congratulations on your vindication. And thank you for giving my children the opportunity to stay engaged when the SOLs were driving them toward checking out…
It is about the students (and we are all students)
But we so often forget that we are all students. And that is why I loved this post at Students 2.0. The only thing I love more than a student is a cheeky, independent minded student who calls it as she sees it. So yeah–Where IS the student in “edupunk”? In fact, where is the student in the education “system” at all? And why don’t professors think of themselves as students? Why do I have to be such a good salesperson to get folks interested in changing up the classroom?
The thing is, I know Jim Groom, and I know that the work he is doing will eventually empower students IF professors get inspired. Right now, the tool of choice, Blackboard, is a classically patriarchal, instructor-centric tool. Instructors leave little knowledge nuggets there for students to find if they can. It isn’t now and has never been a tool useful for creating community in (and out of) my classroom. And learning communities are what it is all about. Jim’s work with the gang at UMW has given me the inspiration I needed to piece together my own tools for the classroom with blogs, wikis, etc. But most of my students have never blogged! For years now I have been waiting to see when that tide while change. But maybe it won’t. Now on my campus people are trying NING, which more closely resembles the student favorite, Facebook. It seems like just a tool change, but it isn’t. A group on the Ning lets you do fundamentally different things than Bboard does.
To tell the truth, I’m not in this to use the latest tools or make history as a cutting edge technology user. I’m in it to remind people of the importance of their own voice. I want students to know that, contrary to what the system has taught them thus far, they have within themselves stories that need telling and creations that need sharing and knowledge that needs pooling so it can contribute to progress. I see them every day pushing the boundaries of what we know about relationships and community on their phones. I see them editing Wikipedia. I see them making and sharing videos on YouTube. People like Jim are trying to say: Hey, we could do this classroom thing so differently! But I want to say “Who needs a classroom?”
fiction first
I have this theory: fiction paves the way for reality. Will we be able to thank Philip Pullman sometime soon for freeing us from the burden of passwords and ppin numbers? A pair of scientists say they can make it happen. Daemon credit cards or not, I want to thank him for writing such amazing stories.
Ed Ayers and Joe Hoyle Talk Shop
EEK! I just realized I never posted this link to the video of Hoyle and Ayers!
enjoy this video
Death of Education, Dawn of Learning
At our fabulous end of year lunch today, we were talking about the possible death of No Child Left Behind when the new administration is in office next year. While we all agreed that SOL’s have been a terrible travesty as they have focussed all education on testing, there was a pause when I announced what I see in the future: personalized learning for every student. Well, I used the language Individualized Education Plan which I think got us off on the wrong foot, raising fears of even more bureauocracy, but, really: with less fearful regulation surrounding them, don’t you feel every student deserves their own plan, fitted to their own learning style and needs??
Then I watched a video created in part by Pearson Education and heard internationally renowned educators saying the kinds of things I hoped to hear educators say: the old model doesn’t work in the new millenium. Take a look yourself, and see what you think.
Coming soon, I will be working with a group of professors to develop some new pre-orientation programs aimed at helping students with the intellectual transition from high school to college. As someone who teaches first year students, I am painfully aware that K-12 has not prepared them well for what I will be asking them to do: think independently, analyze, pursue an idea with passion, collaborate with others in their learning community, make mistakes and get messy! The plan of these “pre-o’s” is to give students a taste of what learning can be like once they are free of SOL’s and standardized testing. We’ll be using the materials from AAC&U’s LEAP project to do this, which ties success in the 21st century economy to the methods and golas of liberal arts education. It is a really exciting project. Stay tuned for results!
Drawing Pictures
This article struck a chord with me. Science educators are exploring an innovative way to help students learn: drawing. This is something I have been experimenting with too. Here is a picture my students came up with earlier this year when we were reading Nietzsche’s “On the Geneaology of Morals.” During the first 10 minutes of class, the small groups had to come up with something to say to the class. Depending on the work under discussion, I would change up their prompts, but one of their favorites remained: Come up with some kind of visual aid to explain today’s reading.
