Tag Archives: student-centered

Getting Back Up on the Horse

Posted on January 30, 2013 | 1 Comment

I have not blogged since I’ll Have Another won the Kentucky Derby. Since then, much has transpired, and without going into details, I have neglected the duty to share my thoughts and ideas on learning (or actually the trends that will shape learning in the not-to-distant future). As to not overdue it, this one will be quick and painless.

“I’ve got a list of mistakes that God made in creating the world, & 1 of them is, he only made data available about the past!” C.Christensen

— Timothy Pettine (@timpettine) January 30, 2013

I finally finished Clayton Christensen’s book Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Education Will Change the Way the World Learns. I am about fours years late but at least I have arrived. The most impactive take away from the book is the great concept of “hiring a job” or what has been coined as the “Milkshake Theory of Disruptive Innovation.” The video below does a really nice job identifying what “hiring a job” means and then explains what this means for human interaction.

When we are attempting to predict human behavior, let alone disruptive trends & systemic change due to innovation, we must be critical, reasonable, and as unbiased as possible. We end up being far more prepared for the unexpected, and this, to me, is the most important, far more flexible and adaptive. We may not know what schools will look like in 2025, but I can guarantee that by 2025 we will be wondering what schools will look like in 2050. It is our nature and it is driven by our sense of time, purpose, and curiosity.

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Posted in 21st century learning

Tagged critical thinking, disruption, flexibility, student-centered

T.I. is all about the process

Posted on March 4, 2012 | Leave a comment

I think I blogged about this during the first course because at the time it was the relevant question on my mind as I began the course. I actually created a workshop called Mashing the Past that emphasized ways to integrate technology into a curriculum. Teachers should have a sound fluency of the curriculum’s they are teaching in order to identify when technology can upgrade units. I think Heidi Hayes Jacobs, a leader of Curriculum 21, makes an excellent point that assessment is a logical place to start with upgrading units.

I have also found it useful to produce unit plans in google docs that incorporate specific tasks with web based resources. The tasks all utilize written reflection, exploration, construction, and collaboration. The technology is appropriate and students are encouraged to pursue their own interest in connection to the essential question of the unit. Below is an example of a unit plan from my General Psychology class.

I tend to bank on creativity, backwards design, and a large treasure chest of tools to shape my lessons. The technology more or less enhances traditional assignments, yet can seriously transform learning when the process is heavy in meta-cognition. As you can see from the unit plan above, the process takes a significant amount of energy and focus.

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Posted in COETAIL 4 - Pedagogy

Tagged 1:1 laptop, cognition, critical thinking, design, pedagogy, psychology, skills, student-centered, teaching

1:1…Productivity, Audibles, and an Open Message to Intl’ Schools

Posted on March 4, 2012 | Leave a comment

I piloted my first 1:1 classroom in 2007 at the Walworth Barbour American International School in Israel. I had a basic laptop kit of Lenovo PC’s that, maybe, had 80 GB hard drives. It was a social studies class for English language learners and so the course was very literacy based. It was the perfect storm for 1:1 lap top integration.

Image from Gary Stein courtesy of Time Magazine

I have spent an enormous amount of thought and time in developing successful ways to run a 1:1 classroom. And I’m still experimenting. I have been extremely fortunate to have attended the right professional development opportunities and stay connected with the mavens of technology integration in education. The most important consideration in turning your classroom into a 1:1 environment is that you are not adding a new academic tool (like an overhead projector), you are actually changing the context and philosophy of learning.

I thoroughly enjoy having laptops in a classroom; however, to say I have never been frustrated by their use would not be true. Expecting problems, glitches, and technical issues would be most pragmatic. The benefit here is that individual experience in troubleshooting increases enhances the skills necessary addressing issues as they arise. The philosophical shift is now the teacher as the learner. Unfortunately, some teachers are uncomfortable with embracing this important 21^st century ideal. My advice: swallow your pride, admit your human side into the learning process, and have some fun.

Here are some important reflections on learning in a laptop environment. The aim here is to share what I have found to be some basic approaches that support two key areas for teachers: productivity and pedagogy.

