Reflections on the School Year That Was

Last year I was on sabbatical so it was the first time in 38 years I have not been in a classroom. This year saw a few changes in my workload, as well as picking up some of the courses I have previously taught. I enjoyed the year out of the classroom - first one in 37 years or so, but I also enjoyed being back. I also think this year proved once again that a person should be always learning, and reflecting on that learning. I have always told my students (aspiring teachers) that as a former Principal, if a teacher thinks they know all there is to know - I would not want them on my staff.

In Fall I taught my first graduate level course - Intro to Curriculum, not only that but it was online as well. I held biweekly zoom classes and Moodle in between. This was a big learning experience on many levels. I had students from 4 different countries and from across Manitoba. We had great discussions about curriculum and how it plays out in various jurisdictions. I am sure I learned as much as the students. I also will make adjustments in future grad courses from what I learned about delivery. One new thing I tried was to have the final major assignment an ignite style presentation (along with an annotated bibliography), the result was fantastic and the students agreed that they enjoyed them. I will continue to embrace different ways of presenting learning - and will include writing as part of it, but not all ;-)

Taken (by me) in July 2016 at Emerald Lake,
Yoho National Park,B.C.

In my B.Ed. courses (they were all ed tech courses) I continued to make use of blogs, as usual there was mixed reaction, but what was interesting was that some of the students giving push back, relented in their summary post and admitted the value - some even enjoyed doing them and vowed to continue the practice. I was considering giving more choice with alternatives to the blog, but I am now thinking of keeping the assignment but adding suggestions for posts for those who struggle with that. I also want to find ways to help students dig deeper in their posts and make it truly reflective. Some offer summaries of what we did - I want them to dig into topics of interest and how they may/have impacted their thinking about teaching/learning. Being reflective and thinking about practice is - to me - important in being a good teacher who grows and continues to learn, somehow I want to promote that, I think I model that - 38 years as an educator and I by no means profess to know it all and am always on the lookout for new ideas. One thing I can do better is take more time to read and write!

Another major assignment I use in my ed tech course is building (starting to) an eportfolio. I go over the why and give ideas for the how - we usually brainstorm what should be on it and I use example s(with permission) from previous years. Again I had some push back on this assignment form some, most of my students find it a useful exercise and something they can build on and use. The process also gives them some hands on creating a web site. I have been thinking though, that I should do some research and survey admin in the province to see to what extend these are useful artifacts, and what types of information they suggest is most useful for seeking employment.

One thing I do want to be sure to employ is more choice - I am a believer in giving choice
, but I want to allow more in a few major assignments ... but mostly I want to encourage and model deep and critical thinking about the use of ed tech.

One final thing, a few weeks ago I was fortunate to hear Yong Zhao speak in Winnipeg. While I am not sure his idea of entrepreneurship is the be all and end all, I really enjoyed his message and way of thinking. He is an interesting speaker and provides good evidence and prompts thinking. If you have not read his work, I encourage you to do so. While I have read and used his work before, I bought a few more of his books and am reading one now. I like his analogy of standardized testing, and standards in general - how educators are 'sausage makers' and despite all the talk and work about differences and embracing passions, we test to see how the sausages came out by comparing them to a standard. At one point, he answered a question about PISA and other standardized tests saying they might have some good aspects, but overall are destructive!

A break, some research work - and then back to planning these changes for next years' courses!

Riding the Wave of Change (conference)

Last week (May 5-6) was the annual Riding the Wave conference in Gimli, MB. This conference is sponsored by MAETL (Manitoba Association of Educational Technology Leaders) and ManACE (Manitoba Association for Computing Educators) and is meant for K-12 educators and IT folks and is, of course, related to technology use in schools. I don't usually present at this conference - it is great to just go, relax, and take in sessions - and this year, I almost decided to not go and attend a one day research seminar at my institution (it sounded really relevant and interesting), in the end I decided to go to RTW. It was a great decision, I do try to stay in touch and I work closely with K-12 school personnel, I want my teacher ed courses to remain relevant, and I like to work with the field. The decision to attend was certainly not a mistake.

Sphero maze!

