I love this image from Tony Ryans blog. He also shared it in his ULearn presentations …. it has so much to say at so many levels!

it reminds me of our school vision which is also visual rather than lots of words.

(note - link is to our new school website I am working on so is very much a work in progress.  If you go to here you will get to our public site.)

The ECE people will roll their eyes skyward and go “ha - now he gets it!” but I love this from Bruce Hammonds:

Scientists are driven by their curiosity to explore and explain things that attract their attention. In this respect they have much in common with any two year old, except young people do not have the need to ensure their findings stands up to inspection.

The message is clear for educators, we must do everything to keep alive the curiosity and openness to learning of our students. We need to tap our students innate gifts,interests, talents and dreams and then to encourage them to dig deeper into what attracts their attention.

At the beginning of learning, and science, is curiosity, and with curiosity is the delight in mastery - the joy of figuring it out that is the birthright of every child. One scientist said to another ‘What we can’t tell then that it’s so so much fun’ A Nobel prizewinner said ‘We were like children playing’. It is, as another said, ‘a rage to know - the acute discomfort at incomprehension’.The so called scientific method is not as scientific as you would think and is more a process of enlightened trial and error.

If teachers were to be aware of: the importance of passion and curiosity in learning; the need to explain as best we can; and the process of science, a curriculum would ‘emerge’. As well, creative teachers can provide their students experiences with the potential to attract their student’s attention . As educationalist Jerome Bruner wrote, ‘teaching is the canny art of intellectual temptation’.

These ideals are at the heart of our vision for our school at Outram.

Our vision is a completely visual one and all about sparking the intellectual curiosity and passions in us all as learners. This means the adults AND the kids.

We have the things we already know and can do, our previous skills, our toolbox of skills, our shadow.  All very useful and indeed essential as we go for gold, aim high and jump for joy and excitement.

Cool stuff - only wish I could lay much claim to it.  Well done those who have gone before at Outram.  My role now is to facilitate revisiting it all and seeing what it all means now, including the third of us who are new (families and staff) since the initial work was done.

And thats the fun bit

Judy O’Connel writes well on issues of Libraries and learning. I like these recent excerpts:

… I am hearing or reading rubbish!!

Doug Johnson in Continuum’s End said

It seems to me that that the continuum between reactionary educators who still find overhead projectors a cutting edge tool and progressive educators who seem to master each tool and philosophy du jour is stretching ever longer every year. As a classroom teacher in the 70s and 80s, we all taught pretty much the same way, with the same sets of tools.

The question of importance to me is not the mastery of tools, but the underlying processes that are important. This is the rub - there are those who, rightly or wrongly, are amongst the elite in terms of commentary or influence on directions in education, who it seems to me have become what my own family constantly remind me not to be…..

and

Unfortunately there are some amongst us that are so poorly read themselves that they can’t see how silly it is to tout 20th century ‘industrial age schooling’ as the reason for educational change. Oh but they are probably the same people who run your education system, or institution and are good at verbose cliques to justify their actions.

Yes, there’s a lot that needs to change about schooling. Let’s focus on the facts to get there. Cliches are born of ignorance - that’s all. Focus on the revolution not the rhetoric!

I am reminded of the rubbish written about digital immigrants and digital natives - a cliche that doesn’t hold water. I have written about this a lot in the past and it frustrates me to still see people lapping it up at conference and in blog writings.

Some kids love technology, some love singing - sounds like my kids! Sure kids starting school now have only ever known the technologies as part of their lives. But give me a break, this doesn’t mean they are actively engaged with it and know it well. Any more than living in NZ means you love rugby and understand netball!

I do like Judys point about the widening gap between the teachers who actively understand and engage with technologies and those who don’t. Some would argue that we all have to keep up, but many don’t. There are lots of teachers and classrooms out there where a computer is simply and expensive typewriter and an even more expensive way to keep the room warm. ICT PD has extended to nearly 70% of primary schools now but how many schools who have ‘been in the programme’ now have few/no staff who were there when it was happening?

Good points to ponder on I reckon, thanks Judy.

Summary of the talk he gave at ULearn:

check out these YouTube videos from a trade show this year in China:

While this may not be completely cosha and you would seem to have to order a fair few at that price … this would seem to be Moores law in practice. At this price it would be affordable to have enough for good saturation in a school ….
Hmmmm …. watch this space!

Nick is from Russel St school (DP) and e-Fellow … their school website is very cool!

“assessment for the purpose of IMPROVING student learning” - NZC.  Framing the purpose of e-Portfolios from NZC which is a good place to begin

stuff on Nicks blog here

strong focus on ALL portfolios being for Assessment FOR learning, (not just OF learning as a summative thing).  change in mindset here, particularly for parents who often just want a summative assessment and comparative information.

Have changed from iWeb and sending home on DVD to using passworded online format.  Linked from school website.  Move to web-based format has made more dynamic and allowed for interaction and ongoing reflection by learner and others.  Parents making comments etc has changed the nature of the portfolios.

this is what we have found with blogging at school as well - the audience makes the medium even more powerful.  When children know they have a genuine, meaningful audience it really ramps up the expectations for and of the children. Having others looking at what you are doing makes a difference!

Allows for showcasing method as well as product(s).

have a local ISP that hosts for them - YAY.  makes a big difference!

Wordpress as platform and at this point not worrying about tagging individual posts but using pages in Wordpress to differentiate content (eg individual pages for Literacy topics, maths, etc)

I like this list from Bruce Hammonds.