Productivity

Proper laptop use starts with a clear understanding of how the technology will be used in the class and the specific protocols for maximizing its potential. I think an understanding based on productivity is crucial. We will use the machine to produce and at the same time, to be an active learner. Getting a container would be the initial way for teachers to model productivity. It can be a web site, wiki, or blog…..or Edmodo!! I love Edmodo because it allows me to be extremely productive in a variety of ways. It functions as a very sophisticated communication tool that carries a library feature that allows for organization of resources. I use Edmodo in conjunction with Google Apps to power a productive classroom. Every student shares a Google document (only one) with me so I may check their progress in assignments or have them respond to prompts. It’s primarily a paperless environment with the ability to constantly monitor progress.

Productivity should be a top priority for implementing 1:1 protocols and showing students what and how to make their systems more useful. Here is a shortlist of important productivity tools/concepts to use for managing a laptop:

Social bookmarking – I use Diigo.
Dropbox – cloud based with sharing capability of files.
Chrome extensions – Evernote, Screenshots, Diigo, Twitter, etc.
Folder management
Google Doc management and collections
RSS Reader
Kwiki Cloak anti-procrastination tool
Instapaper for Twitter – to bookmark links to read later when the Twitter feed is too heavy
Picasa or Flickr – to build collections and for practicing visual literacy.
Teach Tagging…it’s a big deal
Create a Youtube Channel

screenshot

Pedagogy

With the outstanding tools available for teachers and students, it is easy to get consumed and overwhelmed by the new blogging platforms and integrative resources. I feel that here is great opportunity to communicate my thoughts on calling audibles in the school year. An audible is quick change in the course of an activity or initiative. Effective teachers are like QB’s in football….they can call audibles when the situation calls for it. I try and stick to big initiatives and carry them through the school year, while tucking away new tools for implementation next year. I plan to see what I can do with Google+ next year so for now I am sticking with what I’m using now. Smaller tools and apps can, through backwards design, be implicated into a unit of study (sometimes easily, sometimes it’s a stretch). Effective teaching strategies and clear communication of expectation will slowly, but surely, transform a classroom into a much more interactive and problem based classroom.

Here is a short list of what I have found useful as a 1:1 teacher.

Join the Diigo Groups 1:1 and Classroom 2.0
Put your unit plans on google docs…second smartest thing I have done with technology.
If you use Edmodo, create a Teachers Lounge and add resources through feeds; then once a week remove/tag the resources (by subject area and section). By Christmas you will have a treasure chest of awesome.
Create a Livebinder and start your own textbook. Share it!
Build a Personal Learning Network. Smartest thing I have ever done as an educator. If you don’t have a PLN….then forget everything here. The number one reason people leave positions is over the lack of Professional Development. A Personal Learning Network has been the single most important discovery of my career. You should know what people are doing in their classrooms, tech or no tech.
Create a “Tools of Mind” list for giving students a chance to create their own learning opportunities.
Have students blog and encourage their writing to address multiple formats with an emphasis on voice.
Engage in visual literacy activities, critical thinking problems, and creative fun.
Rubrics are everywhere so borrow them and adapt them. Even better, use generic rubrics that target key areas.
Use the class time for active strategies involving verbal fluency, conversation, and individualized de-briefing.
Social Media — encourage students to find relevant articles on thee material
I do use a basic folder to have students cover up their screens on certain occasions. I expanded the use of the folder into a search reference tool, formative assessment tool, place to score blog entries, and relevant strategies for thinking analytically.

Screenshot from my Website

Will students check emails and skype chat in your class? Maybe – but they won’t if they are busy and focused. What we are really educating with a laptop is self-regulation. Can a toddler-teenager-adult have the discipline to ignore the underlying distractions of the web? Ask your students and empathize with them because the teacher is just as likely in the same boat.

One last note about the 1:1 classroom

Being an international teacher with some degree of control over where I wish to teach, I can say, with the utmost conviction, I will not work at a school that isn’t 1:1.

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Posted in COETAIL 4 - Pedagogy

Tagged 1:1, 1:1 laptop, 21st century, 21stcentury technology skills pedagogy communication, pedagogy, reflection, skills, student-centered, teaching

Technology is not Additive; it’s Ecological

Posted on March 1, 2012 | 3 Comments

I have recently been hired as the K-12 Technology Coordinator at Ruamrudee International School in Thailand. I prepared a vision for technology in education that has seen it’s fair share of revisions and reflections. I share it now, for the first time. I use technology because history has showed me that the brightest minds in the world have embraced technology for it’s practical application. I’m sure the late Neil Postman would agree that people should know a few things about technology.

