There were so many great articles for this “Thing” that I had a hard time sifting through them to focus on any one topic or theme…so, I’m going with the flow. Below are a few bullets from different articles that struck a chord with me. I’ve added my comments below each one. The links are there, too, in the event you’d like to go back and/or check out an article further.
- What, then, is beyond the tools? What should we really be reaching for? The Ripe Environment. The simultaneous personal and public experience of using all of the tools at the teacher’s disposal to tear down walls, collaborate with each another, and question the traditional role of technology in the classroom.
So, how do we get to The Ripe Environment? Well, I have started to reflect on how I became a constant-learner and contributor to this thing I am more and more reluctant to call School 2.0. I want to replicate this process for others, and showing people my flickr account, my del.icio.us account, my blog, my podcast, my pedagogy, my wiki projects, and my twitter account just doesn’t seem to work very well. What does actually work is making sure that they have the right environment so that they can explore these resources on their own, through their own creation.I am now proposing the 10 prerequisites for collaboration as a way of creating The Ripe Environment in the classroom, in a school, and in a district. http://learningischange.com/2007/06/29/the-ripe-environment/The idea of creating a ripe environment for change is very intriguing to me. What is that certain “mix” of factors for a teacher and a teaching culture that allows teachers to collaborate, experiment, and take some risks? Time and getting rid of standardized tests! Since we can’t change how much time is in a day and it doesn’t seem that standardized tests are going away anytime soon, how about some professional development on doing PBL (project based learning) in a meaningful way? Mitch Resnick of MIT feels we need to make the rest of school like the kindergarten classroom. His article states”
“Underlying traditional kindergarten activities is a spiraling learning process in which children imagine what they want to do, create a project based on their ideas (using blocks, finger paint, or other materials), play with their creations, share their ideas and creations with others, and reflect on their experiences — all of which leads them to imagine new ideas and new projects. This iterative learning process is ideal preparation for today’s fast-changing society, in which people must continually come up with innovative solutions to unexpected situations in their lives.”
He then goes on to say that technology supports this type of “play” for older students (and adults!) I think Kindergarten has the ingredients for a Ripe Environment. - After 10 years, it was time. We could not sit through another bullet-ridden, brain-numbing student presentation.
Without their bullets, students were forced into storytelling. They connected with their audience.
Many students thought outside the box. The spoke to their audience. They used humor. They used rhetorical devices–quotes, metaphors, repetition, questions, etc. We saw audience engagement and we suspect that some of the presentations inspired learning. http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334/post/130020413.htmlI, too, got this dread for bullets with the sixth grade students. Each student creates a powerpoint based on their library research of a chosen topic and it was a bit tortuous to hear their presentations. No matter how many times I told them to embellish and expand on the bullets and not read from the slide…this is just exactly what they’d do! This year I had sixth graders not use bullets at all. All of their information, except for a few key words, are entered in the notes section of the slide. They then use creative commons images (as much as possible) to visually enhance their information. On presentation day, I allowed them to have a copy of their notes (we don’t have much time to practice before presenting) but many students are able to just tell the “story” of their topic. It was so liberating! It does take more time to find the right images and re-work slides to make the presentation flow better, but it sure is worth it!
- I really liked the tone in Andy Carvin’s letter to Matthew Honan, Wired author, about his article “The Six Lamest Social Networks.” http://www.pbs.org/teachers/learning.now/2007/09/an_open_letter_about_cyberbull.html
- Perhaps we need to set a date for our education to switch entirely over from analog. By this I’m not really talking about the technology. Instead, I refer to the fact that the digital components (or more specifically, 21st Century tools and skills) is treated as add-ons, as optional, as preparation for the future, rather than implemented as necessary for now.
You want to watch TV on February 18, 2009? You better give up those “Rabbit Ears.” You want to teach in the 21st Century? You better give up those 20th century schools. http://bobsprankle.com/bitbybit_wordpress/?p=349/I like the comparison to the switch that the entire country is undergoing from analog tv to digital tv. See, cultural change is possible!
