Sunday 11 October 2015

Are We Elitist Educators?

At the beginning of the year, I had a great experience on twitter that you can read about in this post.

Here's the short story: I asked a question, and heaps more people replied than I ever expected.

I've been active on twitter for a while now, but often go through drought conditions and floods. I do make sure that I check my feed at least once every day, and make sure I follow up on any notifications if any coming along - I hate the feeling of leaving somebody hanging out there.

Last night Cherie (@Cherie59789095) made the following tweet:
I thought that was really interesting, and offered my own 20 cents, as did others. To cut a long story short, some of us came to the conclusions that twitter is generally a welcoming environment, and the majority of us do not act in an 'elitist' manner.

Now I'm going to play devil's advocate. We've heard people say that twitter is an echo chamber (read this article) in that you hear want you want to hear, and that those who are paying attention to you are those who will agree with you anyway. So is this true for teachers using twitter, and more specifically, in New Zealand? My first thought is no, but hang on...

Can we really know what others think of us? I talk to people at my school about using twitter and how they should give it a go, but I am often meet with "I find that stuff too confusing" or "I don't have time" or the classic "That stuff is a waste of time, just full of people who want to show off." I disagree. Twitter is not confusing once you get going, you can always make time (it's not that hard) and it is not full of people showing off - read this post, shared to me by Stephanie (@traintheteacher).

Yes, there are some show-ponies out there, but then there is in real-life. You don't spend time hanging out with people you don't like, so don't do it on twitter either. The key is finding the right people to follow, and ignoring the rubbish. Surround yourself with the best people for you, those that will help you and support you - this applies to twitter and in real-life.


To me, the picture says it all, the essence of what can make twitter such a great professional tool for us. You have access to some pretty amazing educators out there. Jump in, make time, and I promise that you will find it time well spent in the years to come. 

#EdblogNZ Challenge - Week 2

One of the challenges this week for #edblognz was to meet a blogger atulearn who has inspired you. There were plenty of people there who I really admire and have helped me both as a teacher and personally. However the person that I want to write about was not at unlearn - in fact, I think she may have started the #notatulearn15 hashtag.


The person I'm going to write about is Kerri Thompson.

Many of you will know Kerri from one of projects that she has started recently. One that I know she is really passionate about is #BFC630NZ (Click here for the blog). This a quick and short Twitter chat each morning during the school term. Each chat is begins with a question to get things started, and the discussion moves from there. Kerri started this chat after taking part in a similar chat based in the US, and she felt we needed a kiwi version.

I personally struggle to get up and going in the mornings, and my 3 children also hinder me from taking part. I have taken part a couple of times, but time constraints always seem to prevent me participating as much as I want. I really admire her for getting this going - she has managed to bring together a group of people who share her enthusiasm, and this will keep #BFC630NZ running for as long as possible.

The project project of hers that I am really drawn to is #NZreadaloud (Click here for the blog). The concept for this is simple: "one book to connect kiwi kids."  This project involves classes around the country reading the same book at the same pace, and participating in shared activities by connecting online. Sounds simple? It is, but only because Kerri has made it this way - I'm sure it's not easy for her each time...

Again, this is a concept that she has participated in elsewhere and brought it to New Zealand. The Global Read Aloud is a project run by Pernille Ripp who is based in the US. She organises books for teachers to read to their class and helps teachers and classes around the world to connect with each other and discuss the books that they are reading.

I am a firm believer in the the power of story telling (see my previous blog post here) and really value the time spent and the discussions that are created in having a class shared book. Some of my fondest memories of my own time at primary school are of my teachers reading stories to the class - I just wish I knew what some of those stories were, like the one that Mr Terry read about the kids in Holland trying to save their town...

What I found, and I know others did too, was that you could base your entire literacy programme around this one book, not matter what is was. There were so many topics that we were able to explore, and so much learning came out of the books that Kerri choose - it was like she had planned all the insights that my learners were going to have during the term. Kerri has even involve the authors each time we have been involved. This made for a very powerful experience for my learners, because they were able to see authors as real people they could talk to, and not just a name on the cover of the book. It also helped my learners to understand that they could become real authors too - for them it made writing tangible and achievable. I know some kids will always remember these conversations, and it stars with Kerri.

