pedagogy

Feb 19 2013

Defining Innovation

I have an admittedly difficult time with the term innovation, especially as it deals with education. It’s a term that is closely related to creativity, and I tend to think of it as a type of application of creativity. But the term is so often used, within different contexts, that it’s hard to apply consistently, especially when you speak of things like innovative technologies in an educational context. Is it the technology that adds innovation? Or the teaching style (pedagogy)?

Today I had the pleasure of visiting the high school and middle school in instructional rounds. It was fun to see different teaching styles, how students engage with their class material, and of course, I’m always on the lookout for innovation.

The most innovative thing I saw all day was very refreshing. I encountered two teachers in a noisy classroom; they had re-arranged seating so that kids were grouped into small circles, and students were talking, comparing, sharing, and collaborating. This was the good kind of noise you encounter, it’s the sound of engaged learning. One of the teachers admitted that “this was the first time we tried something like this…” And that was the thing that made me smile.

Those two teachers had the will and confidence to try something new. There was no guarantee it would succeed, but it was exciting. Taking chances is part of the recipe for innovation. And best of all, this innovation had little to do with computers, iPads, or Promethean boards. But it had everything to do with meeting the needs of students with real challenges. The biggest take away was a responsibility for my own learning, and the success of my peers.

It was a good day to take stock of learning!

By John Hendron • General News • • Tags: pedagogy, reflection

Feb 19 2013

Look Good and Be Beautiful

Why We Love Beautiful Things has a catchy title, and before you get into reading it, you probably can scratch your head and figure out the answer: because they’re beautiful. Before we get to what this means, and the gist of the article, I want to throw another idea in the spotlight first.

For one of my classes I am taking, the assigned textbook was Presentation Zen. I have followed Garr Reynolds’ website for years, and was a bit taken back to have to buy his book. After all, I do a lot of presentations and got the gist of cleaner slides without a lot of text.

This book surprised me however, with a rationale behind his style and his recommendations. Presentations should be beautiful. They can, and should, have an aesthetic quality. And then I began to think about this in the context of a teacher presenting notes to a class.

We probably never think about making those presentations beautiful. “Just the facts, ma’am. That’s all we need…” you can imagine a boy telling his teacher in a black and white TV show set in the 1950s. (He later becomes a cop in a trench coat for sure.)

So, the first article talks about beautiful things actually moving us. Studies in color, geometry, and the golden triangle are interesting. But more so was Garr’s inspiration for slides: a Japanese bento box meal. That’s where, I suspect, the simplicity comes from in the Zen reference. Nothing over-done, a nice presentation, and concentrated bits. In each smaller box is a little morsel for us to focus upon.

I won’t spoil it by saying there’s a simple formula to choose in Keynote or PowerPoint to make all you have to say beautiful. The benefit, of course, is a listener’s attention span. By amping-up your presentations with beautiful things, you’re more likely to hold attention.

And that’s not a bad thing.

But here’s the bad news: Presentation Zen isn’t about putting notes on slides for kids to copy down into notebooks. It’s about amplifying the speaker’s presentation. Which underscores, in the end, that presenting content to be copied down from slide ware is a questionable pedagogy in our schools. It may be efficient, and simply necessary from time to time, but as a mainstay, it’s showing kids how to bore others.

I no doubt will pick up on this topic in the future. Thanks for reading.

By John Hendron • Learning for Teachers • • Tags: pedagogy, presentations

Oct 3 2012

Drivers or Passengers?

Often the first 5 minutes of my day begins by looking quickly through my Twitter feed. I don’t always get to do that, but just yesterday afternoon I led a class on Twitter for Teachers and I thought I’d better look to see what was being said in the Twitterverse.

I came across this post from Dr. Moran, Albemarle’s superintendent. Simple question: Are kids (in a class) a driver, or a passenger?

The traditional model for classrooms throughout the twentieth century, epitomized in now classic black and white photographs, is of a student-as-passenger arrangement.

I think it’s an important question to ask, one to ponder, and one to discuss. If we’re serious about student engagement, we know that driving is far more interesting than simply being a passenger. We also know that everyone can’t be a driver all the time. Moran tweeted just minutes later with this.

If we don’t use strategies to flip our admin meetings as we’d like to see in our classes, why would we expect more of tchers [sic] than ourselves?

I think the same thing about our professional development sessions. I often get in front of teachers attending because it’s efficient. But I need to do more to sit down, and ride as a passenger, and let my colleagues drive. Changing the roles of driver vs. passenger is a cultural shift, just not a pedagogical one.

