Why anyone decided that it would be best to teach kids to learn subjects in isolation is beyond me. When my oldest daughter was a freshman in high school, her freshman history teacher told me at parent/teacher conferences that he was amazed at how well my daughter was able to make connections. He explained that, when they discussed a certain topic in class, she was able to quickly draw an example from a seemingly unrelated event and make comparisons. He said that the majority of freshmen in his classes were nowhere near to having that ability.

This is the same child that struggled miserably on standardized tests, yet still did very well in school. Would you be surprised, however, to learn that she is very gifted in music and has been surrounded by music and  musicians her entire life? When she was in Kindergarten, she came home singing the Queen of the Night’s Aria from Mozart’s The Magic Flute.  She then explained the entire plot to me, from her 5 year old perspective and then told me how much it was like a story she had read about people falling in love. What??? And she was actually spot on.

Okay, so this post didn’t start out to be a synopsis of how brilliant my child is. She is brilliant, but that’s another story. (ahem, proud mom)

I don’t think it’s any coincidence that she is able to make connections so easily. She was introduced to the piano literally days after birth. As a toddler, she sang along with the voice students who used to come to our home on Saturday mornings. We played every type of music for her- classical, pop, jazz, country, rock. She began dancing at the age of 3. To say that music was a huge part of her life would be a gigantic understatement. We talked all the time about music – what the music was about, where it came from, etc. I could cite research about how music helps brains to for connections, but that’s really not where I’m going with this.

Back to the classroom examples: in my classes, if we learn a new song, we learn about the song’s origins. Where did it come from? What language is this? How do we sing it in this language? Why was it written? What is the subject? If it’s about butterflies, let’s talk about the life cycle of butterflies. Can we find someone to Skype with us about this song? Let’s write our OWN song about butterflies. What should that sound like? Through the music, we can see that LEARNING isn’t reserved for those topics listed in the syllabus or title of the class.

In my classroom, I have the luxury of no state testing for which to prepare my students. We don’t have to practice for tests. We get to spend more time learning about our world and how connected we really are. When you give children the tools to help them see connections for the first time, they get better and better in making connections on their own. They realize we are not the only ones on this planet– and though we have differences, we also have a lot in common with other people around the world. Our music might be different-sounding than the music in Ghana or Tibet or Indonesia or Iceland… but it’s still music. It is still created by people about themselves and their surroundings.

My job is to teach children to LEARN. The fact that I do that job in a music classroom is secondary to that at all times. And yes… I am lucky that I have the opportunity to use music as the tool to make those connections.

I’m fairly certain the majority of the attendees today will leave feeling that they have 1) learned something new, 2) reinforced a previously held philosophy, and 3) thought of a different way to teach when they return to school. I know I have already, and I’m only just now sitting in session 2 of 6.

This is great professional development. How are you facilitating opportunities like this for your school?

After I read Deven’s post, I thought about the children in my classroom. I teach Kindergarten through 5th grade music. I try to ask as many open-ended questions as possible to help my students really think. Sometimes, it’s successful… but mostly, it’s the same kids raising their hands every day.

For a while, I countered with, “I need to see some new hands,” and encouraging smiles at those who did not raise their hands. Sometimes, that worked, but mostly I still have those eager ones who always want to try.

From Deven’s ideas, I decided to have a quick time-out with all of my classes… even Kindergarten. I asked them what was more important: answering correctly or learning from our mistakes. We talked about how our brains learn, and that when we work together and learn from mistakes, we all learn better. I asked them if it was embarrassing to answer a question with the wrong answer. Some of the kids said they were afraid the others in their class would think they were stupid. We all agreed that we can help each other learn by understanding some of us know a few things that others don’t. Wouldn’t it be great if we all shared that knowledge together? We could help each other be smarter!

Wow. What a surprise I had the next day. I thought that, since they all had enthusiastically agreed about our new learning plan, things would be better. Nope. That’s when I thought about the Four Word Education Plan: “I’m not sure, but…”

We took another brief time-out. I modeled how to answer a question with those four words. I asked for other examples from the kids: “What else could we say when we answer a question?” Some proposed, “This is just a guess, but I THINK…”

Glory, Hallelujah! They are thinking. Not just answering easy, rote-learned answers, but thinking!

