Sharing Our Learning

Hope you have a great week and do something special for February 29th  Here are some great links that I would like to share; some new and some old.

1.  The Myth of the Echo Chamber - In this post that is almost two years old, Karl Fisch discusses the idea of the “echo chamber” and debunks the myth through social media.

There is no “echo chamber.” It’s a myth.

Do you follow at least one person on Twitter? Then you’re not in an echo chamber.

Do you have someone’s blog other than your own in your RSS aggregator?Then you’re not in an echo chamber.

Do you teach/work in a building with at least one other person that you talk to? Then you’re not in an echo chamber.

Do you have a family? Friends? A neighborhood? Then you’re not in an echo chamber.

As this is something that I have struggled with tremendously, it is important to not only understand that there are many different opinions on Twitter, but it is also essential to go out and seek those opposing views.  Through the conversation, many great ideas are shaped.  It is also important that if you disagree with someone that you speak up and share those opposing views.  This is necessary to not only the growth of individuals but education as a whole.  The way we do it is important, but more important is that we have those conversations.

2.  Wine and Education – Cale Birk, a principal in British Columbia discusses how we often talk in terms not understood by the general public, leaving many of our students and stakeholders behind:

I realize that oftentimes, I speak in ‘educationese’, in terms that are puzzling (and sometimes outright offensive) to people in business, industry, the trades, or to the general public (including our students).  In order to create positive partnerships with our ‘consumers’, we need them to be very knowledgeable and informed about what we do at schools and the value of this education for our students as contributors to society.  We need to be able to clearly articulate the skills that kids are learning in our buildings and how these will be transferable not just to something such as post-secondary education, but to business, industry, the trades, or whatever our students may choose to do.  And perhaps most importantly, we need to articulate this for our students in our buildings TODAY.

Cale’s focus on partnerships is so imperative to our school system.  We do not just work with students to do well at school; we work with them to do well in life.

3.  The Trip Advisor Tail Wagging the Dog - In this Seth Godin post, he discusses how industry has changed and how the consumer is really driving the way we do things and get better.  I related with this post as I just recently planned an entire trip using the Trip Advisor site, and the comments were so imperative to where I booked.  Here is a quote from his post:

Today, it’s sites like Trip Advisor and Yelp (among many others) that are transforming the way service businesses operate. Here’s how it works: at first, a business might try to ignore the system, but then they notice their customers talking about the reviews and their competitors. So some stoop so low as to attempt to game the system, sending sock puppets and friends to post reviews. But that doesn’t scale and the sites are getting smart about weeding this out.

The only alternative? Amazing service. Working with customers in such an extraordinary way that people feel compelled to talk about it, post about it, and yes, review it. It’s not an accident that Hotel Amira is one of the highest rated hotels in all of Turkey. They didn’t do it with the perfect building or sumptuous suites. They did it by intentionally being remarkable at service. And yes, the Holiday Inn in Oakland has the same story. They took what they had and then they deliberately went over the top in delivering on something that never would have paid off for them in the past.

Amplifying stories causes the stories that are built to change. Outliers are rewarded (or punished) and the weird and the wonderful are reinforced. Once people see what others are doing, it opens the door for them to do it, but with more flair.

I wonder how this type of site will impact education.  Sites like “Rate My Teacher” already exist, but have they hurt or helped our profession?  It seems that more sites will continue to pop up like this in education as social media continues to grow.

4.  Literacy in the Digital Age - This is just a great site and wealth of resources from Kathy Schrock regarding the continuously evolving nature of literacy.  Definitely take a look at all of the resources she has compiled.

Have an amazing week!

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by mrsdkrebs

Working a lot with teachers and parents in the past few weeks, it is amazing to see the shift in focus that our students need  to be more connected.  There is a definite shift in the mindset of many.  With that being said, the focus on creativity, innovation, and the skills that are needed for the “21st Century”, many understand that schools need to continue to focus on strong relationships with their students and school community to thrive in our time.  Relationships continue to be the foundation that great schools are built upon.  It is paramount that we continue to focus on that.

Here are some articles that I found pushed my thinking in the last week:

1.  What does teaching creativity look like? – Creativity is a skill that is needed in our world with the “knowledge economy” becoming dominant in our work place.  With so many traditions that are firmly in place in our schools, does this skew our thinking and take away our ability to be creative?  In this short article, the author asks a similar question:

Perhaps the most important entry on Michalko’s list is his last point, that “creativity is paradoxical.” Schools are places where students are supposed to acquire knowledge—but to create, a person must “forget the knowledge.” If you’re not able to leave what you think you know behind, you can’t approach problems with a fresh perspective. Students must also be taught to “desire success but embrace failure,” and to “listen to experts but know how to disregard them.”

