Beautiful Learning

I am still on a learning curve when it comes to using iPads effectively with my students; the biggest challenge I have is creating learning situations so compelling that students are not tempted to wander off to readily available more satisfying activities (games). Today, I met with success.

Part of the grade 6 Social Studies curriculum involves learning about Canada's links to the world.  One of the articles we read during this unit tells the tale of Ryan's Wells. Ryan was a young Canadian boy who raised enough money so that a village in Uganda that had no access to clean drinking water could build a well. It is an inspiring tale that students enjoy reading.  It is also, now that we have the iPads, a problematic tale, the reasons for which will have to wait until the end of this post.

I organized 9 student desks into a u-shape with my chair at the top of the U.  This is a larger groups size than recommended for guided reading, but oh well.  We began with a discussion of Uganda. Who had heard of it? What did they know about it?  All had heard of it. None knew where it was located. Some thought it was small and poor, somewhat like Haiti.


I then distributed the iPads with a "Let's find out about more." And then the magic happened. For 40 minutes students were fully engaged, even those with severe learning challenges. Each child went in a different direction. One landed on the story of Uganda's Little League baseball team, another on wild animals, another on flag and facts. One hit a tourism site and saw, "Uganda, the Pearl of Africa". It detailed the many exciting things one could do in Uganda. The Kony connection was discovered, as was the current Anti-Gay laws that are being passed which prompted one learner to seek more information on Ugandan laws. Two boys found pictures of guns being destroyed which led them to learn more about wars that had taken place in Uganda. Another learner saw a picture of children locked behind a gate which led to "Why?" and the discovery that 40 000 children work in the tea fields of Uganda. The children discovered beautiful homes, grass huts, scenic views, areas of poverty and areas of immense wealth. We listened to a You Tube video where a teacher explained Speech Pathology programs, but what captivated the students was her accent. The music of Uganda was found by another and we all enjoyed listening. At certain points some students moved away from the group so they could hear better what was coming from their iPads.

Eventually I had to draw the session to a close, but none of the students wanted to stop. "I LOVE THIS," said one girl. "This was so interesting."  As we shared our discoveries, the children recognized that Uganda is a complex country with many problems, but much to offer. Every child but one (who hates airplanes) wanted to visit Uganda. All had more questions about Uganda that they wanted answered. I promised we would return to the iPads tomorrow to continue our exploration.

Which brings me back to Ryan's Wells.  In the past when I introduced this article, we also had discussions about Uganda. Then, as now, most students had heard of it but couldn't locate it.  The large map would come down; the students would say, "Oh, it's in Africa".  We'd share our brief knowledge and then begin to read.  What were the children left with at the end of the article? A picture of Uganda as a poor country with dirty drinking water that needs our help. Did any want to visit Uganda? Not really.

I realized today that in our desire to use Social Justice as our lens for instructing students about empathy and helping others, we are misguided. So many people see Africa as a place that needs help, rather than the place that my students saw in Uganda:  a country of complexities, just like our own. A country of beauty and ugly. Just like our own. A place with people, people we'd like to get to know.

It was beautiful learning, but I think the person who learned the most today was me.

Biography Inquiry: The Interview - What Did We Learn?

Today we took some time to reflect on what we've learned so far during this inquiry. The specific activities are explained in a previous post.

We went back to the beginning of the inquiry and I reminded them that we learned how to develop questions that lead to story.

We then discussed our interviews with teachers and what we had to think about in preparing, conducting and then reflecting on the interview. This was followed by a discussion on what they had actually learned from this process. As always, I know what I wanted them to learn, but what did they take away from this whole process? That's what's important.

 This has all been in preparation for interviewing a subject outside of school. Students are to select a grand-parent, great-grandparent, aunt, uncle, parent or family friend to interview and then create a biography.

We considered some essential questions in preparation.

What can we learn from ordinary lives?
What do our elders have to teach us?
How has my past shaped my present?
How does knowing about where I come from make my life better or worse?