We talked about how guessing, especially guesses that take into account what we have already learned and what we haven’t yet learned, are GOOD! Without guessing, inventors wouldn’t invent anything. Discoveries would never be discovered.

I still had a few holdouts. There are some of my kids who like to stay tuned out and let others in the class answer all the questions. So I added one more component to my learning plan: “Please raise your hand before answering, but I might call on you even if your hand isn’t raised.”  Guess who likes using the “I’m not sure, but…” option the most?

[Photo credit]
Image by Kevin Dooley under Creative Commons license. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pagedooley/ / CC BY 2.0

Umm… hello? Now kids are “the enemy???” Sylvia calls foul, and so do I.

The longer I’m in education, the more I start to worry about what we’re doing to our kids…. and what we’re doing to our teachers. We’re living in an era of assuming the worst from everyone. In my experience, people give you what you expect them to give you. Kids are no different.

If you haven’t read Engage Me or Enrage Me by Marc Prensky, you should. The article discusses an atmosphere of mutual disrespect between adults and kids. We don’t value what they value and vice versa. That’s how it’s been forever, right? Generation gaps and all that… but I think we’re missing something bigger here.

What if we trusted our students to do the right thing? What if we gave them the rules without any threats, and then empowered them to make choices?

What if we trusted our teachers to be professionals? To make good decisions about what would help a student learn better? To come to work on time and leave when they need to leave. To grow professionally in a manner that is best suited to their own individual learning styles, content areas, and needs.

Will some people disappoint us? Yes. Of course. We’re realistic. I contend, however, that most won’t.

As a learner, I feel empowered in a culture where I am trusted. There is no one standing over my shoulder to ensure I do the work I’m expected to do, because they know I’ll do the work. In fact, it’s insulting to me that anyone would assume I would do less than my best. I’m motivated most when I have choices, guidance, clear expectations, and am trusted to do what I’m asked.

On the other side of that type of culture- put me in a cage, give me a set of restrictive rules,  tell me not to do the wrong thing and then stand there to ensure I don’t– I’m probably going to screw up. It’s insulting, degrading, and not a great learning environment.

Which of those two cultures most resembles school?

I choose to trust my students. Today, we started a blogging exercise. The kids are 5th graders who have not blogged before, so we began with small steps. On my class blog, I wrote a post. They were asked to read the post, and then answer some questions in their comments. The comments should include their opinions. I’m finding 5th graders are not often asked for their opinions, so this is sometimes tough for them!

My  directions before they began were:

1. Read the blog post.
2. Think about the questions.
3. Answer the questions in your comments.
4. When you are finished, read the other comments. If you want to respond to someone else’s comment, please do so.
5. Be responsible and respectful in your comments.

That was it. At first, they looked at me and asked, “Then what?” I said that was all, and that they could start working. If they needed my help, they could flip up the Help card on their computers- otherwise, they were on their own.

One student asked me if he was going to get into trouble if he checked his email during this exercise. I said no, because I knew he was going to work hard on his answers and leave a great response in the comment.

You know what? I received some really great responses from that exercise. The kids were honest, and every single one of them finished the activity without me standing over them to ensure it was done.

That’s a TINY example of trusting kids to do the right thing. I intend to walk into the classroom every day and assume the best will happen.

I’m going to build a culture of trust with my students. What about you?

I’ve been doing a lot of research with colleagues in the last few months in the realm of public school district policies, especially pertaining to internet, web 2.0, social media, filtering, etc.

What we’ve found is many schools who have vague language in their policies, and who rely on either a person or a committee to make decisions on a case by case basis. I can’t imagine that this protocol would be immediately responsive, as I’m sure the individuals or committees have other job responsibilities.

We’ve also found quite a few districts that insist upon the strictest control possible. In many cases, the justification is “we need to protect the students and/or staff from themselves.”

Internet safety education is federally mandated in all schools, but even those guidelines and requirements are somewhat vague.

