One of the threads to emerge out of a number of terrific presentations at November Learning’s Building Learning Communities 2011 conference in Boston was the idea that we are shifting to a new pedagogy.

We might describe the old model of teaching–let’s call it “education 1.0″–as a problem-solving pedagogy. In it, students are asked to solve hundreds of trivial problems in textbooks and worksheets. Page-tall columns of algebra equations come to mind immediately, but we find equally dull work in other subjects, too: book reports in language arts classes, listing provinces and their capitals in Social Studies classes, for example. I realize I’m being a bit hasty here. There is a good argument for drilling in order to build skills. There is also great value in just knowing things. However, it’s not hard to see that if this is all we do we are in danger of creating a classroom of highly skilled but not very imaginative or creative students. This is the lament of China’s education leaders.

Education 1.0 was replaced by a problem-based learning model–let’s call this education 2.0. Here, curricula and student work are driven by relatively complex problems meant to give purpose to the sort of drilling that went on in vacuo before. In order to solve a problem, students–it’s believed–will naturally search for and hone the skills they need to solve it. The critique heard at BLC 11, quite loudly from Ewan McIntosh, is that these problems are artificial. The answers are already known by the teachers or some other authority so the problem is not in fact a problem to be solved at all. More importantly, as Dr. Eric Mazur and Dr. Steven Wolfram pointed out in their keynotes, this sort of contrivance does little to prepare students to be the life-long learners schools universally claim they are creating. Again, I’m aware I’m taking some liberties. It is indeed well worth the effort to walk through some old problems just to see how others went about solving them, to study their methods, as we say. This is what Newton meant when he said he stood on the shoulders of giants. He did not mean, however, that the purpose of that study was to add another hammer in the problem-solving toolbox. He meant the purpose of that study was to find where old methods were insufficient for cracking open knew knowledge.

So here at BLC 11, the buzz is about giving education 2.0 another turn turn to create a problem-finding pedagogy. Let’s call this education 3.0. Here we want students to engage with problems to which even the teachers do not know the answers, to engage with the “unknown unknowns” as Ewan McIntosh says.

It’s there in the terra icognita of knowledge that learning gets exciting. Discoveries in this area have genuine value not just to the student, but to everyone. I’ve heard many teachers express chagrin at the way students toss out their notebooks at year-end. But if those notes aren’t much more than a record of drills–the equivalent of a record of the pushups one has done all year–I can hardly fault the students. Indeed, I think we have a serious moral problem if we are compelling students to attend classes and don’t help them produce something of intrinsic worth.

Something else exciting happens when we pass the edge of the knowns, too, I think. Students are encouraged to work at a very high level of thinking when they are asked to analyze a collection of data, judge it’s worth, synthesize it and draw out a question for further study. (I wonder if structure of education itself inhibits, even excludes, higher-order thinking. That would make the efforts of teachers to encourage students to think more deeply and richly largely misplaced. If we want to change behaviour, we have to make sure the environment supports the new behaviour. It’s a study I’d like to pursue.)

Wolfram created his fabulous apps to relieve the students of the burden of trivial calculations so that they can apply there mental energy to finding the new problem in set of data. Marco Torres looks at apps like Thumbjam and Hex OSC Full  the same way, as tools that let the non-piano player get on with making a soundtrack for a video, for example. (Hans Rosling, not at the conference, created his Gapminder software for the same reason.) I am proposing a model workflow for a problem-finding school that could employ these tools and get on with finding new problems:

This is a sketch. I need to spend some time thinking about what this looks like in practice, especially across all the grades. But I’m suggesting that as the students consider the questions in the diamonds, they must do some hard thinking. They would also have to think carefully–critically–about where to get help. I can see links to building social networks and teaching social search here.

I am especially interested in the final question–”is it worth keeping?” That question, essentially, replaces the final exam. (There’s probably another loop in here that asks if we ran another iteration of the problem would we find a better answer.)

Students also have to consider how they will store that data for later use. I favour a bucket to hold huge piles of unstructured data that users can can reorder as they need, hence my note to tag rather than file. It seems the semantic web, which would be ideal here, is still a ways off, but there are ways to set up unstructured data collections even primary students could use. We had a custom-built prototype bucket at my previous school and I am pretty sure one can build a good workarounds using a combination of off-the-shelf tools. (More on that later.)

I’ll spend the next few weeks of summer tinkering with this plan and have it ready to run with my students when school starts in the fall. In the meantime, I’d appreciate any thoughts.

 Cross-posted in my own blog, A Stick in the Sand.

The curriculum being used in this endeavor is free and open to use by anyone. It can be found at http://www.njctl.org.

Also, Bob will be a presenter at the 2011 Building Learning Communities Conference being held this July in Boston. For more information, and to register, visit our conference Web site at http://www.BLCConference.com.

Dr. Williams encourages your questions and comments through his Twitter account and his blog.

Also, Dr. Wiliams will be a presenter at the 2011 Building Learning Communities Conference being held this July in Boston. For more information, and to register, visit our conference Web site at http://www.BLCConference.com.

What was most startling to me was the degree to which teachers demanded — and got — extra time to go deeper into their interactive projects. We focused all the daily quick writes, reflections and activities around a theme of discovery and had the teachers do things that, sometimes, allowed them to go deeper with earlier writing. I’m not sure we had fully intended the outcomes, but it was truly inspiring to see that adults can learn in many of the same ways as children.

We had the teachers do some quick writes based on words or images or a series of images or sounds. We had them reflect on one point in our discussions that stood out. We had them create fiction and poetry and essays. We had them do a Five-Card Flickr exercise and then had them respond to five related photos we chose and then collaborate on creating a best story out of it. We had them bring in a picture of an elder and write a story about them and then podcast it and then add a music track to their podcast.

They loved that one. And they did it in stages, first the short piece which they revised on the basis of comments and their own desire to improve and tweak. They then recorded themselves narrating the piece. They revised some more and re-recorded. They then added a music track.

One teacher did a piece about her husband’s mother who had died when she was 23 and he was only five months old. The teacher was fastidious and abosorbed, making sure her recorded voice sounded strong, making sure the wording was just so, making sure the music did not drown out her narration. Her piece was powerful and heartfelt; you had a sense of the woman. What was most amazing, though, was the teacher’s desire to do the woman honor. She was nervous about how her father-in-law would react, specifically, would he be annoyed and tell her, “You never knew her.” and grumble away. I have not yet heard back from the teacher, but I imagine a much different picture, her father in law tearing up, being moved by a daughter-in-law who would go to such lengths.

Another teacher wrote about a rock, yes, a rock. But not any type of rock; one that was shaped like a frog which has, all her life, watched over her favorite swimming hole in a lake in Ontario where she goes every summer. “All four seasons Frog Rock sits patiently.  Watching.  Waiting for his little children to arrive.” It is no wonder that she’s so appreciated by her students.