The keynote was given by the inspiring Kathy Cassidy (@kathycassidy) from Moose Jaw. I use her book Connected from the Start as a text in my EY ICT in Ed course - the students always love it! Her message was all about new literacies - multi-literacies in today's digital world. The importance of visual (including video) literacy. An inspiring presentation. It was good to chat with her again for  a few minutes.

Sphero Chariots!

The other sessions I attended were about coding and maker spaces - something I want to add into my ICT in Ed courses next year when I return from sabbatical (sadly almost over!). I played with spheros and lego and learned some great tips and ideas. These sessions were by Tara (@msmclauchlan) and Joan (@jbadger), from St. James Assiniboia SD and Diana Rendina (@DianaLRedina - a visitor from Tampa - her slides are here). I also attended a great session by Shannon McLintock Miller (@shannonmmiller from Denver) who presented powerful stories about student voice. A great reminder about the purpose of our efforts, and a topic that I value (see my Hybrid Pedagogy article on student empowerment).

A slide from Shannon McLintock Miller's Presentation

That evening, we held a sweltering (the AC was broken!) list of 15 fantastic Ignite presentations sponsored by ManACE. Photos of the event can be seen on the ManACE instagram account - what an evening of inspiring stories, all of the spotlight speakers volunteered to present - and the evening finished with the conference keynote, Kath Cassidy, giving another great presentation. The plan is to put up the audio of the presentations via ManACE.

Darren's "The Fourth Screen"

The next day, I attended 2 sessions before I had to head off. Both addressed the important topic of digital citizenship, although with very different approaches. My friend Darren (@dkuropatwa) presented powerful stories for teaching digital citizenship - he included asides explaining his approach - which is very positive - and showed us many resources. I hope to have Darren come to my institution to present to faculty and students alike. The next session was by another friend, Dr. Rennie Redekopp (@rredekopp), Rennie took a more critical approach - that to be citizens we need to consider issues such as the environment, sustainability, energy use, and manufacturing in relation to digital products (see his links here). Together, these approaches offered important resources and food for thought for thinking and operating in a digital world.

All in all, it was a very good conference - so many good sessions to choose from, I know I missed some other great ones. I learned much and gathered up ideas/resources to incorporate into my own courses for aspiring teachers. It also provided an opportunity to connect with friends and to meet new ones.

One final note, a shoutout to the amazing Andy McKiel (@amckiel) - who, as a member of MAETL and ManACE, does incredible work behind the scenes in putting on events in Manitoba for educators!

Gimli Beach

Gimli Pier

Gimli Pier

What's Age Got to Do With IT?

There is a small pet peeve I have - it is 'our' tendency to generalize. One thing that is in this category is the myth of technology and age. I guess in a way, there is some statistical backing to the contention that youth - by youth I mean folks about 35 and under :-), basically the so called 'digital natives', or 'net gen' or millennials and those younger, use computer tech more ... but not all, and that is the problem. I won't go into the research that points out the fallacies of these generalizations (I am involved in one such long term study with a colleague). We hear this generalization in many places, how computers comes 'naturally' to young kids, how young people are so 'tech savvy', how all youth is so connected ... and so on. I have been interviewed for an article in The Manitoba Teacher and interviewed on CBC in the past year about the startling revelation that this is not always true. Just because the Internet and computers have always been around during a person's entire life, does not make them savvy. Heck I grew up with cars and they were central to my upbringing in the auto capital of Canada - does that mean I could just jump into a car at age nine and drive it? Or open the hood and fix any problems? I don't think so. (I didn't even get my drivers license until I was 17.) Now, back to computer technology - I started using computers by taking computer science in high school - a looong time ago (early 70's, ulp) and have learned about them and used them ever since. Hey I am an older guy and can use computers pretty darn well, I even have some idea how they work.
      I just want to comment quickly on 2 problems that arise from the generalization that kids are good with computers. First, if we assume that all young people have some natural ability and affinity to digital tech, then, as teachers, we will be leaving some behind or putting them at a disadvantage. We must keep in mind that everyone is different. Second, some older folks (parents, grandparents, etc..) sometimes use the age thing as an excuse not to learn. Just about anyone can learn to use a computer or social media or ...if they are so inclined, but it is easy to say "I'm too old for that". If you aren't interested, or don't have the time - say so, age has nothing to do with it. If it is important for your job as a teacher (or a parent) - then learn it!  Maybe ask your kids/students to help, they know all about it :-)

Reflections on the 17th National Congress on Rural Education

This past week I attended (and presented) at the 17th National Congress on Rural Education in Canada, held in Saskatoon, SK March 25-27. This is the second year I have attended and presented at this conference. It is an interesting one since the audience is very different than other conferences I attend. Attendees include many school trustees and superintendents in addition to school administrators, teachers and post-secondary educators. This gives the conference a different flavour than others.