I think it’s fairly obvious where I stand (if you’ve read any of my previous posts on the subject). I’m very much in favor of educating the masses about productive use of web tools, as well as discussing the inherent risks and learning about productive and responsible online behaviors. Personally, I think “control” is an illusion- and locking students and staff away from everything at school teaches them nothing when they leave those school boundaries.

However…

• where can schools draw the lines without making those lines too fuzzy?
• how does one decide if a “tool” is truly too risky for students to use within the school setting?
• if something “bad” happens as a result of using a specific web tool, what are the legal ramifications?

What are your thoughts?

1. How do your schools manage these issues?
2. Who makes those decisions?
3. When was the last time your policies were re-written to reflect the changing nature of what kids do and learn online?
4. Do you have an AUP that works well for staff and students? Why or why not?

I’m hoping for a lot of responses here, as I think it would be helpful to us all!

Also, if you haven’t seen this wiki started by educators in Missouri, take a look!
http://socialmediaguidelines.pbworks.com/

No longer can we focus merely on what our kids KNOW. We need to focus on what they know HOW TO DO. Those are two very different things in my book, yet most of our assessment and measurement tools only gauge the knowledge piece. Knowledge (minus skills) isn’t very useful to anyone, except the occasional game show winner.

I know a small business owner who is struggling with finding quality employees. When they interview with him, they seem like they understand the business very well. They are ‘equipped’ to answer all the right questions, and they can demonstrate what they already know very easily.

Yet, when left on their own, these same “highly qualified/knowledgeable” employees can’t take the initiative to do any work that wasn’t on the task list they were given. Troubleshooting is easy for them, but ONLY when it matches experiences they have already had. Anything new or different is completely beyond their capabilities. Plus, for those situations that have more than one right answer… I’ve seen some employees literally wring their hands in despair when there is more than one correct answer to a problem.

This is how they were taught in school:

1. Do only the tasks I’ve set before you.
2. Solve this problem, but use the exact method I’ve taught you.
3. Circle the RIGHT answer (A, B, C, or D).

I don’t think everyone out in the workforce is like this, but employers are all seeing a trend… and for once, I’m truly seeing it firsthand and not simply hearing about it. This is the same trend we all discuss in our education circles about where is education going, are we preparing students for their world or ours, etc. What are we doing about it, though??

When we focus on giving kids answers, all they will be able to do is regurgitate those same answers back to us.

IF we could focus our efforts on allowing kids to FIND their own answers…

Imagine how much more they would learn!

Imagine how much more engaged they could be!

Imagine how many answers might be out there that we didn’t even know were there!

I know more than a few employers who would be very happy to have some independent and critical thinkers who could problem-solve with little to no guidance. And really, isn’t that we want for all our students?

¹ malavoda. “Missed the target.” malavoda’s photostream. 28 March 2008. 25 March 2009. http://www.flickr.com/photos/malavoda/2369876508/

When people ask questions about what kind of technology to include in today’s classrooms, there will be the issues of cost, space, practicality, feasibility, and (hopefully) most importantly- LEARNING capabilities to consider. But if I could choose anything to have in my classroom, I would jump at the chance to have a classroom set of the iTouch (perhaps 30 of them).

The inevitable response usually goes something like this: “Why would you spend that much money on an iTouch when you could have a laptop for just a little more money?”

And here’s the response I left as a comment on Scott’s blog today (with a few minor revisions for clarity):

Adults see cost and then think that they could have a laptop for that same amount of money. Kids see the iTouch (and other similar handhelds) as a more convenient “laptop” without all the bulk.

If I need to sit down and hammer out a 25 page paper, I want a laptop. If I want to look up an answer on a webpage, download a small application that will enhance my learning, view a map, listen to a podcast or music, play the piano/guitar/drums electronically AND record my composition, play a learning game… you name it: I want a handheld device.