And another wrote about someone she had met in college who died early, unexpectedly but who had always wanted to fly, “to get his wings.” As the teacher writer put it, “Emory had dreams and aspirations as we all do. He earned his wings on June 17th, 2003, but they were not the wings that he, I, or anyone else expected.”

What was so moving about this class was how the teachers leaped at the opportunity to create, to be students, to be like their yearlong charges. It was great to see what they produced, the risks they took and, in the process, the community they created. I so wish there was more time in the year for teachers to do this sort of thing. The teachers have continued to connect online, to read each other’s posts, to comment.

We are seeing the same behavior on a number of the school sites where the kids, simply, can’t stop writing, can’t stop connecting and are posting work their during summer vacation. I visited a summer writing camp at one of the schools last week. The kids were busy with writing when I walked in and, when they were done, we all moved into the computer lab where they did a free write to a piece of music that a friend of mine wrote. Then we talked. I was reminded by the snippet of sound I have included here, some of their reactions, earlier in the year, when asked what they thought of their digital writing classroom, how the writing — not the judging — is the important part.

The teachers in our course felt the same way — how the opportunity just to write and to learn and to explore without being judged, fostered engagement and growth. These teachers, like the students we work with, took creative risks in a supportive digital community. They helped each other take those risks. And they were deeply rewarded. So was I.

I’m looking forward to BLC2011. Hope I meet you.

Geoffrey Gevalt is founder of Young Writers Project, a small nonprofit in Vermont that works with hundreds of teachers and thousands of students in an effort to improve students’ writing skills and digital literacy. He will be presenting at both the pre-conference and main conference at BLC2011. To see the project’s work, visit youngwritersproject.org, digitalteachers.net or ywpschools.net He can be reached at ggevalt (at) youngwritersproject.org or 802-324-9537

Jennifer and Andrew will be presenting a session at this summer’s Building Learning Communities Conference titled Creating Sustainable Change. This session will dig deeper into the ideas discussed in this podcast. To learn more about this session and about BLC, visit http://www.blcconference.com.

How do you make your school library the MOST POPULAR place in the school?
Can you image the day when the majority of your school’s content is on e-readers?
How would the flow of traffic in your library change if teacher mailboxes and good food were placed there?

Dr. Tracy also provided us the following resources to share with our audience.

• Cushing Institute for 21st Century Leadership
• Cushing Academy’s Open Content Curricula
• James Tracy’s Publications

Dr. Tracy will be a presenter at the 2011 Building Learning Communities conference being held the week of July 24th, in Boston. For more information about BLC, and to register, visit our conference Web site at http://www.BLCConference.com.

The opening discussion of this event was presented before an audience and was also broadcast on the Web so that educators from around the world could take part in the dialogue. The recordings of this live broadcast our now on the Web and available to all.

IdeaJam: Education Live Stream – Alan November’s Introduction
IdeaJam: Education Live Stream – Q&A Part 1
IdeaJam: Education Live Stream – Eric Marcos’ Class
IdeaJam: Education Live Stream – Skype Sessions
IdeaJam: Education Live Stream – Q&A Part 2

Within these videos are discussions with several educators from across the country who are helping their students to engage and excel through the use of critical thinking skills and tools available to them on the Web. Some of these educators, including Eric Marcos, Garth Holman, Michael Pennington, Aaron Sams and Jonathan Bergmann, will also be presenters at BLC11, this July in Boston. We encourage you to watch the videos, then come out and meet these fantastic educators. Register now!

After viewing the videos above, you might also be interested in these additional resources.

Alan November’s Article – The Digital Learning Farm
Talking Student Tutorials (Part 1): A Podcast with Eric Marcos
Talking Student Tutorials (Part 2): A Podcast with Eric Marcos
Building Legacy Within a Textbook: A Podcast with Garth Holman and Michael Pennington
Flipped Model of Learning: A Podcast with Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams

An 8th grade student has been accessing a social studies website created by a teacher from another school in another state. On this site, the teacher has been posting the exact teacher resources provided by the textbook company: PDF versions of the tests, quizzes, study guides and textbook pages in their original forms. Today the teacher discovered the student with the day’s quiz (this school uses the same textbook) in hand and referred it to the principal’s attention.

The student, in subsequent conversation with the principal, confirmed that he had been accessing the website over time and has been using the resources to prepare for the teacher’s assessments. While the teacher does utilize a variety of assessments in the classroom, she does utilize the stock quizzes included as part of the teacher resources.

Now, we all agree that the teacher posting the textbook material in this way, on her site is breaking copyright. We might also argue that these stock assessments don’t carry much value. But the ethical dilemma for us is: What, if anything, did the student do wrong? Was the student wrong to continually go back to this site to get this material knowing it was the exact material his teacher was regularly using?

On May 2nd, educators, experts, parents, teachers and students from a variety of backgrounds and points of view will come together in Los Angeles to flex their creative muscles on teaching and learning solutions. The IdeaJam, moderated by Alan November, sponsored by Intel and Google/YouTube and produced by Katalyst, will ask participants to problem-solve and create new ideas for classroom design that integrate technology and help boost creativity. Many of the ideas that will be discussed directly relate to Alan’s article, The Digital Learning Farm.

The IdeaJam program is a truly interactive experience. Technology will help elevate the discussion to a higher level, creating a conversation around creativity and education, and will allow for a robust dialogue that happens both in the room and live, online. You can join in the conversation on Twitter @IntelEdge or check out the livestream on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9YULZJwJuI. The stream will begin at 9:30am PT on May 2nd.

Learn more about the background of this event here.

We hope you will join the fun!

And don’t forget, to continue these important discussions, come join us and our friends from around the world at BLC11 this summer in Boston. Click here to learn more and to register.

How often we run into this time crunch in the world of writing and the teaching of writing. We don’t have the students write because there’s not enough time to get the laptops out, or there is too much required work to get done. And how often we don’t post a comment, or, gulp, a blog post, because, well, we’re too busy.  But I say just do it. Make time for writing. Get kids writing often. And get them in digital spaces so they can read and comment on each other’s work. Regularly. Engagement, improvement in writing and community building will result.

Tonight we had the final meeting of the  North Section of YWP’s master class in digital writing. Teachers shared their most successful experiences of the year and the discussion quickly gravitated to a fundamental observation: Peer commenting on their YWP digital classrooms had an enormous impact on the students — and the teachers.

One teacher polled the students about what they liked about the site, about writing in a digital space where they got regular comments from their classmates. “The thing that meant most to them,” the teacher said, “was getting peer comments. They really didn’t want my comments — they get those all the time. They wanted their classmates’ point of view on what they were doing.”

