We will be reading Who Owns the Learning by Alan November for the 1st trimester
Welcome to the UNITE Book Club. Please post your thoughts as you read our current book.
Welcome to the UNITE Book Club. Please post your thoughts as you read our current book.
I just finished reading the introduction and the first chapter. This book is going to be a great resource for us as we help teachers enhance 21st century learning in the classrooms. The quote that jumped out at me the most was "Technology is used as a transformational tool to change the culture of teaching and learning"
ReplyDeleteJulie’s Reflections on Chapter 1 - The Digital Learning Farm
ReplyDeleteWhat strikes me is the focus on purpose rather than grades. Is this something that we can realistically change within the system we are working in. If standards based grading were universal, then this would be a much easier task. If Elementary does standards based and then middle school does grades, does that switch suck the life out of the assignments? While at work, creativity and making a difference can be highly valued (such as in our current job), in school the current way things are valued does is not congruent. How does such a major system change like this happen. How long realistically are we looking at? Will this be more likely to happen from the bottom up, or top down, or some combination of the two.
November argues that “Rather than diminishing the importance of teachers, this shift make their role even more critical in the educational process” (18). I think this is a major fear or assumption that technology will replace teachers. This might have something to do with the way some teachers are using it. If the only tech you are using is like Moby Max then I can see why this fear may exist. All of the practice, teaching and assessment is through one program. While this may be beneficial for practice, at some point the students are solely doing an online “worksheet.” Maybe if teachers had access to the tools that actually enhance their role, they would realize replacement is not an issue.
I am really interested in the role of students as tutorial designers (2). The tools for this have become much more widespread and easier to use. I would love to create a tutorial on creating tutorials that could be shared with staff and students. I was just thinking of how excited I was as a child to create a book that was eventually added into the public library. This is like that but on a much bigger scale.
Chapter 2 - The Student as Tutorial Designer
ReplyDeleteAs a big fan of tutorials, I definitely see the value in students creating them. When I go to make a tutorial, I need to know not only the tool or concept I am showing, but know it well enough to explain to someone else. Then when I begin the tutorial, I have to stop and start often because of errors. It only helps me to understand more.
The role of the teacher in this process if very important. Feedback on design, organization and editing is central to the process. It is a very different role than teaching the concept.
Students learning from peers may feel less threatened. They can also go at their own pace, stopping and starting as needed. When I created tech tutorials, the teachers appreciated that they could stop and repeat a direction that they did not understand. This cannot happen in a traditional classroom. While watching a tutorial, breaks can be taken as need and re-watching is incredibly easy.
Students are motivated to do their best work when it is published. Publishing these tutorials adds a whole new level of pride to their work.
Chapter 3 - The Student as Scribe
ReplyDeleteNote-taking is rarely an inspiring process. It falls in the category of “have to do.” Letting the students take control of this is a valuable exercise.
Giving the students the responsibility of taking notes and/or compiling the notes of others to be published adds a new collection of skills. Synthesizing information is an incredibly important and advanced skill that this process develops. Also having the responsibility to have the final say in what is important gives students a feeling of responsibility to the group as a whole. These are the notes that the other students will rely on for studying or as a reference for projects. As a student, I would not want to let the group down. For students that struggle, they see samples of high quality work and also have the teacher as a mentor in creating the best work possible.
Student voice versus teacher voice makes a difference. Students have their own way of explaining things and that can be much more powerful to other students than the teacher’s way of explaining. Teachers can learn from students which methods work best and that can have an effect on how they explain concepts.
As a student who rarely spoke up in class, I also rarely had the ability to show my understanding other than in an assignment or test. A program such as this where students are responsible for explaining a lesson or concept would have given me more opportunities to be engaged and contribute with the class. The story of David in this chapter (p. 42) makes me envious of the way the classroom was set up. The class literally did not know who he was until his contribution surprised people. The students in this chapter also shared their work with people around the world. Can you imagine a total stranger describe your work as “exemplary”? As a student, how would that make you feel? Even as an adult, this would help build your confidence. Or what if a student from another state or country commented that “I didn’t understand that concept until I read your post.” That could be life-changing.
The story of the student who revises his work long after the course is over (44) gives hope that students find this work to have purpose that does not end at the end of the class. Have you ever heard of a student taking a paper from the year before and making changes in it just for the sole purpose of making it better? That does not happen but with this model, it actually can. Digital assignments posted on a blog can remain there forever unlike a graded worksheet that quickly goes in the trash.
The value of a teacher demonstrating these skills through a person blog is displayed in several ways. First, it gives the teacher a way to show the kind of work they expect from students. Second, it can help them learn the content or methods even more because they have to know it well enough to describe it. Finally, it can help them improve their practice and the practice of others if they open it to a global audience. These are just a few of the ways it can be valuable. There are infinitely more possibilities.
Chapter 4 - The Student as Research
ReplyDeleteHow many times have you asked a student to “google it” when they ask a question? Yes, it is good for them to find the information for themselves but asking them to do this with no training on how to search is somewhat irresponsible. They may take whatever answer they get first as the truth when it can be completely false.
I, myself, could probably use a few more lessons on effective searching. When Alan presented this at a training I attended, I was blown away by country codes, usage rights, and Wolfram Alpha. Since then, I have relied on these skills more and more. It’s hard to remember a time when I didn’t have these tools in my toolbox now. I consider myself pretty well-versed in the basic google search, but now I know there is so much more out there. The fact that you can look back at a site and see all the previous versions of it with www.archive.org is pretty mindblowing. Yet another reason to teach digital citizenship. It really never does go away.
The role of the librarian is changing in a way that makes them absolutely integral to the research process. Instead of showing students how to use card catalogs, they, along with teachers and parents, are teaching students to critically think about the things they read. Students do not automatically know how to do this even though I agree that this is often the assumption. Teachers and students alike will need to make a concerted effort to learn internet research skills and then apply them across the board.
Primary sources are more available than they have ever been before. People are scanning original documents and pieces of artwork that were previously only available if you visited them in person. The fact that you can so easily research an event from the point of view of the people who experienced it bring a whole new level to the depth of knowledge about a particular subject.
I had never used the “link:” command before. I recently tried with a few of my most used sites but it is really interesting to see who has links to that particular site. That could be a good way of seeing if the site you are using is reputable. I would also encourage checking other ways to because it might not give you all the information you need.
This chapter continually made me think of how important digital citizenship is. Last year, in my class, I used Common Sense Media’s e-book in order to work through these issues and more as a class. My students loved talking about these issues. It make me think more and more how integral this type of study is to classrooms today. If students do not spend time thinking about right and wrong in the digital world, then they are far more likely to make mistakes that are very difficult to take back. What better way than to discuss these issues with a trusted adult guiding these discussions. Students have great insight in this area and sometimes need someone to guide them into making more positive decisions, in terms of research and publishing and beyond.