I presented, with a colleague during the last slot of the day, it was surprisingly well attended, and we engaged in a great conversation with the attendees. That is all I will say about it, on to other parts of the congress.

The conference started off with an impassioned keynote by Craig Kielburger, who, when he was only 12 years old, co-founded the Free the Children foundation. He shared powerful stories and told us about the work of this foundation, including the popular Me to We Day events (one of which was held in Winnipeg last November). The major theme of Craig's keynote was that even one person can be an agent of change and can make a difference.

Alan November giving Keynote

The Monday morning keynote was Alan November, who I have heard present on three previous occasions, and I have enjoyed every one of them. His message was excellent, and he handled a few technical glitches without problem. Alan's main message was that technology itself will not make a difference in learning. As much research has shown, using technology bolted on to traditional pedagogy does not work. There must be a change in process to make a difference. Another message is one that I firmly believe, that learning is social, we need to let students talk and discuss. November used many examples to illustrate his points. One was the wonderful work of Kathy Cassidy(@kathycassidy) from Moose Jaw - someone he called one of his heroes. I must say I have often used Kathy's blog as an example for my students. Another example was my good friend, Darren Kuropatwa, (@dkuropatwa) from Winnipeg. His work with daily scribes in his (former) high school math courses was the example Alan used. The audience was asked to consider a few questions, including; who should own learning? and who should be working the hardest in the classroom? The obvious answer for both, of course, is the student, yet how often is it true? One line I liked was when he said that lesson plans should be tossed. Many would disagree with that, but I am not one of them. While I would agree planning and a direction is necessary, I would also say that a lesson plan can lead to a lack of flexibility, a rigidity that shows that the teacher owns the learning - not the students. November used the example of the flipped classroom that is the rage - while I am not a big fan - especially as set out by the Khan Academy (watching his poorly made video lectures - they are still lectures - rote, algorithmic learning), the idea can be useful if used wisely. November made other great points and had many examples to share. All in all a thought provoking and interesting keynote.

I attended two other sessions of note. Both were from School Divisions sharing their use of technology. (strangely, last year, there were very few sessions addressing technology, this year there were several). In the first, a group from Peace River S.D. in Alberta talked about how they have engaged the community in obtaining online feedback. It was great to hear that students are encouraged to bring their own devices (at the urging of parents!) and that they do not block social media sites, preferring to teach digital citizenship & literacy rather than blocking! As we see more successful and forward thinking divisions like this, maybe others will see the light (we can only hope). I find it ironic that some school divisions are proud of having a presence on Facebook and Twitter, yet block these sites in their schools. I should note that the presenters consisted of the Superintendent and several trustees. These people were genuine in their use of media to share and get input. @misuzb tweeted the following, from a different session, mind you, that summed this up: "When we block the internet, we stop internet literacy and remove critical thinking opportunities for our learners" - nicely said!

The other presentation was a group of tech leaders from Good Spirit S.D. in Eastern Saskatchewan (Yorkton area). They showed us how they have engaged technology to be virtually paperless. This ranged from a number of administrative applications to professional learning for teachers to the many innovative uses of hardware and software tools in the classroom. They illustrated with many student created examples. This use of technology also included the use of a wide range of 'web 2.0' tools. Exciting work.

Finally, in addition to spending time with a few colleagues from BU, I met some other great people as well. Included in that number were Shelley Wright (@wrightsroom) and Cori Saas (@corisaas), both from Prairie South S.D. in Saskatchewan (Moose Jaw & area). These two educators are doing amazing work and were looking after the 'geeksquad' - student journalists from several schools in that division who interviewed, taped and reported on (via their blog) the various events at the Congress.