Another teacher talked about how she got the students to rate each other’s work on individual projects. She was stunned not only by how accurate the responses were but also how direct — they were not afraid to, politely, tell each other what they thought the other had done well and what they thought had not been done well. As the teacher was telling about this experience, another teacher said she now regularly has her students rate each other’s work — privately to her — and she then gives each student her grade and the average grade the classmates gave each student. Often, she said, the students were stunned by the grade given them by their mates. This was not possible, she added, when the students were merely writing for an audience of one and the rest of the class didn’t see each other’s work.

A sixth grade teacher had his class set up their rubrics for commenting. They jumped at the opportunity, led the discussion and established the guidelines for the commenting and even created samples for the rubric. The teacher said he had seen results: “I’m amazed at the incredible growth” of the commenting. He offered several examples, including this one:

• Good job on the work; it was amazing. I never thought that you could go to so many places in just in one trip.  I have on question for you: How many days/weeks  was the trip? Also why didn’t you bring me anything? Just kidding. But how come going to the animal shelter was your favorite part of the trip and also going to your uncle’s was you favorite part of the trip? I am just confused.   I loved it when you said “Your heart was beating loud and how maybe everyone could hear it.” That was my favorite part.  I think your writing was great, but there were a few parts that were iffy. I hope you find this comment helpful.

What I find interesting about the teacher’s example is the tone: The care, the civility and the specific observations.

A high school teacher said that the digital spaces — and peer commenting — had allowed her to “set aside my red pen” and encourage development of ideas. She also worked with the students in her AP class to establish that “each comment had to be unique to that piece. The comment could not apply to any other piece of writing.” Gone, then, were phrases like “this is a great piece of writing,” or “nice job.” The comments had to provide specific observation. The teacher modeled the commenting but then backed off as the class took over.

One downside: One teacher said that early on it was sometimes “devastating” to a student if he or she didn’t get a comment from a peer. All had developed ways to encourage, require, cajole, trick the kids into making sure everyone received comments and that students did not comment on only friends’ work. Among them: A shared responsibility — if anyone didn’t get a comment on an assignment, everyone’s grade would be reduced. Another told the students that she would not grade any of the work if he saw a piece did not have a comment. And still another teacher got the class to buy into full commenting coverage as a shared responsibility.

In last night’s session there was a consensus among the 15 teachers in class: Their students’ writing had improved as a direct result of regular peer feedback something only possible in a digital space.

Geoffrey Gevalt is founder of Young Writers Project, a small nonprofit in Vermont that works with hundreds of teachers and thousands of students in an effort to improve students’ writing skills and digital literacy. To see the project’s work, visit youngwritersproject.org, digitalteachers.net or ywpschools.net He can be reached at ggevalt (at) youngwritersproject.org or 802-324-9537

by Michael Gorman – Welcome to another post, one that I hope you will find valuable and will pass on to others. I think you will learn that when it comes to a search… Advanced really can be quite Basic! It is a pleasure to post and network with all of you here at November Learning. You can also follow me on twitter (mjgormans) and of course visit my 21centuryedtech Blog. Now, enjoy a visit designed to help you reflect on how students are being taught… or not taught to research!  Have a great week – Mike

I often present on the importance of Digital Immigrants (most teachers) facilitating Digital Natives (most k12 students)  in the use of digital technology. You see, I believe that while today’s digital natives have a affinity for using digital tools… they often do not have the life experiences to utilize these tools to their greatest potential. One example I would like to present to you today is the use of Google as a search engine. Since I am still in the classroom I am able to watch students perform various searches with Google. I have the opportunity to see what I claim is inefficient input resulting in a multitude of needless results from Google. Assisting our digital natives in the process of searching is something that all of us as digital immigrants can help with. We have the life experiences and educational background to help our students fine tune their digital skills and become more productive in research.

I would suggest that educators direct students towards the Google Advanced Search Engine even before using the Google Basic Search. In fact, I would further suggest that an Advanced Search be used until students understand how to use these advanced techniques in a Basic Search.  Why? First, I do not see  these skills as advanced techniques. I see them as a skill set necessary in finding information in a productive manner.  When  educators ask students to search and find information on the internet… it is not to just get the answer. It is to learn an important process that will serve them through future schooling and eventual careers. Let’s take a look at the Google Advanced Search Engine and see why it really should be a basic prerequisite!

Twelve Reasons To Teach Searching With Google Advanced Search

1. The Advanced Search teaches important syntax such as STRINGS, AND, NOT, and OR. In the first part of the Advanced Search as shown below students will learn the following:

All these words (above picture) allows the AND statement (AND is actually not needed in Google since it is inferred when multiple words are put in. This is an important concept since I have seen students many times needlessly type in the AND command. (Note that small words such as articles are omitted - a, the, of, an, as… etc).

This exact wording or phrase (above picture) allows words to be put together in a STRING. In this case Google will look for a string of words that must be together in a website. This is great when looking up an author, movie, quote, or for words that must be kept together (nuclear fission).

One or more of these words (above picture) allows the use of the ORcommand. This is valuable when a researcher wants to look for more than one word… but does not want to eliminate a page because all the words cannot be found in a specific page.

But don’t allow pages that have any of these unwanted words (above picture) allows for the NOT statement to be used.  This is very useful in eliminating unwanted words and results. Often called the NOT command and uses the (-) sign in a Google Basic search. An example would be looking for the country Turkey while eliminating results for the bird turkey.

2. The Advanced Search teaches about a search through its tip links. In the picture above I have selected the tip for using the (-) or NOT command. The tip explains how to use it in the basic search. This may be one of the best reasons to include the Advanced Search as a teaching tool.

3.  The Advanced Search teaches syntax by taking input and displaying how the search would look in a Basic Search (below picture). This is displayed at the top of the Advanced Search Page as the search words are typed in. Once again, students learn how the Basic Search should be structured. This reinforces the concept that proper input of search terms will increase efficiency and until students knows how to use the Basic Search effectively, they may be more productive in Advanced.

Note in the picture above that a search is being made for the phrase “one small step for man” outside of the  reference to Neil Armstrong. Notice that the top of the page allows the student to see how this would be built in a Google Basic search. This will apply to all of the techniques available in Google Advanced search.

4. The Advanced Search teaches how to search for pages in any language (below picture). What an awesome way for students to explore a foreign language they are studying or get primary resources on an event from the source country. This is actually an easier way to search than in the Basic. Even more importantly, students can then enter the website for translation. Translation is usually found at the top of the website, or one can use http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en to translate. This is not integrated in the Basic Search Box.

5. The Advanced Search teaches how to do the search for alternate resources in an easy manner (below picture). Of course, the syntax is available at the top of the page for those wanting to try it next time in a Google Basic Search. Educators and students can find powerpoints, Google Earth files, spreadsheets, PDF files, Flash files, Word files, and even Autodesk files. Great for research and even better for teachers wishing to find some lesson plan material.

