Walking the Talk: in the classroom and out

Lately I have forced myself to think through the reasons why I know that blogs and web2.0 tools are only the beginning of breaking down the barriers of classroom walls. At the same time I’ve been puzzling through the best way to talk to others about using twitter to develop a PLN.

It finally occurs to me the two are inter-related; obviously they are if you’re using twitter in the classroom with the students, but it took me a while to see how they are inter-related if twitter is used to develop one’s own PLN and if blogging and a host of web2.0 tools are used in the classroom with the students.

Attribution

Blogging and web2.0 apps work in the classroom because we (teachers) are in the business of guiding our students through a learning journey that will prepare them for their world. For the students of today this world is inextricably interlaced with technology, as I was reminded recently, a world in which they exist digitally even before they are born. Today’s students have never lived in a world without the Internet, mobile phones or TV and video content – except in school.

As I see it, here are some of the benefits to student blogging:

• Sharing thoughts, learning & ideas beyond classroom walls – building a community which celebrates student learning
• Collaborating and Connecting with other like-minded learners – local, regional & global
• Opportunities for feedback between peers, families, teachers – globally
• Bringing learning into conversations outside of school walls
• Dissolving the line between learning in the classroom and life (isn’t this how we become life-long learners?)
• Engaging students by using the tools they have never been without
• Providing opportunities for learners to customise and differentiate their own learning

As I see it, the list looks very similar when thinking of the reasons to promote the use of twitter in developing one’s personal learning network:

• Sharing thoughts, learning & ideas beyond school buildings – building a community which celebrates learning together
• Collaborating and Connecting with other like-minded learners – local, regional & global
• Opportunities for feedback between peers, staff and colleagues – globally past, present and future
• Continue conversations about learning outside of school walls
• Dissolving the line between learning at school and life (isn’t this how we become life-long learners?)
• Engaging colleagues by using the tools students have never been without
• Providing opportunities for learners to customise and differentiate their own learning

If I am to have an impact on how my students’ approach learning, rather than looking at what the technology does to support learning in the classroom, I as a teacher, need to think about the potential these technologies can have in supporting the learners through their own journeys. These journeys will continue when they leave the classroom each day and will continue when they move on from my classroom at the end of the school year.

Engaging in the technology myself is key to having any chance of understanding the potential it offers. Using the technology to develop my own understanding of learning both supports my understanding of the technology and the potential of the technology, all the while engaging me in my own learning journey. I am walking the talk, engaging myself in a similar learning experience I am asking my students to engage in.

How do you walk your learning talk?

In thinking through these thoughts the following sources were invaluable:
http://www.learningwithoutfrontiers.com/
http://www.ibo.org/
http://www.classroom20.com/
http://edupln.ning.com/
and of course my slowly growing Twitter PLN

My Life as a Mathematician

This week's prompt from Melanie is: Your Life as a Mathematician. When you're not at school are you still a mathematician? How do you use math to solve problems in your daily life? How did you use it today?

If you asked me 6 months ago the answer was unequivocally, “I am not”. As I looked around for ways to engage students in inquiring into maths concepts, rather than teaching them, I realised that we are all mathematicians. Perhaps not in the traditional Archimedes or Adam Spencer sense, but we all certainly use maths in our daily lives. As I looked for ways to improve my teaching of maths I forced myself to find reasons for knowing or understanding these concepts. If we aren’t going to use it in the world, or build on the understandings for some future purpose, than why learn it in the first place?

I started with the obvious … How much money will this cost, sometimes estimating, how much change will I receive? Walking through the isles of the supermarket shelves, which should I buy the big pack for $20 (56+6 dishwashing tablets) or the smaller one for $10 (22+8)? Calculating the time it will take to drive from home to the movies, what time should I leave to arrive with plenty of popcorn buying time to spare?

Then I moved on … I recently started running and wearing a Nike+ band, what distance did I run today, how long did it take me, how many calories was that, how many calories did I consume yesterday, am I in front or behind? Recently I’ve started twittering and blogging the stats I’m collecting are fantastic, Redesigning the kitchen and choosing the tiles I have been challenged with shape & space, patterns and measurement all in one – no wonder it is so hard to choose.

Grade five are working on volume and capacity, so I’m looking for areas in my own life where I am forced to apply these conceptual understandings: filling the fish tank or the pool, buying sand for the sand box, adding enough water to the saucepan to allow for the displacement of my artichokes (they were both enormous and delicious).

For me, the challenge to develop ways to facilitate inquiry has been resolved by looking for these concepts in the real world (which in turn becomes the challenge). From these real world examples I try to develop tasks that will give the students an opportunity to uncover the mathematical concepts through their discussions as they work collaboratively together. I agree it is hard, not to mention time consuming, but rewarding when you see the kids make sense of their learning. Learning about mathematical concepts in these ways, and understanding them myself, allows the students to develop their own purpose and application of the concepts. I always wondered how maths would be relevant to me outside of school – hopefully my students will develop this understanding while they are also developing the understanding of the concepts. Making the learning so much richer.

How do you use maths in your real world?

Tweeting...

It’s almost the end of our October break. With my husband away and my daughter in and out doing her own thing, I’ve taken the opportunity to engage in a bit of personal professional development in the form of social networking.

Always one to pick up something new and give it a go, I don’t mind a bit of technology, but after creating my twitter account last year I couldn’t make it work for me. I just didn’t see how on earth I could begin talking to strangers over the Internet. So, like so many good things, I put it down and walked away. With a week in front of me, my shiny new iPad on my lap and no plans for anything else I decided that this was the week.

attribution

It’s been strangely comforting. A little weird at first, voyeuristic certainly, yet over the past few days I relaxed into it. Nervous about where and how to begin I read quite a few ’How To Twitter’ posts (sorry I have read so many blog posts in these last few days I would have no hope of finding them again to attribute) which all seemed to offer the same advice: find some people with similar interests to you and follow them. As I clicked and navigated my way around I found there were loads of teachers just like me! I realised, as I started flicking more and more through tweeters (is that what a twitter post is called?) and profiles and links to web sites or blogs that this was an opportunity for me to find like minded educators – not only find them, an opportunity to follow them and learn from them.

Always a little slow on the uptake I then found links and references to things called PLNs. Never big on acronyms I investigated a little further and realised just how ahead of the times my own realisation had been. Through all of my twittering I began to feel revitalised about my own teaching practises and develop so many new ideas and plans for learning opportunities for my students. I have been having lots fun these holidays thinking about work.

This week I embarked upon my own learning inquiry – perhaps stumbled is a little more accurate because I hadn’t gone out looking to begin an inquiry. I just wanted to see if Twitter could work for me. I realise of course this was an inquiry and for me a most valuable one at that. Sharing in the learning experiences of my students is not enough, I realise that I also need to learn in the ways I am expecting them to learn. Using technology is a big part of what I do in the classroom, finding new and innovative ways to express yourself is exciting. I believe that it’s this excitement that contributes to making learning fun. I need to do it too, not as a teacher, but as myself. This is how I will truly learn.

This week of fall break has been one of my most productive yet. I have made some new friends (is it appropriate to call people whom I follow or who follow me friends?). Friends whom I know will help me to understand more about education, about learning and about technology. Thank you to all of those who have let me follow them and especially thank you to those of you who now follow me. I sincerely look forward to the learning we will do together.