My colleague and I left to make the long drive home and missed the last half day, but the tweets from the event (#rced17) indicated that there were more good sessions. All in all, it was an interesting conference - besides it gave the chance to enjoy some of the best pizza anywhere at the restaurant in the Radisson Hotel :-)

Sunrise in Saskatoon

Learning is ...

Learning is ... social
The past few weeks saw a few more guests enter my classroom, and a lot of good learning took place as a result. John Finch (@jfinch), from Manitoba Education, was on campus on Jan 26 and he literally sat down with my Internet for Educators class (pre-service teachers in the last term of their after degree B.Ed. program) and had an amazing 1.5 hour conversation. It was learning in action; informal, frank discussion and exchange of ideas. The topic centered on using technology in education, however the real topic was learning. How do we make use of the power of the Internet to make learning come alive? This was exemplary social learning as we all shared thoughts about many issues, and the learning continued later as students reflected on the experience in their blogs. The importance of social interaction in learning cannot be overemphasized, we negotiate meaning, make sense, and learn deeply through dialogue. David Weinberger's new book "Too Big To Know" (which is the topic of an #edbookclub on twitter) has many examples of this. In fact he states "knowledge has always been social" (p, 51).  Check out my student blogs to read about the growth and learning going on.

Learning is ... reflective
The following week, two friends from Winnipeg, the dynamic duo of Andy McKiel (@amckiel) and Darren Kuropatwa (@dkuropatwa) visited campus to deliver a professional learning opportunity on building empathy. This session was, from all reports, excellent, however it is the time they spent in my two Using ICT in Education classes (students in the first year of an after degree B.Ed.) I want to write about. In the 50 minute class time, these two excellent educators talked about creative commons, showed off several very useful tools, and created a slideshow that completed the statement 'Learning is ...". The results are below, I think you will agree that there are some powerful slides & ideas. So often we go into a classroom and 'do our job' and do not often reflect on what we really believe about learning. When we do stop and reflect - the real goal of this exercise - what do we see? How does our practice reflect those beliefs? A simple activity like this can lead to learning itself. We all should take time to reflect on what we are doing. Do our actions reflect our beliefs about learning? If not, what can we do to change so that they do? Take the time, become a reflective practitioner - you and your students deserve it!

Learning is at Brandon University 10:40am  

Learning is at Brandon University 11:40am

Better late than never? Has education entered the 21st Century?

by Mike Nantais & Jackie Kirk ( originally posted on ICTology, imported in September/15)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcleod/3053321118/

How long will we talk about preparing students for the 21st Century? The 21st century is a decade old. There has been much written about 21st century skills, 21st century learning and 21st century standards but we are coasting into the last few months of 2010. Has education entered the modern age? The unfortunate truth is, however, that for the most part, we have not. We all too often rely on standardized testing and outdated modes of teaching. Thankfully there are growing pockets of change and innovation, yet it seems that clinging to tradition is the norm. We are not just talking about using 'traditional' methods, like lecture or ‘drill and kill’, indeed, a good lecture has value - one just needs to watch some TED talks to see that. Still, this should not be the main method of teaching - we should be using methods of inquiry, problem based learning, critical reflection and collaboration, among others.

Digital technology offers many opportunities to change existing pedagogy. It also has some limitations and risks,  however, a critical and knowledgeable educator can mitigate those risks by choosing what, how and when to use technology to enhance learning. We must be vigilant in promoting and modeling these strategies.

Technology is all around us. Students walk in to our classrooms with laptops and cell phones that offer incredible possibilities. We, as teachers, need to set aside our fears and tap into the opportunities that are inherent in the multitude of devices that are carried in their pockets and knapsacks. It’s time to see past the “no cell phone” policy to a classroom where learning is enhanced through the purposeful engagement of personal technologies and where web resources are available to individual students to access during all parts of our lessons. We must continue to pressure school officials to look forward - to allow the use of the technologies and the Internet and to educate students about their appropriate and ethical use - not hide in the sand and hope it all goes away ... because it is not going to go away.