6. The Advanced Search teaches how to search inside of a website or domain (below picture). This can be useful for limiting a search to a  .gov or.edu, or possibly to a specific website such as nasa.gov, youtube.com, orcensus.gov. You will note that the Google Search at the top shows you how to put this in the Basic Search

To investigate four more reasons to teach with Google Advanced Search, click on the Date, usage rights, numeric range, and morelink on your Google Advanced Search Page.

Please note that only three of the filters below translate into a Google Basic Search. They include Where your keywords show up, Numeric range,and Important  links. The others are valuable and prove how important an Advanced Search can be because they provide great information and are easy to use in the Advanced Search.

7. Advanced Search teaches how to specify to return results according to date (below picture). This is very valuable for finding timely information. Students looking up a current event or breaking news story may want to use this feature. Remember, the default is (anytime). It is also a great way to emphasize whether currency of information is relevant to the research topic. This does not translate into the Google Basic Search Box.

8. Advanced search teaches how to specify a search related to a website’s usage rights (below picture). This is a gold mine for those wishing to use, share, modify, or remix information.  Also, it is  a great way to teach students about copyright and creative commons rights. It is important to observe the rules governing how an item may be shared, and to make students aware of this. This is especially helpful when searching for pictures in the Advanced Image Search

9. Advanced Search teaches how to specify to search for keywords in a specific place on a website (below picture). This is a tool that can be really useful in narrowing down results. First, the default is (Anywhere In Page).  This includes all the possibilities, but may actually be too broad in scope. When getting a large number of returns, one could narrow down returns by requesting that keywords be listed in title. This will narrow the search and possibly lead users to a more specific subject, since keywords in a title tend to emphasize content in an article. In the same way, URL and Links to a pagemay lead the researcher to more specific and relevant information This does display in the Google Basic Tool Box above so that one can see what it would look like in a Basic Search.

10.  Advanced Search teaches how to specify to find websites from various regions of the world (below picture). This is a great way to teach students about bias and regional differences. This part of the search engine allows the student to look up web pages published in a specific region or country. This technique is great for current evenst, allowing the searcher to get information from the country of origin. A teacher should encourage students to compare and contrast the same news story coming from two different areas or regions. Students can study a subject, such as the American Revolution, from a British, French, Russian, or United States perspective. What is Russia’s take on the Space Race,  Cuba’s thoughts on the Bay of Pigs, or China’s research on Global Warming?  This tool does not show up in the Basic Search Tool Box and is another reason to use the Advanced tools.

11. Advanced Search teaches one how to look up information in a numeric range (below picture). Perhaps a researcher wishes to search between a set number of years, such as 1800-1900. Specifying a dollar amount such as $250 – $500 or searching for a distance range 10 miles – 100 milescould be valuable in finding needed information. A student may even wish to look  up a range of page numbers. This will translate above in the Google Basic Search Box.

12. Advanced Search teaches how to find important  links and websites similar to one that was useful (below picture). This includes two useful tools. A user who really finds a particular site useful may want to enter that page’s URL into the Find Pages Similar To The Page line. This may lead to other sites that provide needed research information.Using the Find Pages That Link To The Page may also lead the user to other useful sites. This Link To The Page tool can also be used to evaluate a website by determining the number, and type of pages linking to it. In fact, I teach people to use Find Pages That Link To The Page when evaluating Web Pages using what I call  Good Links.  (Starting with a space before entering the address in the Find Pages That Link To The Page form  will yield different and sometimes better results). This will show up in the Google Basic Search Box.

Also be sure to check out both the safe search feature and the readability feature as both can be valuable for classroom use. As you can see the Google Advanced Search, used correctly, will  facilitate today’s digital natives to expand their digital abilities while promoting productivity and learning in the classroom. It’s you and I, the digital immigrants, who can make it happen!   Have a great week! – Mike

I am a 3/4 Multi-Age teacher, and Google has yet to be invented. I can’t remember exactly what I was teaching to the students at the time, but I believe it must have been science related, because we were talking about blood. Somehow the conversation turned to the color of blood, and before I knew it, my entire class —100%— was suddenly trying to convince me that:

“Your blood is blue when it’s inside your body and it turns red when it comes out and hits oxygen.”

I had never in my life heard such a thing.

I immediately disputed the fact, but like I said, there was no Google or even a reliable Internet connection in my room, so I was unable to quickly find proof for them. They held strong to their belief, and I to mine, and we left that day with no resolution of who was correct or not.

However —lucky for me— I was scheduled to have my blood drawn (for some yearly checkup thing) several days later. I’m able to do this in the morning before school starts at a facility conveniently located near the school. So, as the blood technician (is that the correct title?) stuck my arm, I asked her to help settle the argument. I told her my students’ claim that it is the oxygen that makes blood red and my own position of “No way.”

In short, she laughed at me and said, “Look at this tube that your blood is going in to. That’s a vacuum! There is no oxygen in there. What color is your blood?!”

Indeed it was red. I couldn’t wait to tell my students when I got to school that morning.

When I did, they still refused to believe me, even after a blood expert told me what’s what.

I’m not a scientist. I teach science at the elementary level, and I’ve still got plenty of science to learn. Did I doubt my own conviction when the entire class argued against me? You bet I did (even if momentarily), and I think all scientists constantly question and doubt their convictions as well until indisputable proof is delivered. Not being a blood expert, it was my duty to find the correct answer to bring back to my students. Finding a blood expert (a blood technician at a doctor’s office) seemed a sufficient resource for me to acquire the correct answer.

Fast forward to present:

I now teach in a computer lab with a curriculum that is mostly made up of ISTE standards, preparing students for the world they live in. One of the main skills taught is:

Students will use technology to locate, evaluate, and collect information from a variety of sources.

I do this at each grade level I teach (K-4) in varying degrees and have just recently completed a unit with my 3rd graders on how to evaluate web resources, how to identify if the author(s) is an expert, and whether or not the information can be trusted.

To illustrate just how hard this can be, I asked my students a question at the beginning of the unit:

“How many of you think your blood is blue when it’s inside your body and turns red when it comes out and mixes with oxygen?”

Informally, I would say around 90-95% of the students said they believed this. They were shocked when I told them the story of asking an expert years ago whether or not this is true, and the revelation that this belief is a myth. This lead into the discussion of “what makes an expert?” and from there, we dove into how to find and evaluate information on websites.

So… the other day —St. Patrick’s Day to be specific— I needed to get a blood test again. Per usual, I went to the same facility close to the school. This time, however, out of all the times I’ve been there to have blood taken, I was put into a different room, one I was unaware even existed. It was right next to the room that I usually go in —a closet size space, large enough to accommodate the tools needed to get the job done. I’ll call this “Room A.” “Room B” (the room I was put in the other day), looks just like “Room A,” except everything is “backwards.” In other words, it has the exact same equipment, but its setup is a “mirrored image” of Room A.