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Education in the 21st century

Education in the 21st century is transforming at an unprecedented rate of change because the needs of learners have shifted toward skills that embody innovation and human experience. I see technology as a historical common phenomena that has peripherally (and continually) shaped the way people view themselves and the world around them. Science, travel, and commerce have evolved (while pushing boundaries) due to the simple implementation of a better, more sophisticated tool which has in turn accommodated progress and collective understanding. We are in a unique time in education and 2012 will most likely be a tipping year as tighter budgets and greater accountability force teachers into adopting new and better tools of instruction.

There is no escaping from ourselves. The human dilemma is as it has always been, and it is a delusion to believe that the technological changes of our era have rendered irrelevant the wisdom of the ages and the sages.

As a student of history, I have always shaped my understanding of human experience around three essential relationships: people’s relationship to their environment, to other humans, and to powerful ideas that have resonance and meaning. Human experience underlies all that we do as educators in preparing students for active participation in a global society. My vision for technology stems from my thinking about what I do as an educator in meeting the needs of my students. But I am not really supporting any real change if I am attempting to change the broken system called formal learning.

I believe:

1. The most up to date information is only accessible in real time. People are at a disadvantage when their information in outdated. This disadvantage can have a range of repercussions; more importantly, the formal learner must be equipped with the understanding of how to navigate the information available, appropriately use the information, and share their use with others.

2. The role of the teacher has shifted to that of the learner, facilitator, and approximately nineteen other roles. Embracing the 21 roles of the teacher is an initial step toward identifying the value of new tools and ways of thinking in traditional classrooms.

3. Changing roles means changing personal/group habits, temporal/spatial structures, and (wait for it…..) philosophies. If a teacher has not changed/modified their own philosophy, then everything else would be meaning less and lack motivation. Decision making demands input from all stakeholders regarding schedules, space, collaborative planning time, and data-driven instruction.

4. Former CEO of General Electric Jack Welch wrote, “If the rate of change outside an institution is faster than inside an institution, that institution is in peril.” Here is the call for adoption of more progressive blueprints of instruction. Curricula are the most important factor in the success of learner. Good curricula makes a bad teacher effective, bad curriculum makes a good teacher ineffective. The call is for internal and external collaboration to streamline, implement, and celebrate mastery learning which is supported by innovative vehicles of social media and rapid communication

5. The commitment must be made institutionally and then recruit personnel that share the same values and vision. School leaders need to ask the right questions of their prospective hires and support a program of mutual sharing, collegiality, and celebration. I believe that traditional mindsets and external pressures weaken commitment to meeting students needs of the 21st century. I asked a Superintendent of a top school in NY if there were plans in his school to initiate a laptop/1:1 program and he cringed communicating the a general fear that students would misuse the computers. I believe that on many occasions we are only limited by our own thinking in what can be accomplished. It is criminal to pass this mindset onto the next generation.

Technology in Education

Technology in Education should be explored and implemented to its innovative ends! Implementation of a one to one program requires appropriately support for effective use of the tool. While technology opens so many opportunities, I also believe that it is too often viewed as an end in itself rather than a means to an end—or both! Should technology simply replace all aspects of education for the sake of innovation? Who could propose such a preposterous measure? While teaching requires current instruments and connectivity to students, not all current instruments and student connectivity is enhanced by technology. Like all good things in life, technology is yet another element to examine with an eye for balance. There is great educational and developmental value in students flexing such a critical eye on technology resources, determining effective and ineffective uses of technology in education and in life. There are a number of ethical issues just surfacing regarding technological innovations—issues of ethics that are far less supported by decades of moral and human values. These issues offer an opportunity for students to truly construct parameters for real-life ethical issues regarding how people use technology in the world, ultimately enhancing social awareness through the critical eyes of multiple students. My vision is that technology supports all three aspects of the human experience believing that teachers must evaluate the quality of their instruction through reflection and augmentation of the following:

Environment
Human interaction
Ideas

1. The focus is not technology integration, but transformation of the system based upon connectivity, collaboration, communication, collegiality, community, and celebration. All words that start with the letter “C.” The thinking that I support is one of personalized learning that enables each student to take a customized path toward meeting high level standards. Flexible uses of time and space allow differentiated approaches to content, assessment, pacing, and learning style. This level of personalization, when combined with world-class standards, performance-based assessment, anytime/anywhere learning, deep student engagement and agency, and a comprehensive system of supports, is referred to as next generation learning (NGL); I whole-heartedly endorse choice in learning. This is how people refine their ability to dialogue, crowd source authentic problems, and innovate.