2.  Autonomy in Teaching Training – My good friend, Chris Wejr, challenges the “status quo” in the way that teacher training programs are preparing new educators for a rapidly changing world and classroom.  I have heard this conversation often, yet it is interesting to not only read this post but the comments that follow as well.  Chris ends the post with the following:

Our pre-service teaching programs seem to be over in the blink of an eye (in BC, they are often only 16-20 weeks).  This is a critical time as this is often the only experience they will have prior to applying for teaching positions.  Providing more autonomy for our future teachers is key to their development so I hope you can add your thoughts to this conversation to see if we can help move our programs forward.

Chris has some great thoughts…how can we better prepare our new teachers to implement the strategies needed to be successful coming into this challenging profession?  I encourage you to add to the conversation on Chris’ blog post.

3.  Important Conversations – Some of the practices that I (as well as many other teachers) have implemented over the past few years we now know are not beneficial to learning.  The idea of taking away grades for being late does not show the true understanding a child has over the content of the class, yet it is essential to ensure students are good citizens and respectful of our school environment.  The picture in this blog post is a great conversation starter for staff, students, and parents.   More importantly though then the message, is the conversation.  How do we continue to bring parents in on the learning of school to help enhance the work we are doing together with children?  How do we continue to inform and discuss with them continuously evolving teaching and learning practices?  I think of this Marc Prensky quote when reading the aforementioned article:

“Involve your students’ parents as much as you can. Try thinking of them as your students as well, that is, as people you are educating.”  Marc Prensky

When parents and schools work together, you double the chance of success for each child.

I hope that all of you have an amazing week and I thank everyone for continuing to share and write amazing content that will help all of us continuously learn!

As I end this blog post, I have been caught up in all the “Linsanity” (as most were) and this was probably one of the most inspiring moments that I saw from the last week…enjoy!

As Educon has just passed, and many teachers will be attending our annual teacher convention, things have been very busy. With that being said, information never stops and my twitter feed and Google Reader account continue to push and inspire my thinking. Here are some interesting articles I have found this week:

1. The Ugle Side of Social Media? - Interestingly enough, the first I heard of this story of a woman taking this t-shirt from a young fan at the Australian Open was through mainstream media (I would provide a video link, but they are hard to find due to the backlash against the woman in question) , which has not become the norm for news in my life at this point. While I was aghast at what happened to this young girl, this article made me realize of the impact that social media and mainstream media have upon one another on significantly impacting the life of any one individual in a moment of indiscretion. This quote from the post really has pushed my thinking:

While the behaviour of the crowd may seem entirely justified to themselves – acting on behalf of the innocent girl – this can somewhat cloud the real situation. That is to say that we are focusing our attentions on someone grabbing a t-shirt, inciting hatred and abuse and even invading their privacy.

The question of who is responsible is a difficult one. Social media is not responsible itself, as it is simply the prevalent form of self-expression in our society today. It has not created the concept of mob mentality or victimisation, nor are the mob to blame themselves. While some are certainly taking it too far, it is innate within human nature that we will crowd together and rally round where we see that justice is needed, however far that concept of justice may have been stretched.

In this case, we can actually look to mainstream media as playing a big part here, for choosing to further the story and continuing to sway public opinion. There is a sense of responsibility required for those who, in an era when social media tools exist, are able to influence and reach the public en masse. What’s needed is balanced reporting to calm the crowds. The danger of doing otherwise is far too high.

Whatever you think about the situation, it is an extremely interesting read and great for a topic of discussion with students and staff. Does mainstream media have a different responsibility in our world today knowing that our world is different or is this solely the responsibility of each individual? Both? Can you imagine if “Bartman” would have made his mistake in a world where Twitter existed? Definitely an article that will make you think about our world today and the role media plays.

2. A little empathy – Edna Sackson has long been one of my favourite bloggers, but this short post really made me think about our role as educators in relation to those in the medical field. In this personal post, Edna discusses her thoughts in the context of a personal situation that she is going through at this point:

I’ve spent many hours in a hospital this past week (not as a patient) and have become acutely aware of the effects of every personal (and not so personal) interaction. It’s irrelevant whether the person concerned (or not so concerned) is a doctor, a nurse, an orderly or a cleaner. Only some display empathy. Not all are communicators. These are the things that matter. These are the things we should teach our children…

This quote is something that every educator should consider.

3. Education: Not ready to listen? – In this post written by Adora Svitak, a student currently in our educational system, she has some tough criticisms regarding the voice of students in our current educational system:

If the education community is unable or unwilling to receive a message about education from a student, I think we have problems. We’d find it unacceptable if our representatives suddenly started refusing to meet with constituents or if companies like Bank of America kept on charging ridiculous fees despite public uproar. Yet we accept that education doesn’t want to hear from students? We are the “customers” of our nation’s schools. It’s in our interest to learn in the best way we can–many of my fellow students have plenty of wise insights that I think could help change education for the better–but that simply won’t happen if the adults in the room are covering their ears.

I hope you all have a great week, and continue to enjoy learning with your students!

cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by langwitches