So, I’m sitting there, noticing how the room is a mirrored image of the room I’ve always gone in, thinking about the fact that I never knew the existence of the room, daydreaming about parallel universes (hey, what can I say, my brain does these things) and listening to the blood technician as she wishes me a “Happy St. Paddy’s Day” and tells me how the entire office has been celebrating the day. They’ve all worn their green “scrubs,” Irish music is playing in the background, Leprechaun cut-outs have been hung up around the building… they’re really going for the Irish theme “big time” this year. I think of making a “green blood” joke, somehow connecting it to the tradition of “green beer,” but I realize it’s not going to come off right so I decide against it. When she gets ready to stick the needle in, however, I feel it’s my turn to continue some type of banter, if only to assure her that needles don’t bother me, and that I can make small talk while having blood drawn so she’ll have no concerns that I might be someone who faints or grows ill during such a procedure (I try my best to be an “upbeat” patient whenever encountering folks in the health field; I realize how difficult their jobs are).

I say to the technician —just to make small talk, mind you— “Do you know how many people think their blood is blue when it’s in their body and only turns red once it hits oxygen?”

I was approaching this topic not as someone who’s “in the know” (wink, wink) and is having a laugh at those who don’t know, but more as an educator, sharing common knowledge in order to next ask how many times she has encountered people who believe in blue blood, and how she goes about educating these patients.

Instead of the response I expected, she turned to me and said:

“Well… isn’t it?”

Okay… suddenly I was dizzy. It could have been the blood being drawn, the effect that the “mirrored room” was having on me (the parallel-universe-Matrix-movie effect), the Irish music whirling around on the sound system, or all of these combined. But suddenly, my entire reality took a hit and I felt the bottom drop out from below me.

“But… but… but…” I stammered, “I was here… a couple of years… ago… and the other technician… told me… that that’s a myth… vacuum… this tube… is a vacuum… proof…” I tried my best to tell about my previous encounter with one of her colleagues (an expert in blood), trying very hard not to offend her in any way.

It was clear the scene became slightly awkward for both of us because we were simultaneously doubting our realities. We both murmured on, mostly to ourselves:

Blood Technician: “I… heard this, but I can’t remember who told me…”

Me: “But… who’s seen the blue blood? How could one eliminate oxygen in order to actually… see it?”

Blood Technician: “Well… now I’m not sure… maybe I should ask the lab technician…”

Me: “Well, now I’m not sure… maybe the other person had it wrong…”

Meanwhile the red stuff flowed out of my arm into the little capsule and I realized I had accidentally, severely messed with this poor woman’s reality… or maybe my own. Or maybe I was trying to block out the voice in the back of my head that was screaming, “This woman is taking your blood! Shouldn’t she be an expert?! Shouldn’t her answer be as emphatic and indisputable as the last technician’s was? And shouldn’t both answers agree?!”

I made light of it by saying something like, “Heh, heh, heh! I can see what you’ll be talking about at dinner tonight. This jerk came in and started this whole crazy conversation with me about the color of blood! Heh, heh, heh!”

This didn’t help. She was clearly unnerved, and the moment she put the band-aid on my arm (“Please apply pressure”), she went to ask the “Lab Technician” the answer.

This was “off stage” so I never got to see the “Lab Technician.” I thought that my “Blood Technician” was the “Lab Technician,” but clearly there are different levels of technicians.

My “Blood Technician” came back a moment later and told me the “Lab Technician’s” answer:

“He said he wasn’t sure and to Google it.”

Okay… I have to admit, at this point I just wanted to get out of there. I had done enough damage.

The “Blood Technician” did go on to say that the “Lab Technician” also said that some blood is red and some is darker because of the lack of oxygen, and that some people would say that it resembled a purplish color, maybe not actually blue.

I finally leave, feeling really badly that I ever brought this up, but now am filled from head to toe with an intense desire: I must find the truth.

Okay. It is at this point in the post, that I’m sure some of you are voting for “RED” and some of you are voting for “BLUE.” Please, don’t hesitate to take a pause from reading here to go do your own Google search (I’ll wait here). Before I reveal my own findings, I again want to admit that I was unsure of the final answer. I decided to put a typical search into Google in a syntax that I see many students use: in other words, ask it a question directly. Feel free to use the one I used:

“Is blood blue in your body?”

This is a great activity for students, by the way: “Prove whether blood is blue or red when it’s inside your body.” Using the Google search I gave as an example above, you’re going to see that there will be plenty of results (I got “About 17,100,000 results” on the day I ran the query). The next job for your students is to be able to separate the answers found from those that are made up of anecdotal evidence, and perhaps supplied by amateurs (such as you might find on a “Yahoo Answers” page) from those which are indisputable and come from experts in the field. This is where you get to teach students how to harness advance search options (such as limiting results to sites with the domain “.edu”) or any of the other great lessons that you would find in Alan November’s book: “Web Literacy for Educators”.

For instance, as your students start to understand how to limit searches to just academic sites (by using “.edu” I came up with a smaller search result: “About 774,000″), they might come up with one of results I found:

https://www.msu.edu/~kalinkat/professionalpages/TechMatrixMaterials/documentarybloodmisconceptions.htm

Once they use this academic source to “prove/disprove” their assumption, you can then “mess with their minds” by teaching them that the “tilde” (this symbol: ~) used before the professor’s name (~kalinkat) means that while this site is related to an academic site (from Michigan State University, to be exact), the “tilde” shows that the “site is not an official academic page… but actually a personal posting” (p.32, November). What does this mean? Personal postings could show “bias,” and more research is required.

Ah! Now we’re getting somewhere! We’ve just opened up a lovely “can of worms!” Isn’t the search for truth fun?

You see, I must come clean: I’m sure you can tell that this whole “blue blood” thing has gotten me a bit fired up. The thing is, though, I’m not bothered by the fact that I doubted myself several times throughout this long research journey. I’m not even bothered by the fact that every adult (except one) I’ve asked since my “St. Paddy’s Day” blood test has answered “Blue” when I asked them what color blood is inside your body. (By the way, that one person who said “Red” is our school’s nurse, and she came and actually talked to one of my classes with charts in hand. Incidentally, she went home that day and asked her own husband what color he thought it was, and he refuses to believe in any answer other than “Blue”).

What bothers me is that the idea that blood is blue in our bodies until it comes into contact with oxygen is truly a “magical idea.” It is on the level of something that would be possible in the movie Avatar, or as magical as actual Leprechauns coming to visit on St. Patrick’s Day. In other words, because this seems so over the top, how could such a misconception (or myth) exist so long and so large in our culture and why did it take so much effort to prove to myself and to others I’ve been arguing with for weeks what the correct answer is?