2. My vision supports an increasing emphasis upon practical and philosophical use of social media through pedagogy and project-based tasks that support a wide-range of 21st century literacies. Everyone blogs in school and the blogs become a digital portfolio that allow for practicing of curation, construction, and written reflection. All important literacies can be supported and student writing will flourish through appropriate feedback. Institutionally, we shall support the Creative Commons mentality of sharing with proper attribution, while simultaneously contributing to specific learning communities. All teachers will develop a personal learning network for on-going professional development that continuously shares new resources and approaches while challenging existing thinking.

3. An emphasis on fast connectivity along with digital and technical support that minimizes breakdowns in classroom instruction and communication. Let’s double the bandwidth every year! Lets have a tech team within sections that have members representing each department. Super fast connectivity is vital for the uploading of media and information. I would like to see a schools become think tanks and centers of inquiry, where the intellectual challenges are practical and put the learner inside the dilemmas. New types of courses will emerge that will not only pique interest, but will require guest speakers, large amounts of data collection and storage, and creativity. Mental associations are the stuff of creativity and people must be given opportunities to be cognitively challenged.

4. Broadcasting & Vertical Initiatives will be much more pervasive in the future. Skill sets will become much more specialized and so a tiered system of service will most likely emerge. The best skill sets will earn premium wages for services. However, the services will stille be in great demand with the opportunities left available for those below the most sought after quite substantial. In addition, broadcasting will be far more reaching with specialization in a diverse and varied number of subjects. People will come to accept information from specific broadcast sources (youtube channels come to mind here), while the natural synthesis of ideas, interests, and subjects will create enormous opportunities for new areas of thought, exploration, and design. School wide programming where a common theme is shared and used to drive creative productivity and collaboration can happen with much more frequency in a connected learning environment where the school values are emphasized, supported, and aligned.

5. Ambitious Exploration and Experimentation should be encouraged and supported when ever possible. Teachers should feel free to try new methods and approaches to instruction if the methods emphasize challenging but engaging tasks. There are those that feel that some cultures do not embrace risk-taking, however that is a very subjective term. Anything novel requires some risk, other wise it would not be a challenge. There is a implied responsibility to address the needs of the whole student and experimentation and exploration are specific habits of mind that are generally valued by groups. I have blogged on this idea before but I am entirely certain that there must be opportunities throughout formal education for students to not only choose what they want to learn, but also plan how they will learn it. That is a pretty ambitious experiment for any teacher. The next generation of teacher should be able to integrate content, pedagogy, and technology CREATIVELY.

Some rights reserved by - Annetta -

It doesn’t matter if it is five, ten, or one hundred years, the developing mind will require a structure of learning that has leverage, is relevant, and is enduring. I will wager 50 bajillion Schrute Bucks that will include technology because technology has leverage, is always relevant, and seems to always pop up in the historical record as a major agent of change. Technology is not additive-it is ecological.

In short, we must prepare learners to critically embrace their futures, not our pasts!

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Posted in COETAIL 4 - Pedagogy

Tagged 21stcentury technology skills pedagogy communication, brain, cognition, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, design, disruption, learning, philosophy, skills, student-centered, teaching, vision

The Psychology Behind Reverse Instruction

Posted on February 28, 2012 | 3 Comments

You have no idea

It is not a secret that reverse instruction alters the traditional landscape of education. I mean, what kind of teacher just assumes that a video or screen cast can effectively deliver instruction the way a trained professional can? What happened to the human element in education? Are teachers an endangered species as a result of reverse instruction? Will Khan Academy threaten my future?

Please! Where do these irrational questions come from? Are teachers predisposed to the role of devil’s advocate? The first understanding of this approach in education is that it is not very innovative or revolutionary. I teach high school aged students and my colleagues would agree that at some point these learners must begin developing habits that allow them to be responsible for their own learning. Actually, in the 21^st century, it is earlier than high school. Try Kindergarten. What I find most practical is that reverse instruction acknowledges the transformation of what we used to value in education (knowledge) to what the world values (information). Technology may have enhanced and facilitated the forms and resources for learning, but the Socratic method is quite alive in the flipped classroom. The best part of the flip, hands down, is that the students can finally drive the class.