Week #12: Recognizing the Japanese Zero, Slide Rules & Other "Learning Objects"

Okay, Gary - I beat you to the punch this week (But I notice Julye was before any of us - missed you tonight Julye!)

For tonight I will only put up this video, similar to the Ma and Pa Kettle (enjoy, Ben!) More to come later!



____________________________________

OK, back again...

Japanese Zero was an interesting film, for many reasons. The methods used for teaching was the main one, however, I also found it interesting for its historical value. Here is a photo of a P-40 (this was at the Kalamazoo Air Zoo in Michigan - used in air shows) and a Zero (taken at the RAF Museum in London, UK) from my collection (aircraft, and in particular WW II aircraft is a interest/hobby of mine, I routinely drag my wife to air museums). Can you recognize them?

The film used a number of features to get the important point of the instruction across, from repetition to animation and the entertainment element was added in so the repetition could be put into a real context. It even used multiple learning styles, using visual and aural. As I watched, I thought about all the ways we use for getting information across. In this case, it was really rote learning, yet it was a matter of life and death so the message had to be made so it was automatic. In many skills like this, we know that ‘practice makes perfect’. Anyone who coaches a sport knows this well (as do musicians, dancers, etc), certain skills are practiced over and over, perhaps in different drills, so the skill becomes routine or automatic. Using mathematics as an example, if the goal is to learn to factor a trinomial, we of course want the student to understand the concept, however, if one wants to be proficient in factoring, then the old ‘drill and kill’ does work. Constructivist learning theories are in vogue, and I do believe they work; yet I wonder if all the various theories of learning have merit. Does the method really depend on what is to be learned, the reason for learning it and the nature of the concept to be learned?

Part of looking back is to see what these artifacts can teach us about our practice now. This also applied to the ‘podcast’ Denis showed us in the form of the large vinyl record. I really was struck by Denis’ comments (my recollection of this!) that many of these ideas are not anything new, that we have always experimented and made use of the media of the day in creative ways. The question, as Denis put in his comments about the presentations (about mine in particular) is which of these technologies will be around in 5, 10  or 15 years? Will they become like the old vinyl records – unusable and lost? Or will they withstand the test of time?

Our TED talks:

A few quick comments on the presentations, all were every interesting, I feel fortunate to be in such company & look forward to the rest next class!

Paul’s slide rule brought back many memories; I even remembered how to do some of the operations. As soon as Paul started I recalled the scene in Apollo 13 that he mentioned where the engineers all grabbed their slide rules to verify the orbital burn calculations. The technology and engineering skill used in making this calculation device is amazing – again illustrating how old technology does not mean it was ‘primitive’. It speaks to the ingenuity of humans when so many successful moon landings were carried out with such ‘primitive’ technology! Modern graphing calculators can be wonderful tools that allow us to skip some of the drudgery and examine concepts, yet to use the slide rule you REALLY had to know place value & estimation, skills we try to get across today.

Lana’s holographs was interesting, just like Star Wars in 1977! The interesting thing was that CNN (Wolf Blitzer) spent most of the time cooing about the technology and not about the point of the broadcast – the election results! So much for seemless, but I guess there has to be a first for everything (although it wasn’t there as Lana pointed out!).

Young Mike’s look back was interesting. It looks like his course back in ‘96 (ha!) was a good one, but more interesting is the changes from then to now. It also shows why we shouldn’t just throw all our artifacts away – they have value even 15 years later!  

Gary’s look at learning objects was well done (especially considering his illness the last week - many good sites to go back and look at, Gary). The Ma and Pa Kettle clip, although old, could still have value as a teaching object. It is amusing, but a math teacher could show this and ask students to explain the errors or find another example that would work in Ma and Pa’s methodology. The discussion about the use of the learning objects was also interesting.

My presentation is here, if you are interested. Once you get to slide 2, just go to the next and the intro video will play!The images that appeared and disappeared on certain slides are a jumble… sorry!

Building a PLN

View more presentations from Mike

Finally – Denis talked about standards and used the ISTE standards to illustrate some of the concerns. We have considered them before so in the course, as well.  This video of Sir Ken Robinson on the Bonnie Hunt show is a good one about the shortcomings of standardized tests! Enjoy!