When served green beer on St. Patrick’s Day, everyone knows it’s not magic and can follow the logical trail back to how such a thing as the beer turning green occurred (eventually landing at food coloring or some other scientific answer). We’ve all had experience with blood. Red blood. No one has ever seen blue blood come out of a human, and yet so many of us are walking around satisfied with the notion that someone somewhere once told us it is actually blue.

When I asked people to prove to me their answer when they said “Blue,” no one could, of course, but most were content to hang on to their belief rather than be motivated to find cold, hard evidence.

So, I end this post with two questions:

1. The first one (probably expected) is: Are we teaching enough science in our curriculum?
2. But the second question seems more urgent to me: Are we teaching enough research and critical thinking skills in our curriculum?

Here are some of my favorite findings that might help you with your own “Blue/Red” debates:

• http://www.binghamton.edu/news/the-newsroom/ask-a-scientist/index.html?date=2011-03-07
• courses.washington.edu/edtep586/nelly%20practicum.pdf (check out p.2 of the practicum and how the teacher “was able to address alternative conceptions students had.”)
• http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBQQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcbst.ucdavis.edu%2Feducation%2Fcourses%2Fwinter-2010-ist8a%2Fist8a_2010_03_08oxymetry.pdf&ei=v8mYTb6VCuWa0QH9j5n8Cw&usg=AFQjCNHlJCmHFrj2cN9BlRfx3KNetFdxGQ&sig2=xZee1kItyE5jRalugx6zhg (see slide 12)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood#Color

—————
Works Cited:

“Binghamton University – News and Events: The Newsroom: Ask a Scientist: Scientist: Archive.” Binghamton University – Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Apr. 2011. <http://www.binghamton.edu/news/the-newsroom/ask-a-scientist/index.html?date=2011-03-07>.

“Blood – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Apr. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood#Color>.

Molinaro, M. . “Biophotonics Tools – Oxymetry IST 8A Lecture.” Biophotonics Tools – Oxymetry IST 8A Lecture. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Apr. 2011. <www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBQQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcbst.ucdavis.edu%2Feducation%2Fcourses%2Fwinter-2010-ist8a%2Fist8a_2010_03_08oxymetry.pdf&ei=v8mYTb6VCuWa0QH9j5n8Cw&usg=AFQjCNHlJCmHFrj2cN9BlRfx3KNetFdxGQ&sig2=xZee1kItyE5jRalugx6zhg>.

November, Alan C.. Web Literacy for Educators . Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2008. Print.

Tsai, Nelly. “Circulatory System.” nelly practicum.pdf. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Apr. 2011. <courses.washington.edu/edtep586/nelly%20practicum.pdf>.

I am very interested in what others have to say. Please respond to any of my questions and add your own.

• What are the opportunities for authentic work for students within the current structure of school?
• Can we really expect all students to make a contribution to the learning community?
• How do we help teachers manage the shift of control to the students making much more of a contribution to their own learning and to the community?

I learn much and am grateful every day for the resources, ideas and conversations shared by the generous, thoughtful educators to whom I am connected online. I literally feel that I “stand on the shoulders of giants” who push my thinking, enlighten me and just generally make me better at what I do. I am a believer in leading from the middle, and making change within your sphere of influence, so I created the presentation with every educator in mind. I hope this contribution is helpful and piques some curiosity in those who may be considering “stepping into the stream…”

What is Networked Learning?

A networked learner is someone who learns from connections to others. You already have a face-to-face network, and probably connect online through websites, listservs, discussion groups, etc…. Social media tools such as Twitter, Blogs, social networks and social bookmarking tools make it easy to expand your network (and your professional learning) both powerfully and exponentially.

As we have all seen during recent political events and natural disasters, social media tools are helping to change the world. We need to consider how these tools should also be changing our classrooms and schools, and how they impact our students as learners and future citizens and leaders. We have to participate to know.

Learn More:

• Gearing Up for The Big Game (Renee Hawkins)
• Why Teachers Should Try Twitter (Bill Ferriter)
• A Principal’s Reflections: Building Momentum (Eric Sheninger)
• MindShift: What Students Need from Teachers (Heidi Siwak)
• What Should a Networked Educational Leader Tweet About? (George Couros)

Even More:

• Rheingold University Mini-Courses: Infotention and Network Literacy (Howard Rheingold)

Cross posted at Finding the Signal

Shelley Paul @lottascales

By Michael Gorman – Everyone is talking about a digital curriculum free of  those hard copy textbooks that have been a part of schooling since the advent of the one room schoolhouse. In this series I will investigate some resources that can open up a world of digital curricula. In this post, I’ll start with ten thoughts for reflection as you go digital. In later posts, I will introduce you to some pretty cool content that can be part of your new digital curriculum. And yes… I even have textbooks covered!  Along with my posts at November Learning, you can also follow me on twitter (mjgormans) and of course visit my 21centuryed Blog. Now, enjoy a visit designed to help you reflect and plan the very future of curriculum as it goes digital. Have a great week – Mike

Note – If you will be traveling to MEC in Tempe Arizona or CUE in Palm Springs California this March 2011 please introduce yourself at one of my sessions. I  am making the trip from Indiana and will have two presentation at each conference.

As we venture into the world of the digital curriculum the security of a real textbook, an item we have all  held, grasped, and found comfort in, seems to be endangered. It’s true, the hard copy textbook as we have always known may soon be part of the good old school days of the past. As I reflect on this  I wonder at what point did the textbook become such a central part of the curriculum. I am an analog native (I think) and I remember the days of my first schooling in which the resource primarily used was the textbook! It was one of the few resources available in a classroom that had no television, phone, internet connection, computer or  interactive white board. There was an occasional Weekly Reader, an almost complete set of ten year old World Book Encyclopedias, an occasional filmstrip to make learning interesting, and  a once a month black and white 16 millimeter film that was most engaging when one could see the movie one more time shown backwards. Most content centered around the textbook which, depending on subject, could be brand new… or ten years old. In fact, in many of my classes there was no doubt that the textbook was the curriculum. I remember when I first started teaching over thirty years ago we were reluctant to  write curriculum until we set our eyes on the newly adopted textbook.

So… there you have my thoughts on why the textbook has become the center of curriculum and so very difficult to cast aside. As classrooms transform so must the old friend that accompanied us throughout our schooling and much of our teaching. This is not to say that many teachers didn’t venture outside the textbook for various projects, studies, readings, and adventures. I know that I often took the journey, but always realized that my old friend would be at my side… just in case!  As we slowly say goodbye to this old companion there must be several ideas we contemplate on our way to the digital curriculum. As we reflect and invite this digital transformation, I am sure we will find a curriculum that is alive, relevant, rich, engaging, rigorous, and timely. We may even find a new friend that will be there for us when we need a little textbook digital style!