The Flipped Classroom Model Full Approach

I teach IB Psychology and some of the concepts and theories students must master in the course are quite sophisticated. Schema Theory particularly can blow your mind. The cognition necessary to build conceptual understanding cannot be derived from someone else’s mind. The brain doesn’t work that way. It is impossible to share a mental framework with another student and thus “plant” information in their minds (I also don’t believe narratives do this, but they are entertaining). Reverse instruction of sophisticated material requires student engagement and inquiry. The in-class agenda becomes predominantly deep discussion with Q & A time allowed. In-class activities can engage students in research, organization, and further extensions of the learning with emphasis on the specific meaning connected to the information. This is the flipped classroom: jumping “head first” into a new and interesting concept, while the teacher “life guard” throws the life line when necessary. I cannot lecture on notes, I cannot present lectures embedded into power points. That is a waste of time and the learning moment is seriously marginalized. Interestingly, I suppose it doesn’t matter if the students utilize videos, notes, articles, textbook; what matters is how those students are expected to relate to the information. What they need is an essential question to guide their understanding outside of class so that they do not lose focus. Once in class, their responses can be challenged or shared. Ultimately, the classroom experience should allow for thinking time, peer reflection/discussion time, creative activities, and student feedback. It would be difficult to schedule these important experiences in a forty minute lecture.

If you have an hour of time, it may be worth it to listen to Eric Mazur discuss how moving away from lecture has transformed his teaching.

Psychology & Reverse Instruction

I feel there is some sound psychology at play in reverse instruction. Cognitive and behavioral sciences have elicited a number of interesting ideas about learning, decision making, and motivation:

I think the motivation factor is one easily addressed in reverse instruction, particularly if there is variety in the forms of resources and reasonable time expectations. I also believe that if students actually feel more confident about their cognition, then they will try more difficult tasks and become better at self-regulation, abilities inherent in not just academic success, but future success.
Moving from conventional to conceptual understanding does not happen in lecture. It comes from time and attention, deep processing, and articulation. Importantly, when students do well with conceptual problems, they do well with conventional problems. This cognitive effort works the slow thinking system that is less intuitive and demands more information and time.
A major part of the flipped classroom should engage students in abstract and integrative thought processes. Mental models of information and associative memory are extremely vital to success. In fact, creativity has once been described as “associative memory – that works extremely well.” Creativity and systematic understanding can be fostered through inquiry and constructive (or connective) activities. Teachers can facilitate a classroom that move away from favoring cognitive ease by giving less of the information and providing more of the challenge.
Teachers should train students to self-prime for their individual self study. Priming techniques are powerful, yet can be extremely subtle. Experiments have shown that simple visuals or words can prepare the mind to learn or behave in particular way. Using priming in reverse instruction significantly enhances the students engagement outside of the classroom.

Reverse instruction also conditions learners to build organizational skills, seek help and assistance, and construct their own personal learning environment. Technology has greatly facilitated learners by allowing them to crowd source information (like using wiki’s or sites), apply and construct visuals that enhance understanding, and share those materials with others. I feel that if teachers communicate the value of using information over the acquisition of knowledge, then learners will seriously reexamine their roles and responsibilities. With reverse instruction, what we really expect are students that perform at a high level, not regress to the mean, as so often happens when certain units favor their abilities or piques their interests.

In the end this is about good pedagogy. When the brain learns something new the first time, there is a lot of work involved in regard to neural activity. Anyone who learns something new (a procedure, information, language) must devote an appropriate amount of time and attention to that new learning. That makes the learning part of education quite difficult. In the words of High school chemistry teacher Ramsey Musallam ,

“Good teaching, regardless of discipline and age, should always limit passive transfer of knowledge in class, and promote learning environments built on the tenants of inquiry, collaboration and critical thinking.”

This doesn’t sound like reverse instruction, but forward instruction. As for the questions at the beginning of the post, isn’t exaggeration a truly wonderful literary device.

For more on the flipped classroom check out the following resources and articles:

Should you Flip your Classroom?

Flipped Classroom Livebinder

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Posted in COETAIL 4 - Pedagogy

Tagged 21st century, blogging, cognition, communication, critical thinking, flipped classroom, learning, pedagogy, psychology, skills, student-centered, teaching

Doing Your Job

Posted on February 14, 2012 | 1 Comment

"Time - In"

I remember when I began teaching (back in 1995) reading an article by John Taylor Gatto , a former New York State Teacher of the Year, on the “six hidden rules of classrooms.” The article struck me at the time as an attempt to demonize learning in public education, rather than live up to its intention, which was to initiate change. Interestingly, here I am sixteen years later in what must be considered a “critical period” in education, where how and what children learn is becoming increasingly differentiated and integrated with technology. 21^st century learning is all the rage and with it, educators are beginning to tear down the traditional classroom walls, replacing them with connectivity and problem centered tasks that demand collaboration and critical thinking. What a wonderful time to be an educator.