Biography: Iconic Photographs

As part of our inquiry into biography, this morning we explored telling someone's story through a different medium - the iconic photograph.   We searched for iconic photographs and discussed why the images are powerful as well as placed them in historical context. It is wonderful having ipads in the classroom, because as questions came up, students could search for additional information. We discussed iconic photographs and images students were already familiar with including The Tank Man, The Falling Man, Raising the Flag at Jima, Uncle Sam, Rosie and several others. Students noticed the video link for The Tank Man which we watched.  Learning becomes fluid with access to wireless and devices in hand.

The task now is for students to create an iconic photograph of themselves.

 They have two weeks to complete this task.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qs4PNJHFKAefVX9QQKpuZoSULOquLMn4PPD6j-zS5ZM/edit

What Makes a Good Question? Biography Inquiry

Our work on biography began with an oral activity. Students were assigned a partner - someone from the class that they did not know well - and asked to interview them using the following questions:

Creating Interview Questions

Interviewer: _______________________________
Subject: __________________________________

Interview etiquette:

1. Pretend you are meeting this person for the first time.
   a) Introduce yourself and shake hands.
   
b) Thank them for taking the time to see you.
        (I really appreciate you taking time to see me)

c) If you are using a recording device you must let your subject know.
   Do you mind if I record this interview?

1. What is your full name?

2. Where were you born?

3. Who are your parents?

4. What’s your favourite colour?

5. Where do you go to school?

6. Where do you live?

7. What’s your favourite activity?

8. What’s your favourite season?

They set about interviewing their partners and recording notes.

Once everyone had finished we regrouped to reflect. I asked a few students to share various answers and then asked students what was wrong with the questions. None could come up with an answer so I selected a student to demonstrate the problem.

It went something like this:

Watch what happens when I change the first question from "What is your name?" to "How did you get your name?"

and question 2 to "What happened on the day you were born?"

Those questions prompted an outpouring from the class of stories. Everyone wanted to share their stories. They got it. The key to an interesting interview is creating questions that lead to story.

Students then had to work with their partners to reframe the questions so they would lead to story.

ex: Who are you parents? became How did your parents meet?

Where do you go to school? became What's the worst trouble you've ever gotten into at school?

Students were then given the task of selecting a teacher to interview and creating 10 questions that would lead to story. Included in this was a discussion on the ethics of interviewing, recording and sharing personal information.

Tasks included:

1. Develop the questions

2. Create a release form.

3. Book a time with the subject.

4. Interview, record, make notes immediately after the interview.

5. Self-assess - how did the interview go? What did you learn about interviewing?

6. Give feedback to the class on what was learned during the process

They visited this site to find examples of suitable questions.

Students are now writing 1 page articles about their subject or the interview itself.

This is preliminary work for our inquiry.

Learning 2030: The Future of Education

This year, Ontario's publicly funded broadcaster, TVO, is exploring education and more importantly where education is headed. I was invited to write a blog post for them. Here it is.

How Do I Use Technology?

Suffer the Young Engineers

Dinner with geeks.

Last night my husband (#reallygeekyspouse) and I  got together with some friends we hadn't seen in a long time. Eventually, the conversation rolled around to childhood risk-taking and experiences unique, I would say, to boys who grew up in a pre-911 world.

Remember those days?

Chemicals where easy to purchase from hardware and drug stores. Childhoods were highly unsupervised. Cities were smaller and children had access to space - not just parks with play structures designed for safety - but open fields, undeveloped expanses that were well out of the way of nosy adults.

It was a world that allowed problem-solving and risk-taking. Two of  the dinner guests' teen years were dedicated to the task of perfecting explosive devices:  homemade fireworks that sparkled with colour, canons, rockets and rocket launchers.

It was a world of experimentation, design, failure and redesign, problem -solving, close calls, trips by bicycle across the US border to acquire materials not available in Canada, and immense satisfaction when something finally worked.

All acknowledged the debt they owe to those experiences for their understanding of physics, chemistry and learning through trial and error. And all mourned the world we now live in where those kinds of opportunities are no longer available to young engineers in training.

November 18 Update:
The Young Engineers now have a place where they can use blowtorches and circular saws for their own purposes! Maker Kids

Teach Kids the "Game" of University Early

I will be sending a daughter off to university soon and have been  visiting universities to learn more about post-secondary education.  All universities and colleges hold open houses in the fall for prospective students and their parents. When we sent our first daughter off to university, we attended no open houses. She had done her own investigating, selected her program and then informed us of her decision - as she has done since grade 2 with all other major decisions. Her world revolves around horses and veterinary school has always been the end goal. No discussion needed!