By John Hendron • Learning for Teachers • • Tags: pedagogy

Aug 6 2012

Skills for the 21st Century Teacher

I recently came across this list of “The 33 Digital Skills Every 21st Century Teacher Should Have” via a link on Twitter.

I think it’s interesting food for thought. I’m listing the 33 things below, but for the full context, visit the website, for the author, Med Kharbach, links to sites for each one that further define and support each skill.

Use file sharing tools to share docs and files with students online
Conduct a research paper using digital tools
Conduct an effective search query with minimum time possible
Exploit group text messaging tools for collaborative project work
Use of screen casting tools to create and share tutorials
Use of online sticky notes to capture interesting ideas.
Use of online graphic organizers and printables.
Annotate webpages and highlight parts of text to share with class.
Use note taking tools to share interesting content with your students.
Learn about the different ways to use YouTube.
Use digital tools for time management purposes.
Identify online resources that are safe for student browsing.
Use of mobile devices (like tablets)
Find and evaluate authentic web-based content.
Use of collaborative tools for text construction and editing.
Use digital assessment tools to create quizzes.
Exploit computer games for pedagogical purposes.
Understand issues related to copyright and fair use of online materials.
Use polling software to create a real-time survey in class.
Use and provide students with task management tools to organize their work, and plan their learning.
Curate web content for classroom learning.
Create screen capture videos and tutorials.
Be able to detect plagiarized works in the student assignments.
Have a knowledge about online security
Compile a digital e-portfolio for their own development.
Create and deliver asynchronous presentations and training sessions
Use social networking sites to connect and grow
Use infographics to visually stimulate students
Use video content to engage students
Exploit digital images for classroom use
Use blogs and wikis to create online platforms for students.
Use social bookmarking to share resources with and between learners.
Create and edit digital audio.

I put them in reverse order for no special reason, save for my affinity of “Top 10″ lists, as popularized by David Letterman. It brings to light for me the rationale behind the order: Is one skill more important than another? I gather there is no rank order here, but that’s just my guess.

I should say, I question many of the things on this list. I think they make a noble list of goals for specific skills, but I do not like the lack of any theme or big-picture reasoning behind the list. I also find a few of them redundant. #s 12 and 29 are the same thing, for instance. But what I’d like to pull out of this is the big picture themes behind some of these. You can do this by asking “Why?” after each one.

I don’t know if they were chosen because of the tools that are now available to us, or because the tools support research-supported pedagogy.

“Why is it important to be able to create and edit digital audio?” I can recognize some benefits of using audio in instruction, but I am not sure every teacher needs this skill. So, as I go through, each one, asking my “whys,” I came across the following themes:

Become a curator and collaborator of content. The tools aren’t as important as the “skills” in each of these. There is a strong theme here that teachers can help point-out good quality content, but more than that, we have to direct students towards learning opportunities that makes use of this content. I believe as an educator that “core content” by itself has little value unless we’re putting that content to use to solve problems, or inform our thinking.
Know and practice good digital citizenship. Why? We’re models for our students.
Model and use tools that can maximize student engagement. These might include the use of graphic organizers, images, video, games, or tools like Google Docs.
Help students become accountable for their own learning. Through portfolios, time management tools, and cooperative learning strategies, students can work towards a goal of becoming self-motivated, life-long learners.

Check out more of the content available on Med’s blog. I know I’ll be adding this one to my feed reader!

By John Hendron • Learning for Teachers • • Tags: g21, pedagogy

Aug 29 2011

Leading into the Future

ASCD puts out some good stuff, but this article by Larry D. Rosen was lacking in quality.

Entitled Teaching the iGeneration, Rosen first is bemused by the fact that young children can download apps and upgrade computers. It’s not hard, Dr. Rosen. You click a button. Monkey see, monkey do.

So, then we run through some statistics about net use, and these are solid. I consulted some of the same sources in my convocation keynote. But then things turn afoul.

> Nor should teachers feel responsible for finding educational technologies to use in their classrooms. Teachers are required to teach specific content. The point is not to “teach with technology” but to use technology to convey content more powerfully and efficiently.

Here’s where I disagree. True, teachers shouldn’t use technology just to use it. But, we should all feel a responsibility to improve our craft. And technology has a role in the lives of students (and in school). And technology’s purpose goes far beyond conveying content, Dr. Rosen. It should inspire a change in pedagogy. Technology is a tool, and as a tool, it ought to be used to do something in the hands of our students. Solve problems, create something. Not just simply to convey information or content.

He closes with this, which I can appreciate more:

> Now, we need to take advantage of their love of technology to refocus education. In doing so, we’ll not only get students more involved in learning, but also free up classroom time to help them make meaning of the wealth of information that surrounds them.