WHY? A few quick answers in no particular order:
1. Battery life is better, lasts longer (long-term), and charges more quickly.
2. More options for applications than on laptops… OS is not as big an obstacle as a laptop OS (think about the time and energy spent on field-testing applications on school computers for compatibility with the OS).
3. iTouch vs. iPhone- removes the “should students have access to cell phones in school” debate. No calls coming in or out, but many of the same apps available.
4. Storage for classroom sets of handhelds is a cinch, compared to laptops.
5. Collaboration with these tools is more easily facilitated than trying to organize a bunch of kids with laptops, especially where space is an issue. Plus, laptops are heavy for smaller kids.
6. Handhelds are more kid-friendly where accidents are concerned. If I drop my iTouch, chances are it’s not going to break. I can buy a cheap protective ‘case’ for it that still allows me to see and touch the screen. If I drop my laptop, there goes $500-800. I can’t use my laptop when it’s in its protective case.

I’m sure there are concerns with smaller devices, such as the fact they’re easier to steal; but I think the benefits/positives far outweigh the negatives.

Tony Vincent has been singing the praises of handhelds in the classroom for years. I was able to see first-hand what he did in the classroom with handhelds: how engaged the students were, the LEARNING opportunities students had in the palms of their hands, etc.

So, what’s your opinion?

noun

1. a phrase that attracts or is meant to attract attention.

2. a phrase, as a slogan, that comes to be widely and repeatedly used, often with little of the original meaning remaining.

“21st Century” has become the latest catchphrase in education. Sadly.

I’ve attended numerous sessions, classes, discussions– you name it– about “21st Century” learners, skills, education, workplace, etc. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has a set of definitions, as well as guidelines and resources. If you haven’t already read through that set of resources, you should. I think many others, however, are simply bandying about a term and then bending to fit their agenda. These ‘others’ range from educational leaders to politicians to business owners…

Where does that lead the rest of us?

Random 21st Century Learning Wordle from Wordle.net

Alfie Kohn posted a great proposal about this very subject.

If you agreed 100% with his proposal- we have a problem- but I’m sure you recognized the satire in his ‘voice.’ Whether or not you agree with Kohn’s sometimes controversial beliefs, I think he makes a point here that people get caught up in catchphrases. I see bandwagon jumping all the time with different educational trends. So, again, where does this lead the rest of us??

It’s important to truly understand what kids need in order to be successful in a very different world than the one we knew at their age. Mostly, they need to be able to adapt, to learn how to learn.

Alvin Toffler said:

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

I use that quote OFTEN, because that is what 21st century learning means to me.

Instead of assigning a label to teaching and learning- and then simultaneously changing that label to meet our own agendas- why don’t we look at what is truly necessary for kids to be successful in their world. And when will we learn that it doesn’t look like what we’re doing now?

So… what does 21st century learning mean to you? Is it simply a catchphrase to add one more thing to what we’re already doing? or are you thinking educational reform because of the conversations around “21st century skills” that all kids need?

BTW, I really would be disappointed if the US (or anyone else for that matter) found a way to assess creativity, problem-solving, critical thinking, innovation- through standardized methods. It would make it easier to compare our kids, though, right? Because all kids are apples.

End of soap box time. Thanks for listening.

¹catchphrase. (n.d.) Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved February 03, 2009, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/catchphrase

How are you helping your kids/students make those global connections?

¹ shareski. “Sidelines.” shareski’s photostream. 27 Jan 2009. 28 Jan 2009. http://flickr.com/photos/shareski/3232419059 .

original image:
http://flickr.com/photos/mrhappy8/2394783925/

Why is this such an issue? Are the copyright cops everywhere, or are kids just being raised without regard for other people’s property?

I think it’s neither.

I think digital kids live in a collaborative environment. They are used to sharing their ideas. That’s status quo for them.

• Look at their online creations. If they think of something they consider interesting and unique, they share it with the world. If they want to rant about something, they share that rant with the world. When they write their own music, stories, pictures… you name it. They SHARE.
• Watch them play a game online. When they get stuck on a particular level, they hit the web to find a network who will share hints or solutions with them.

Most non-digital people want to keep their ideas to themselves, and will only distribute them to others when PAID for their ideas.

Don’t get me wrong… there are some instances in life when you should be paid for your ideas… AND kids need to learn about boundaries. But think about the learning, the creativity, the innovation that could be available to EVERYONE if we were all more willing to share.

Not convinced? Go do a search for “open source.”

What will the open source concept mean for other industries?

And what will digital kids want in their lifetime?

What are your thoughts?