It's all about risk now!

(Ian Chia posted a comment in response to one of my posts. I did not want my response to just sit in a comment box but written as a post. Here is Ian's comment)

Hello Heidi, I think you may be interested in this very reflective post on "teaching as transparent learning" from George Siemens: "...when we make our learning transparent, we become teachers." http://www.connectivism.ca/?p=122 And these from Silvia Tolisano (@langwitches) http://langwitches.org/blog/2009/05/15/making-learning-transparent/ http://www.slideshare.net/langwitches/shifting-to-21st-century-learning I hope this opens up some interesting new vistas for you to explore. Thank you for documenting your journey and your classes' journey - it's humbling to be able to contribute a little to it. Best, - Ian on Purpose, Audience and Censorship

Hi Ian,

Thanks for the links. Funny that you should send them to me just now.  When I was using twitter this week with my class, I have to say it was an uncomfortable feeling - being that open in my classroom, with that level of exposure and unpredictability. I've been trying to put my finger on why.  I had a moment of clarity last evening about transparency, and there in my comment box were links to further my understanding. You have an uncanny ability to send things at just the right moment.

I did sense in that moment of clarity, relief. So much of the education experience for teachers in recent years has been fear.  What will parents think? What will the community think? What will administrator's think? From what direction will I be hit?  There is a constant sense that we are being "watched" and that we are "in trouble", that what we are doing is wrong. I do think these feelings have a root cause: the desire to bring accountability, consistency and improved practice to the public education system.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with the community wanting to know that education dollars are being spent effectively.  Improving practice is always a good thing.  I think the way in which the idea of accountability was introduced is problematic, but I don't know if it could have been avoided. 

When you have a large bureaucracy trying to implement changes in practice, by the time the original idea and message filters down to the lowest levels (and I see the irony - teachers and learners are at the lowest levels of decision making) they have been so poorly translated that they become poorly implemented. That combined with change theory - how change actually happens and the different developmental stages that teachers are at in their understanding of pedagogy and practice makes for chaotic implementation.  

I will fully acknowledge that when the massive changes of the past few years were introduced, I was highly resistant and somewhat closed to what was being said.  We were forced to make changes in our practice that none of us truly understood. We were also forced to make changes while not being fully supported and encouraged by the system demanding change. 

Three examples:

1. The amount of support available for struggling learners at the junior and middle school levels is completely inadequate for what is now expected on EQAO scores. 

2. Administrators did not fully understand the goals of these changes and thus did not know how to provide effective support.

3. School reviews were poorly implemented and created unnecessary anxiety and a sense of defeat in many of my colleagues.

Mistakes are being recognized, changes are being made.  Our recent school review, for example, was very well-done. It was non-judgmental and merely reported what was observed at that moment in time in our classrooms with some suggestions for where we might want to go next. 

I will also add that I now understand the purpose of the practices I've been asked to use with my learners. They are based on sound pedagogy. To be fully implemented, though, dollars need to be focused on providing more consistent support to struggling learners. Classroom teachers can't do it all!  If the policy makers are demanding more from educators then they must also provide the necessary tools. I think investing in technology is key to this happening.

The effectiveness of test scores as a tool for measuring improvement in learning is something that I am not going to address here. It's too vast a discussion. (Information on Ontario's version of standardized testing, EQAO, can be found here. http://www.eqao.com/

I also will not address the increasing pressure from (some not all) corporate interests who see profits in education.

Which brings me back to twitter and blogging and posting and being observed publicly as we engage in the act of learning.

What we were doing was being fully transparent.  We were showing that the most powerful and meaningful learning occurs when risks are taken and when difficult topics are not avoided. 

We were showing that rich learning is messy and it comes down to a matter of choice: what do we want from learners and educators?  There are essentially two models.

a. The teacher stands in front of the classroom and teaches a lesson with a fully predictable and predetermined outcome. This is sometimes useful when teaching skills. Paragraph writing skills are weak; teach the paragraph. No one really understands what a verb is nor why the verb choice in a sentence is incorrect, teach the verb (which I did with my grade 7's this week). 

b. The teacher enters with her class into new territory and takes risks.  The goal in these situations is to prompt critical thinking and creativity which have been identified globally as two requirements for this new age.  

To allow these abilities to develop, we have to allow these abilities to develop.

This kind of learning involves risk, unpredictability and undetermined outcomes.  It causes everyone to think more deeply and to continuously reflect and assess: what is being learned, how is learning occurring, what meaning does it have? The results and impact of this kind of learning are not always measurable.

Teachers who have been trained to control, predict and manage all moments of learning in their classrooms will find this approach to learning uncomfortable. It requires them to become uncomfortable. 

For parents, administrators and the broader community who have been trained to expect controlled, predictable and fully managed classrooms, this will feel uncomfortable. It requires a new level of understanding, acceptance and support for the learning process.  

Working in public spaces such as twitter, blogs and other digital media while doing this is highly risky, but

I think by being fully transparent and visible about our practices, mistakes, processes, insights, redirections, weakness, strengths, uncertainty, questions, desires, gut instincts and revelations of what we have learned AND by teaching our students to be transparent and visible as they go through this process, the original goal of accountability in our education systems will be addressed in a much healthier way. Everyone is able to observe the learning process. Nothing remains hidden.  Acceptance becomes much easier when one sees and understands learning in action.

Most of all though, there is impact and greater learning for everyone. My class's public discussion on twitter of digital media and censorship came up in a later twitter discussion between myself and educators in my PLN (professional learning network which is now over 1, 300 members spread across the globe. I shared what we had done in the classroom and I also shared two of the digital media presentations of my students. One teacher watched them and then tweeted back that after viewing them she realized that she needed to broaden her teaching of digital citizenship. My grade 7 students became the teachers of teachers who are now going to adapt their practices and improve learning in their own classrooms.  Being transparent and working in a public space suddenly seems important!  It really comes down to advancing as a civilization.  How can we most rapidly share what we are learning so that others can also benefit?

For this to be successful some things are required.

1. It must be accepted that mistakes are part of the learning process.

2. We must be fully conscious of learners, developmental process and that thinking and analysis is reflective of stages of development. 

3. We must protect our students. Good digital citizenship skills must be taught and for them to be taught we must allow students to work in digital spaces. (I am going to address why I think twitter in particular is a useful tool for this in a separate post.)

Everyone needs to understand the following: the world has become digital; educators need to be using digital tools in our classrooms.  We are trailblazing as we try to determine how to use these tools effectively. We are experimenting. We are seeing what works and what doesn't. We are trying to determine how to push the boundaries of our classrooms into new territory that engages and stimulates learning.  It is the most exciting time ever in education.  I suggest everyone get on board and enjoy this journey!