As someone who blogs only on matters in education I am increasingly vocal about the concept of responsibility in education. A friend of mine on the Board of Education once spoke to the entire district prior to the school year with a simple message to do your job. “If everyone does their job, then this will be a great year in a great school.” The resonance of this charge is extremely relevant to the impending (and in some cases, current) adoption of technology in education. It is essential for school districts to decide the apparatus and the context by which children integrate technology into their lives. Interestingly, if all stake holders (teachers, parents, community) are engaged in the acculturation of children; and mobile/information/digital technology is an obvious component of that culture, then the answer is pretty clear. WE ALL ARE.

The social scientist in me identifies the tech integration question as more about people than about the technology. This is a progress issue, not a technology issue. It is simply unrealistic to design and implement curriculum and assessments with a 20^th century mindset. The progressive changes must be institutional and drive a “culture of do” rather than a “culture of know.” Nearly every teacher I know has done the activity “What makes a GREAT student?” and the answers are inevitably focused on doing, not knowing. This might not be so progressive after all. Real learning is engaging and authentic. It requires students to be responsible and appreciate accomplishment; they build self-conscientious attitudes and self-control, two core habits of mind that drive success in all endeavors. Progressive curriculums that foster these habits may or may not utilize technology. However, more often than not, technology compliments the needs of learner by offering tools to transfer, process, and re-package knowledge in frames that are useful and progressive.

This never hurt anyone

Flexibility, Relevance, and Personal Growth

Teachers spend a majority of their time and energy modeling behaviors to students that are required for success at the next level. Teachers that incorporate meaningful use of technology are undoubtedly challenging students to have greater flexibility in their approach to learning by providing opportunities to plan their own learning and how to demonstrate their understanding. Already, connectivity has transformed learning outside the classroom. I feel that education should embrace this huge transformation and bring relevance to the learning moment. Teachers can model ways their subject areas can be connected to relevant ideas and situations found outside of the classroom. I am quite confident that authentic experiences, dialogue, and proper reflection will exacerbate personal growth. After all, this should be what all teachers would want for their students.

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Posted in COETAIL 4 - Pedagogy

Tagged 21st century, 21stcentury technology skills pedagogy communication, flexibility, pedagogy, student-centered, teaching

From Complexity to Clarity, It’s a Visual World After All

Posted on November 21, 2011 | Leave a comment

“Visual literacy is the ability to interpret, use, appreciate, and create images and video using both conventional and 21st century media in ways that advance thinking,decision making, communication, and learning.” – Engauge Report on 21st Century skills

In 1826, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, a curious sort interested in the emerging field of lithography, utilized a pewter plate, a few chemicals, and eight hours of daylight to bring the world the first photograph (or heliograph as it was called) dooming the then emerging artistic movement known as Realism. Within a few short decades, capturing life’s moments and likenesses became common place, infiltrating the lives of people everywhere by bringing news, enhancing prose, providing proof, and most importantly, affecting beliefs. We know now that the photograph is just an extension of what people have been drawn to eternally: the power of the visual.

I sincerely doubt there is anything artificial much more complex than cyberspace…

via

As a history and psychology teacher, I am inclined to provide significant opportunities for students hone their visual literacy skills. Here are a few ways visual literacy may be embedded into lessons:

Using a practice known as SOAPSTone, students apply a number of specific critical thinking questions to charts, graphs, photos, and political cartoons (collectively known as infographics).
Photo essays with Voicethread, Weebly, and Clevr
What’s happening and why? – provide a photo or series of photos centering on an historical event and have students identify the event and how the picture is connected to the events significance.
How Many Really?
Create infographics like this one created by a student last year:

created by Adisa Narula, Ruamrudee International School

Presentation Zen style slide shows like the one I created in Coetail class.