Wolk outlines eleven essentials to put more joy into learning.

1 Find Pleasure in learning. With pleasurable learning we don’t mind possible difficulties invoved in any in learning; we tend to see them as a natural part of learning, so we are far more open to taking risks. Schools need to tap into what children enjoy learning about and also make all school learning more enjoyable.

2 Give Students Choice. How much choice ( or ‘ownership’) do students have about their learning? Students can be given choices during the school day. Students can be given choice in their studies, the questions they want to explore, and how they wish to express their ideas. Schooling ought to inspire children to ask questions able to design their own tasks.

3 Let Students Create Things. People like to make stuff. Creating something original gives us a tremendous sense of agency and pride. As well, creating things gives us an appreciation of the creative process in action.

4 Show off Students Work. Our schools, and classrooms, should be brimming with wonderful, original student work. Classrooms should ’speak’ to visitors.

5 Take Time to Tinker. We all learn by fooling around. Student’s imaginative ideas , their intuitive leaps of imagination, should be encouraged. All too often our schools are too planned, leaving no room for spontaneity. We need to free teachers to take risks, experiment, to play with the art of pedagogy, and to feel the joy that comes from such on open approach to teaching.

6 Make school Places Inviting. All spaces, inside and outside of schools, need to be seen as learning spaces.

7 Get Outside. More of the school day should be outside. Fresh air and a sunny day can do miracles for the human spirit. Children need to have their sensory awareness expanded.To sit under a tree to read, draw, think, or talk. Much of our science could directly include the outdoors. Ecosystems are all around.

8 Read Good Books. Make sharing good literature an important feature of all classrooms. Give students time to share their own stories. All study topics have themes which provide opportunities to introduce good literature.

9 More Physical Education and Arts. In America many students have no art, music, and drama and little time for PE. For many students these are the areas that many children have strengths in and gain joy from.

10 Transform Assessment. Assessment is a pert of life and students need to see it as an important part of the learning process. We should make more use of immediate feedback, narrative assessment, self assessment, portfolios of authentic work, presentations, exhibitions and performances.

11 Have Fun Together. Teachers need to take a break from the seriousness of the school day and have some fun together. Anything that tears down the walls that often get built inside schools and builds more caring relationships is to be encouraged

Wolk concludes by referring back to John Dewey quote and says that schools can sap our souls is just as true for teachers as it is for students

If principals can help teachers find joy in their work, and help their teachers strive to ‘own their own teaching’ the teachers can enter their rooms every morning enthusiastic to help their students experience joy in their learning.

source:

We were having a discussion last week in staff meeting about how our school vision includes ALL children having WOW moments at school every day. Also that teachers should expect the same…

How cool is that!

CORE have produced this series of videos looking at key issues in education.  I like this one from Sharon Freisen looks at the difference between Inquiry as a disposition and Inquiry as a Teaching Strategy.  This is a fundamental difference!

ALL those in the school need to be Inquirers and Learners.  Sometimes this will be together and sometimes it is more focused on teacher professional learning.

… thanks Jane for the link!

” Is it not possible that certain technologies undermine best practices?

Are we so technocentric that we believe that every technology is equivalent and dependent on either a) “PD” or b) teacher effort?

I’m sure there are teachers who could do creative things with a chainsaw. Why not buy every teacher a chainsaw?

What if the technology is just bad or unnecessary? Is that a possibility?”

ouch! …. a very good point though!!

(source - comment 13 …. and a good discussion to follow in full)

and from Sylvia Martinez:

…, I see very little evidence that they [IWB's] are being used well in MOST classrooms. I just don’t think that the handful of teachers using them in “engaging” ways would justify the millions that have been spent on them. Most of the schools I work with are busy “looking for things to do with whiteboards”. Really, I wish I didn’t hear that phrase time and time again. In reality, People are looking for ways to justify the money they spent.

I think we have to acknowledge that although IWBs MIGHT be used well, they aren’t. The next question is whether “good” PD can fix this.

To answer that, I think you have to question the primary model and design intent of any technology, because that’s how it will mostly be used. Just because a few excellent teachers make something more out of it doesn’t justify it. The primary model and design intent of IWBs reinforces instructionist teaching practice. That they are being primarily used this way should surprise no one.

In my opinion, no amount of PD will fix this. And in fact, it’s likely that millions more dollars will be poured into PD to try to get teachers to use IWBs, and the result will by and large be in an instructionist, front of the classroom mode. I don’t think PD about IWBs, classroom embedded or not, will be able to overcome the basic nature of IWBs - that their primary function is to allow a teacher to control a presentation in the front of the classroom.

So, to me, the news that PD isn’t overcoming this basic nature of the IWB should surprise no one either.

Backs up my thinking as well. I am yet to see any classroom with an IWB where the pedagogical model was anything other than “full frontal”!

http://leading-learning.blogspot.com/2008/07/digital-technologyover-promised-and.html A very good post from Bruce Hammonds.

As I have said many times it is about the LEARNING, not the technology.

Poor teaching is still poor teaching, average teaching is average teaching, even with technology.

If technology becomes the focus then other, (more?) critical parts of classroom programmes and learning can be overlooked. I have seen some wonderful movies come out of classes with poor reading and literacy programmes for example! Technology is seductive …. lets not fall for it. It is not an indicator of a quality programe, but it can make good learning and teaching even better.