My second daughter has broader interests and is more open to shared investigation. She wanted to explore her options, so last weekend she attended the Ottawa University open house and then I joined her in Montreal for McGill University's.

Times have certainly changed since I attended university. Back then, there were no day long events that afforded students the possibility of making informed choices. You simply filled in an application with the 3 permitted post secondary choices and off  you went. I don't know anyone who actually visited campuses ahead of time - and I don't think any of my peers discussed with their parents post-secondary options. We made our choices and we went. Most of my friends' parents had not gone to university, so their insights would have been pointless, other than to insist that we attend university.

I have to say I was impressed by how things have changed.  Prior to the open houses, my daughter did attend information sessions at her high school where representatives from various institutions gave overviews of their schools, but these sessions in no way compared with what she learned by attending the open houses.  She now has a much clearer understanding of how the game of university works and what needs to be done in high school in order to set herself up on her path of choice.

We also learned some things that surprised us. IB programs which are spreading across Ontario are not taken into consideration when evaluating potential students. Marks are compared mark for mark whether the mark comes from a student in a traditional high school program, an IB program, a French Immersion program or ... .  Acceptance into a program still comes down to marks.  Students who begin IB programs with the intent of making themselves more eligible for their Canadian university of choice should carefully consider whether the demands of the program are worth the effort. One poor student at the McGill session was shocked to hear that his lower mark in an IB program might prevent him from being accepted into McGill.

We gazed with envy at he fees Quebec students pay to attend McGill: $2 300 per year compared to what the rest of Canada pays to attend university. $5-$10 000 per year.

At the end of the weekend the girls felt informed and better prepared for what lies ahead, but they commented on the gap between what they learned in those sessions and the information they are receiving at school.

Both felt that not enough useful information about post-secondary is being communicated to students in high school early enough. Both wished that they had had information sessions about post-secondary starting in grade 11 rather than waiting until grade 12 so that they could be more strategic in their course selections. Both felt that grade 11 students should be strongly encouraged to attend university open houses in grade 11 - that waiting until the fall of grade 12 is in some ways too late. Students can better prepare themselves if they know what the end goal is. Given that grade 11 marks are looked at, they felt that more students would take school more seriously if they had a better understanding of where they were headed and first-hand information about various institutions.  University campuses are exciting and both thought that by attending an open house and experiencing university life even for a day, students would become motivated to do well. Both thought that teachers in high school providing advice on universities should be obliged to attend a few open houses so that their knowledge of how the game of university is played today is more up to date,  particularly their understanding of the options and flexible pathways for students in university. Of, course the questions remain, do students entering grade 11 have the maturity to make these assessments? Is post-secondary still too distant a prospect to make such visits useful? We won't know unless we begin the process.

One final uncomfortable thought. The girls commented on the range of quality teaching that they've experienced in high school. Some teachers have been outstanding, others weak in their program delivery and ability to communicate effectively with students. Some teachers are better than others, yet all teachers hold the future of students in their hands because of their control over marks. Unsettling indeed.

The Importance of Story

This slideshare comes from Siobhan O'Flynn and shows the evolution of story in our digital world.
http://www.slideshare.net/sioflynn/cwc-social-story-business-you-web-20-14998789

Success Criteria: Retell with Smart Technology

I'm back at it!

The technology that we received through the Mind Share Learning Award and the Ken Spencer Award are being put to good use. Our Smart Board is now up and running and I've acquired a handy device called a Genius Mouse Pen which acts as a mouse and a smart board pen that can be used remotely. I can now be anywhere in the class and fully control the board.

We are just becoming comfortable with the tools. Below are video notes from a lesson I did on how to write a retell. Retell is the lowest skill level on The Thinking Matrix, but the foundation for all other levels.

The lesson was done with the whole class. I then saved the notes and when I got home added voice over.
The lesson has been filed in our Edmodo account so all students can access it. As a start, I am thrilled with the results