But it wasn’t until I stumbled onto this resource that I could see the proper way to approach functionality of the visual in the proper context. You see visuals often play a very specific role in the external environment. I am inclined to see how visuals can take complex issues or situations and bring much needed clarity to the viewer. I can also see the opposite effect of the visual when considering the aesthetic value of art or the powerful purpose of a symbol. Through history, symbols have provided meaning and ambiguity. Man’s earliest attempt to provide help and also conceal secrets have come through visuals (Dan Brown has made millions of dollars off of this concept). One of the earliest, and still one of my favorite, websites is an outstanding educational tool called the Encyclopedia of Symbols which allows users to identify symbols through their unique visual characteristics (axis; hard/soft lines etc.) and also find symbols that have a special meaning to the individual. I highly recommend adapting this resource into a lesson for it’s appeal and visual literacy components.

So what makes humans so attune to visuals? Short answer: It’s the brain.

Cognition requires energy and focus. The brain looks for significant meaning by anchoring itself to cues. The trick is the nature of the cue and the proper level of association to the cue (that conceptually is the fundamental purpose of forging connections). Text, for example, is a symbol system and must be decoded to have meaning. That is, the brain first must compare letters and word-forms with shapes stored in memory. Then it gauges how the words fit together in the context of sentences, and so forth. All considered, reading is a lot of mental work. Granted, such effort may be perfectly justifiable while reading a novel and sipping iced tea in the back yard, but it’s not effective when listening for long periods of time. More importantly, written languages are accompanied by particular nuances that slows down processing.

Alternatively, images require relatively little processing because they fit with the message. Audiences routinely and efficiently observe visuals, analyze their meanings, and give attention to the speaker’s words, without a problem. That’s why watching television or movies is effortless. Showing people meaningful, content-based visuals, as opposed to text, lessens their cognitive exertion and improves overall experience. Most importantly, clarity is brought to complex concepts by allowing for entire pieces of a concept to be identified at the same time. The synchronic feature of images is often underscored….unless you are looking at a subway map or a complex photo.

Teachers should consider anchoring their lessons in visuals as either tools or as assessment products. According to the Engauge Report, students who are visually literate:

* Have working knowledge of visuals produced or displayed through electronic media

* Understand basic elements of visual design, technique, and media.

* Are aware of emotional, psychological, physiological, and cognitive influences in perceptions of visuals.

* Comprehend representational, explanatory, abstract, and symbolic images.

* Apply knowledge of visuals in electronic media

* Are informed viewers, critics, and consumers of visual information.

* Are knowledgeable designers, composers, and producers of visual information.

* Are effective visual communicators.

* Are expressive, innovative visual thinkers and successful problem solvers.”

It is reasonable to embed one or more of these outcomes into any unit plan and to help with that adaption, I have placed a very cool and helpful tool below called the The Periodic Table of Visualization Methods . Use this tool to complement the lessons you plan or for students to use when creating visuals (which is one of the emerging 21st century skill sets in commercial and non-commercial sectors of society).

Amazing way to think about visualizations.

I was very excited to find the video below to support the utility of visuals. Academy Award winning director Martin Scorese is a huge proponent of visual literacy initiatives and articulates what he believes to be the key power of visuals in reaching creating meaning and connecting to a wider audience.

A Conversation with Martin Scorsese: The Importance of Visual Literacy

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Posted in COETAIL 3 - Visual Literacy

Tagged 21stcentury technology skills pedagogy communication, brain, critical thinking, design, SocialStudies, student-centered, visual literacy

8 things I have come to understand (about high school students). Part 2

Posted on March 18, 2011 | Leave a comment

Well since no one seemed to have an opinion on my last entry I am inclined to forge ahead and reveal the rest of my ideas regarding high school aged students. Perhaps in the end readers may interpret my observations as a call for change in regard to how the last four years of secondary education equips people for the next stage of their lives.

5. Even though it is embedded in their socio-cultural experiences, high school students are all over the place in regard to proficiency of technology and information literacy.

In 2008, I began piloting a 1:1 laptop program in an ESL History class as it seemed to be an appropriate time & context to begin my exploration of using computers as a ubiquitous element of instruction. The class was small, about 10 students, and differentiation through the multitude of web resources was easily facilitated. We set up collaborative Google docs for peer editing, created thematic charts using forms, and utilized news sources to identify thematic concepts in the local, regional, and global settings. I was hooked. But do you think the students were? Not really. The most glaring issue was bandwidth which frustrated the students more than me. However what began to emerge in the classroom was a very interesting continuum of technical proficiency, organization, and intrinsic motivation to fully explore the opportunities afforded by the web. I still see this today and often ask students to reflect upon what they know about the World Wide Web and how it relates to their lives. Does it make it easier? Does it make it more difficult? The continuum I’m speaking about still exists today as students are confronted with an endless amount of web2.0 tools. Presentation, mindmapping tools, voice threads, & video related resources have learning curves and take practice in order to master and realize full functionality. Students need time in class to explore these tools and they need collaborative buddies to work with them to maximize their features. Identify those students who are patient enough to navigate a new resource and have them demonstrate how it is done.