My class and I have been able to participate in two of the three NZreadalouds, and this coming term we are going to take part in our first Glocal Read Aloud. If you are interested at all,I really do recommend that you find out about it now - it's never too late to join in!

Wednesday 7 October 2015

Questions About Change

Today has been the first day of ULearn 2015, and as usual, it's been a great day. This morning we had Grant Lichtman (@GrantLichtman) give a keynote that had many interesting ideas, which ultimately lead to some thought provoking questions.

One that stood out for me was "What the difference between going to school and great learning?" I think we can all agree that these are not necessarily the same thing - we all know, have, or have had students who come to school, but are not great learners. And does a student need to go to school to be a great learner? I would say no, but I think it takes a special kind of learner - youth or adult - to learn well in a vacuum.

The point he was trying to make was that just because kids come to school and walk into ours classes, does that mean they are really learning. The answer is no - being present is no guarantee. The main theme of his address was that to achieve, or approach great learning, you must be prepared to change, and change is uncomfortable. What prevents a teacher from making changes? According to Grant, a major reason is fear.

A really interesting question that Stephanie (@st3ph007) posed on twitter was this:


and that got me thinking - why does change freak me out? what could possibly go wrong? Actually, a lot of things, but will they result in major disaster? Probably not. Will the sun still rise the next morning? Probably. Could a change in my practice positively impact my students? Absolutely it could! So why don't I?

I'm really sure I know the answer to this question. I think that there are all sorts of pressures from different areas - parents, school leadership, the ministry - to get things 'right'. And making changes could always have a negative impact. It's always been fine in the past, so there is no need to change. However, we live in a different world compared to 30, 15, 5, even 2 years ago, so change is not only inevitable, but necessary. Doesn't make it any easier though...

Ultimately though, the ones that you have the most responsibility to are your students. They don't want to - or rather can't - learn using methods from the past, or methods that do not motivate, engage or challenge them. They need you to be the best you can be, and teach them in the best way for them. So what is more important - me being uncomfortable and scared of change, or my students missing out on the learning that they deserve?

I'd be really interested to hear your comments.
Cheers.

Sunday 4 October 2015

The Power of Stories

I have just read this post by Rachel Chisnall (@ibpossum) about the power of telling stories, and how moving the physical focus in and during lessons has made a difference in her class.

It got me thinking about how I teach, and do I do enough telling of stories. Rachel teaches high school whereas I teach primary - but should that make a difference? I suspect not. Rachel says it has made a difference for her, so surely it would for me. But then, do I tell stories enough?

When I think about it, I do *read* a lot of stories, and have always enjoyed reading the 'right' stories. These are not always easy to find, so when you find one, do not lose it! Taking part in #NZreadaloud twice this year has been great, and has had my class really thinking deeply about a variety of things that have come out of the stories. We're also starting Global Read Aloud next term, which will be a whole different level, but really looking forward to it.

But I digress... When I think of telling stories, I don't usually think about reading books, I usually think about telling about something that happened in your life. These are the times that I really have the kids' attention - I remember telling my class about the blister on my thumb the size of a 50-cent coin (the old ones...); I remember telling my class about the way Mr Terry used to zone out in the middle of a class when I was in Standard 3 (we call it a "mental beach"); and I will never forget the time I told my class about the time my brakes on my bike failing going down the Ashburton rail bridge and narrowly missing the horizontal bar at the bottom. The class loves it when I go on a tangent, and what I love is seeing their faces light up when I say "you know, this reminds me of the time when...."

I like to tell stories like these when I'm trying to make or emphasize a point, or when I'm trying to motivate some writing (ala Gail Loanne). But let's be honest, sometimes it's just fun to listen to stories, and to tell stories. They can get students motivated in different areas, and develops all sorts of skills and abilities. Students can show a range of learning, and can develops empathy. I love hearing, reading and telling stories, and if nothing else, I hope that my students develop a similar love for stories.