There is no question that we need to take those steps towards a digital curriculum, after all we live in a digital world. As we begin to put that hard copy textbook in the recycle bin, we must all develop a better understanding of  digital curriculum and what we need as educators to make it a successful reality, a reality that promotes real student learning and achievement.  Allow me to share with you my ten thoughts on going digital.

10 Points To Consider When Transforming Toward Digital Curriculum

1. A digital curriculum requires schools to be  equipped with the necessary infrastructure and technology to deliver true digital content. This requires adequate bandwidth, wireless broadcasting, and necessary student and teacher personal technology. Do schools supply all of this technology or do we find ways to incorporate technology students already own?

2. A digital curriculum is much more than a textbook delivered electronically and disseminated through a Xerox job of thousands of copied PDF files. Adopting a digital textbook, whether it be commercial or open source, can only be part of the picture. Transforming to a digital curriculum demands utilizing a textbook as one entity, not the central piece.

3. A digital curriculum requires that thought be given to student access not just at school but in student homes and the general community. There must be deliberate actions set towards building bridges across the digital divide.

4. A digital curriculum requires sustained professional development that allows teachers to learn, collaborate and plan outside of the traditional textbook box. This includes participation in professional learning communities and webinars blended with ongoing professional development within the school or district. In other words, professional development must contain the very attributes sought in the digital curriculum being implemented for students.

5. A digital curriculum should contain a wide variety of resources and content allowing the teacher to plan engaging learning activities. The process of writing standards should be left at the national and state level. After all, most local standards are copied, pasted and possibly edited from the national and state standards. Teachers in the classroom must be given the time to plan learning and contribute activities that are part of an exciting curriculum.

6. A digital curriculum must open up the doors to not just student consumption of content but to student production. Activities must allow students to recreate, publish, remix, and innovate. This interactivity is the key to creating a digital curriculum that is powerful and effective. A digital curriculum allows the creation of a society of creators, innovators, and learners.

7. A digital curriculum should open up the classroom walls and allow for collaboration between classrooms, communities, and cultures. Additionally, online learning should create classrooms that are hybrid in nature, preparing students for avenues of learning found on the web and for their future schooling. Students must learn the online skills necessary to communicate, collaborate, and learn.

8. A digital curriculum must allow for nonlinear learning, differentiated instruction, backward/inverted teaching, as well as instructional components and ongoing assessment that will bring productivity to the classroom. New technologies are able to infuse these attributes into a digital curriculum resulting in  student engagement, learning and achievement.

9. A digital curriculum must allow for incorporation of innovative instruction such as STEM, PBL, and NETS technology standards. It is a  digital curriculum that has the ability to  finally deliver the aspirations of education reformers such as Piaget and Dewey.

10. A digital curriculum must allow students to be at the center of their education with the teacher actively facilitating and orchestrating real student learning.  Such a curriculum allows students to contribute and design outcomes. It gives students the necessary ”Drive” (Daniel Pink) to become actively involved and take charge of their education.

You probably thought I forgot about our old friend, the hard copy textbook. Actually, I didn’t.  I firmly believe that a digital curriculum will still provide access to a virtual textbook that will provide  content that can provide a foundation for necessary understanding. It will be available in a variety of formats to be read on tablet, iPod, Droid, laptop, desktop, or possibly a real piece of paper! As the virtual textbook matures it will become interactive, filled with engaging media, and will be nonlinear. It will remain a good friend… just not the center of the  new digital curriculum! As you continue your journey in the world of the 21st century you just may find that the old textbook really was never quite at the center of your curriculum anyway!

Join me in this continuing series of Going Digital. The next in the series will introduce you to an amazing resource that has free open source books you can remix, edit, and share with students in a variety of ways! Want to know what else is coming your way in future posts? Then take a look below!  In fact you can also give this article a retweet if you scroll to the bottom!  Thanks, until next time… start thinking of ways you can go digital.  Have a great week! – Mike

Both Jonathan and Aaron will be presenters at the BLC11 conference being held this summer in Boston, MA. Click here for more information.

In addition, Jonathan and Aaron provided us with a series of resources to share that pertain to the work they and their students are doing.

• Watch this video to see more of an overview of the Flipped Model.
• Be on the lookout for their new book being published by ISTE Press. It should be available in the Summer or Fall of 20011.
• If you want to learn more about their flipped model, consider attending their conference being held in  Woodland Park, CO. More information can be found here.
• Take part in a learning network with other educators who are interested in and/or utilizing the flipped model.
• Visit Jonathan and Aaron’s Web site with links to good educational videos.

For most readers, I realize that I only have to add one detail for you to see what played out that evening (and I guess every year for this event): the project had been assigned for homework.

In other words, completely at home; not at school.

Let me interrupt here to say that I am not focusing on homework for this post (that is a much longer post, and I think Alfie Kohn has already taken care of that for us). So let us leave the issues and pros and cons of homework to the side for now, and just zoom in on those completed projects (were they poster boards…?).

Can you see them?

Some of those projects (whatever they were) are pure expressions of genius. They’re masterpieces. Works of art. Feats of engineering not yet realized. Color schemes compliment the themes. Just the right amount of glitter; not too much, not too little. If glue was used, all evidence has been camouflaged. Lines are straight as a ruler and circles seem to have sprung from lathes run by magical elves. The structures are sturdy enough to have survived the car rides over to the school and will last for generations to come, perhaps transforming from their original purpose into Thanksgiving centerpieces or by taking their rightful places on trophy shelves. Throughout the evening of presentation, there will be large crowds gathered around these projects. One will have to wait in long queues to get to see them. No one will be allowed to touch.

Further down the line, past the crowds, there will be another breed of product completely. These projects are the complete opposite of those described above. Gone are the realistic astro-grass lawns, the miniature people procured from a real Hobby Shop. Shellacked and interlocking dowels will be replaced by Popsicle sticks and toothpicks. Glue-gobs will not only be visible, they will still be in the process of drying. It will be obvious that Magic Markers replaced paint and you will be able to spot exactly where they began drying up during their application. Perhaps the projects have survived the car rides here, but their fate for the trips home are in critical mode, and some will barely make it past the parking lot dumpster. Whereas the other products were life-like, these projects will sorely stand out among their more professional counterparts as representations of ideas rather than something familiar to the physical universe. In fact, the most generous compliment bestowed upon them is that they look as though a “fourth grader” made them.

Which is, by the way, exactly who made them.

This grade level, after all, is fourth grade.

So let’s identify the “elephant in the room.” Some of these projects were created entirely by 4th grade students (as they were supposed to be) and some of them were created (at least in part) by… parents. There’s no real secret about this either: most of the murmurings in the gym that night were of the flavor of, “no kid made that!” or “this was obviously made by a parent!” Of course, these assessments were heard from those families that let the 4th grade student do all the work independently. There are probably infinite reasons for why this was allowed: could be that parents really believe in their students’ right to create on their own, or they don’t believe in “cheating” (not my words, by the way; this is what students who had done their own work called it), or, on the a less optimistic side of possibilities, parents had no interest in finding out about their students’ assignment and no desire to get involved.