This can be the kind of product generated:

More importantly, do not assume that students know how to use (or know the premise) behind a certain tool, especially social media tools. For an early in the year activity create a shared resource that articulates how & why certain tools should be used and update it every month or ten weeks. Tim Tyson recommends a de-gimmickification of web based tools and one way to accomplish this by outlining very clear design elements into your rubrics that the technology may enhance. Either way the message is clear from students: “we don’t always know the technology so give us time to learn it if you want good results and full functionality.”

6. They are generally illiterate.

The focus here is upon the premise that there exists multiple literacies that require student fluency by the time they go off to college. I am not talking about academic benchmarks or standards but more of an ability to understand in contexts and have the aforementioned abilities to construct meaning for problem centered tasks around those contexts. This generally needs to start in an early years program (think TV literacy, or analyzing commercial advertising) and progresses into specific disciplines that require their own set of implicit and explicit knowledge complementing a systems-based understanding of the subject. In history classes this literacy “looks” like recognizing point of view (how a persons belief is connected to their identity) and understanding causation; but it also incorporates systems thinking like historical accident and conjuncture, while having the capacity to understand an event or an idea at the individual, group, and institutional level. Historical literacy is tough stuff. What about media literacy or financial literacy? I would assume they have their own systematic approaches, specialized vocabulary, and practical application. We may wish to consider whether or not our high school diploma grads can read a financial report or a Paul Krugman column, or better yet verify the authenticity of media reports & Wikipedia. Systems thinking and specific literacy initiatives are a logical first step in upgrading curricula.

7.They are afraid.

I would be too if I was graduating from college with no prospective jobs waiting for me. But really the fear is not related to that but more to the enormous life transitions that await them after graduation and the layers of uncertainty around their relationships, their financial resources, and the weight of future life choices. One could argue that this is a natural phenomenon: the are supposed to feel that way (it’s part of the adult-transitional stage of development). Stress on teenage students from parents, teachers, and friends contributes to the over arching fear of failure. As a Psychology teacher, I have watched the self-fulfilling prophesy in action as learned helplessness becomes a endemic of the high school structure. There are many reasons for this but the two that stick out to me are the rigid pacing of learning and the lack of exploratory learning. More importantly, in the traditional classroom with the “sage on the stage” students are denied regular opportunities to comment and speak on topics or verbalize connections and relevance to what they were learning. If they enter my classroom today and are told to work together with other students, many will struggle due to the lack of real social tools to make this happen or worse, are discouraged by the demands of a problem and believe that the assignment (and teacher) will go away. Basically grades don’t motivate while fear of failure elicits little to no personal investment, cheating, and general apathy. Once again, this should have it’s own blog entry down the road.

8. They are in trouble before school starts.

This is the elephant in the room people. Teenagers (we all are actually) are averaging one less hour of sleep than 30 years ago. The ramifications of this are extremely detrimental to every component of what is necessary for learning: motivation, attention, reproduction, and retention. Executive functions are the hardest hit by sleep deprivation and I am inclined to say that engaging students in verbal skills and developmental is basically fruitless as studies have shown the negative impact of this “lost hour” on verbal fluency.

I for one have attempted to address this issue by cutting back on homework, using time stamps for anything produced outside the classroom (say 10pm time stamp or not accepted). I understand the circadian rhythm phenomena used by apologists that believe students will still stay up past their bed time regardless of school commitments. But I am convinced that through a combination of multiple changes to the time frame of schools along with parent collaboration, it would be possible to marginalize the damaging effects of lack of sleep.

There is still much I intend to learn about my students and for now I am optimistic that innovation and sound research will initiate paradigm shifts in education. I added a photo to the top of this blog yesterday. It is my four year old son Donovan climbing the biggest, steepest temple at Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia. He was determined to get up those steep stairs and with a little guidance and a strong safety net (Me) he achieved what he wanted to accomplish. I pray this trend never changes for him.

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Posted in COETAIL 1 - Info Literacy

Tagged 21stcentury technology skills pedagogy communication, collaboration, student-centered

Tag Archives: student-centered

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