Students loved this job even though they found it challenging. It really forced them to grapple with ideas and synthesize them in new ways. I highly recommend this strategy. It can make even Marx a lot of fun : )
back to grading…
creativity and collaboration–LOEX 2008
I didn’t expect to get information that would be so important to me at this conference for library instruction since that is not my field. But Laurel Ofstein from the Depaul Center for Creativity and Innovation spoke as a keynote and helped me to see a model for a work environment that SO appeals to me!
We can and must CREATE a climate for creativity and collaboration. Here are the major elements the enviroment must provide:
Challenge and Involvement: meaningfulness vs. disengagement (all members part of goal setting…getting a variety of thinking styles in the group, also get all stakeholders)
Freedom: Autonomy vs. Strict Guidelines
Idea Time: slack vs. tightness (great ideas and breakthroughs happen in the bath, on the bus and in bed…) (composting time)
Idea Support (resources vs. Automatic “No”)
Low Degree of Conflict: tension is bad; climate of acceptance is good
Lots of Discussion: Participative vs. Authoritarion (**relaxed readiness–not jockeying, listening for a break to make a point. GOOD Listening skills are KEY)
Humor and Play (spontaneity vs. gravity) be glad to do things differently, experiment, play; not eyes on the prize with judgement and trying only to be “perfect”
Try this activity: assumption reversal
-write down the assumptions of your organization (eg: students need guidance from teachers) and reverse them (teachers need guidance from students OR students WANT guidance from teachers OR students do not need guidance from teachers)
another activity to try:
generate a problem/opportunity statement
–be broad, brief, beneficial
consider the outcomes: say this: “wouldn’t it be nice if…” write those statements on cards and read them out loud to the group. Discuss and brainstorm, look for themes, etc.
A couple of important points:
Negative statments discourage people from thinking of new solutions (”we don’t have the money,” etc.) ROADBLOCK!
instead: spend time imagining, defining the problem in different ways, BEFORE you jump to solution
A healthy environment will encourage “Risk Taking” and tolerance for uncertainty.
if everyone is coming to work every day scared to make a mistake, fearful, nothing good or innovative happens.
Here is a book she mentioned that I think might be helpful to us:
“Ideas are Free”
Cool session. who knew??
Of birds and blogs
That is a picture of the nest outside my window at home. I have become a bit obssessed with the bird family, watching the momma bird spread her wings to keep the rain off the eggs and snuggling down on them when it gets cold. But she abandons her job at the slightest movement, which is why I have such a good shot of those gorgeous blue eggs. Eggs don’t hatch without that warming, so I try not to disturb her too often.
I’m in Chicago right now at a conference for librarians. Olivia nd I are talking about a project we did with my students in which they had to use research blogs. (See our presentation wiki.) It seems to me that the old style “research logs” were somewhat helpful for students, but there wasn’t much opportunity for feedback. When they did get feedback, it was way past the time when the questions and doubts were happening. In a way, student researchers were on their own, incubating their thoughts on their own as best they could.
It seems so clear to me that blogs are the perfect solution. With Olivia and I monitoring their writing in their blogs, we got to jump in close to the time that students needed some advice or support. Sometimes it was enough just to tell them that what they thought was “failure” in their search was really just part of the messy process of research. Students also read each others’ blogs. We had this whole community of support! Those of us who blog know how great that kind of community can be. But I do think it is a little different from the blogging that I do; the students put their links out there along with their doubts, confusion and half formed thoughts. I used to do more “processing” like that in my blog (this the blog name) but I notice that I am not taking as many risks as I used to. Do we get self-conscious, wanting to write only well-formed ideas? The problem with that is that a great opportunity is lost: if I am not exposing my doubts and half formed ideas, I lose the chance to have others help, inspire, spark…
I dunno…just thinking out loud here…
Go 2.0!
NITLE alerted me to this article on a study showing how effective social networking tools are in getting information out. And this post over at the Common Carft Show tells me that May 1 is now “RSS Day”! (there is an organization promoting it who claims only 94% of internet users use RSS…could that be true??)
So I am doing my part.