But the road to this path is long and challenging. It is a responsibility we all share.

By John Hendron • Resource of Interest • • Tags: ascd, g21, instruction, pedagogy, technology

Oct 12 2010

What are technology advance organizers?

An advance organizer is a learning activity that starts a lesson by typically tapping into a student’s prior knowledge. Advance organizers were cited by Robert J. Marzano as one of the techniques in his book, Classroom Instruction That Works. The concept was developed by David Ausubel in 1960, so the thinking at that point likely didn’t include all of the tools we have available today. By adding technology to the mix, you’re utilizing available tools to enhance learning even further. These ideas are encouraged when you already plan to bring in laptops into the classroom for another activity.

Learning Map with Inspiration (Graphic Organizer – Concept Map)
Quick Google Search (Skimming)
Create a KWL Chart in Google Docs to Share (Graphic Organizer)
Use Google Moderator to Brainstorm (Expository)
Create a Slideshow in iPhoto (Narrative)

Learning Map

Any variety of graphic organizers might be used, but Inspiration software makes it easy to brainstorm ideas and then organize these ideas into a meaningful context chart. This may be done independently at student computers, or as a group with a Promethean board. Let’s say we were teaching a history lesson and had discussed a topic the day before. Today, we might start by summarizing what we had learned yesterday, and drawing a concept map. It might include different factions that had warred, issues they disagreed over, etc. There may be blank spaces and questions raised — and this map becomes a scaffold for teachers to plug-in new knowledge in the day’s lesson.

Quick Google Search

This skimming technique would ask students to quickly research a topic related to the day’s learning… “Tell me all you can find on the civil war. I’ll give you 10 minutes to find as much as you can… read through at least 3 webpages and then we’ll discuss what you find.” While skimming can be done with a book, the added task here of performing a quality search is reinforced each time this organizer is used.

Shared Charts

Using a collaborative tool such as Google Docs, the teacher can provide a template document that mimics a KWL chart. This chart is then used by students in small groups to complete before more formal instruction begins. This takes a full-class collaborative activity, and allows students to focus within their group and then they can share their findings with the rest of the class.

Brainstorm with Moderator

The expository method usually starts with the teacher, not the student. In this advance organizer, a teacher would simply describe new content to be taught. This could be done by speaking, of course, but also through a video or other multimedia presentation. Here, we could use a collaborative discussion tool such as Google Moderator to follow up the expository experience with pertinent questions. These questions would be designed to prepare students’ learning.

“Last year, 615 arrests were made of online sexual predators. These were people who were actively stalking out individuals – many younger – through chatrooms and social websites. Does the number surprise you? Why or why not?”

The answers students give act as an informal assessment strategy for the teacher to know what students may or may not already about the topic at hand.

Narrative with Images

The narrative advance organizer presents new information in the form of a story. This is done by the teacher; this same organizer can be used in closure, when done by the student. Using images to tell a story is a more powerful technique. Images reinforce learning for visual learners and should provide stronger scaffolding. Narratives may also be pre-packaged in a video format. Presented online, the presentation of the video could follow with a discussion forum in an environment such as Moodle.

For more information on Advance Organizers, check out this article from ASCD. For a set of great graphic organizers, check out this resource from Thinkport.

By John Hendron • Learning for Teachers • • Tags: advanceorganizer, classroom, pedagogy

Aug 29 2008

Making the Blog “Easier” for Students

This week, I’ve heard many folks talking about their teacher blogs (teachers, in fact, if that has to be said), and some with an interest in making the blog easier to read. There have been some interesting solutions to this, although I think in the end, it’s best to treat the blog like… a blog.

Here’s one of the arguments for making changes.

I teach 3 different classes, and I’m afraid the students won’t be able to find their information for their specific class when they go to my blog.

My solution has been to use categories. If each class is a category, and it gets applied to your blog posts about that class, all of the posts relating to that one class are one click away.

But they may not see that. Or they may not click. Then… they won’t know what to do.

My experience has been that students who are not blogging on their own figure out the way blogs work. And those that do? Well, they’re another step ahead. My advice to teachers would be not to try and re-invent how your blog works. Why? Your blog, with all of its complexity with multiple categories, tags, and comments, is a teachable moment. That’s right! Spend 3-5 minutes showing your students your blog, point out how categories work. There are now over 750 million blogs out on the Internet. And all blogs are pretty much the same: information appears in reverse-chronological order and they use categories. So in teaching kids how to use your blog, you’re teaching them something about information and media literacy that they can use outside of class, too.

Feel free to argue with me, that’s what the comments are for.

By John Hendron • Learning for Teachers • • Tags: blogs, digitalnatives, pedagogy