Again, without getting into the issue of homework, as well as not examining the obvious “equalizer” of requiring all projects to be created entirely at school with access to uniform supplies and support, we must take pause and examine what it is we are celebrating on an evening like this.

It clearly is PRODUCT. As we move around the gymnasium, we see only the final “image,” if you will, of a journey untold. The learning involved, the struggles and successes, and even the purpose of the finished creations usually remain a mystery. At times, journals accompany the work, or a write-up by the teacher is posted at the front of the exhibit, but it is the PRODUCTS that win the attention, hands-down.

Which is… of course why some parents feel compelled to “chip in.” If PRODUCT is “king,” then that becomes what counts, and will always overshadow the PROCESS, or the learning.

Imagine, if you would, the same evening of celebration for students, however, this time, parents watch from the sidelines as students actually create the products, or if the products on display were accompanied by audio/video/journals of what the students learned. The evening could be extended to give the students time to share their learning, but also to teach their families what they learned. Parents could be given short quizzes (created by the students) to give the students feedback on how well they taught the information. Or… after the students teach their parents the information, then the students and parents could build the final product together, all the time consulting reference material, the student’s notes, and discussing the curriculum standards being acquired. These final products could then be shared by publishing pictures of them to the Internet… or not. For the question is: what is the purpose of publication?

There are numerous answers to this question: making work purposeful, providing an authentic audience, making learning a conversation (on a blog, for instance), but I think we too often forget another important aspect when we ask our students to publish: to show the journey of learning, in other words, how did the student get to this final point?

Whenever I give a workshop on blogging, invariably, a teacher will ask what I think about leaving students’ original misspellings (or invented spelling), incorrect grammar, lack of punctuation in the entries. I believe, without a doubt, we want our students to arrive at publication that is polished… students should be asked to go back and fix mistakes, and if they aren’t able to find the mistakes, then it’s a perfect opportunity for mini-lessons on the skills.

HOWEVER… why aren’t we showing all steps to the final product? What is so wrong in publishing each draft along with the final polished draft? This transparency would show the student’s steps of learning, showing both growth as well as struggles. And, if a student is not yet able to attain a certain skill (even after additional mini lessons on the desired skill), then what is the point of the teacher fixing the errors? Doesn’t that just “cloud” the “snapshot” or continuum stage that the student is at? Everything looks perfect on the blog, for instance, but then the student’s report card says otherwise?

And what is so wrong in showing our sloppy mistakes and struggles? Isn’t that what school is all about? Aren’t we there to perfect our skills and get to the level where our work is truly “polished?”

Why are we reticent to show the struggles students experience, the “bumpy” journey of learning, the truth that students will attain skills at different stages and pacing from their peers, and present only the final PRODUCT, which can never encapsulate the story of where the student started and how he/she got to this end.

Recently, my after school Tech Group presented their work-in-progress to parents. This group of students have completed all work as a collective group, with very little input from me. All decisions have been made by the students. The entire presentation was put together by the students… in fact, I barely knew what they were going to present until I heard it for the first time, along with the parents.

At first, you could see the parents were a bit uncomfortable with this method. They kept asking the students about what had already been accomplished, or what will be accomplished, or, what PRODUCT they had to show. Since the students are really at the beginning of their work (i.e., are closer to the beginning of the journey and still making decisions on what their goals are), they presented their ideas, how the ideas were created, what plans they might have, what decisions they had already made, and what the next steps were going to be.

Parents were seeing the process of them actually building their work. In fact, during the presentation, there were several times when the students began generating new ideas and broke into discussion between themselves, with the parents suddenly relegated to the role of witnesses. The last part of the students’ presentation was taking questions and comments from the parents. The students have used some of the parents’ feedback in their subsequent meetings as they continue their work.

It took a while, but I think the parents finally understood that they were not there to hear a “finished” work being presented. The students never promised such an event, and in fact, it was the parents who had originally asked the students to present what they had accomplished so far.

From where I stood, it was a marvelous experience: parents got to see the very rare building of the work (something usually shrouded and mysterious) and the students were able to get great feedback and accolades during the process of the work they’ve been doing.

There were no “projects” to take home that evening. Instead, everyone left energized and there was a feeling of excitement for not only of what was yet to come, but what was being created right before our very eyes.

I don’t know if I have one.

Maybe my thinking about passion is too grandiose. Does having passion about something mean that it keeps me up at night and drives my decision making? Does having passion mean that I rather be doing this one thing than anything else in the world? Does it mean that I tell people about this passion until they are tired of listening to me?

I just don’t know.

I often hear educators (myself included) say how great it would be to let kids follow their passions. So, I’ve been thinking about my son. He’s in 6th grade right now, and I don’t think he has a passion. Sure, he could play video games all day if I let him. I hope that’s not passion. He’s been playing soccer since he was about four, but I rarely see him go out in the yard and really work on his game outside of a structured team practice. He likes soccer, but I would think he would work on it on his own if he was passionate about it.

So, I pulled out the dictionary (really I went to an online one) and found this definition for passion: a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept

Wikipedia also adds to this by saying that the term passion is,“…often applied to a lively or eager interest in or admiration for a proposal, cause, or activity or love – to a feeling of unusual excitement, enthusiasm or compelling emotion, a positive affinity or love, towards a subject, idea, person, or object.”

Looking at this, I might have something to work with.

• I really love my family and always make time for them. I would say I try to work my schedule around theirs to make the best use of my time while being involved in everything they do.
• I have a devotion to the field of education. I take great pride in working with teachers and students. Helping them navigate the rapidly changing world around them is great fun for me.
• Lately, I’ve had a great deal of enthusiasm about taking better care of myself. I’m exercising more and I’m eating better. I would say that overall I feel much better on the inside.
• I really have fun playing tennis with friends. I’m not the greatest at it, but it’s a good release for me.

Are these my passions? These don’t keep me up at night.

I’ve tried several times to pick up new hobbies. Some of them stick, and others don’t. About eight or nine years ago I was on a big kick about building things. That lasted me through building one piece of furniture. I loved researching how to do it, I had a great time playing with new tools and I was very proud of the finished product. However, dealing with the mess and clutter of it all kind of turned off the neat freak in me, and those tools are gathering dust. I could give many other examples of random attempts like this.

Maybe my passion is trying out new things? Nah. That can’t be it.

Well, maybe it is.

Angela wrote a post a few days ago about Seth Godin’s Domino Project and the book Poke the Box. I haven’t read the book yet, but I see a few headlines in these posts that I kind of like.

• What would our world look like if more people started projects, made a ruckus and took risks?
• All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous, unpremeditated act without benefit of experience.

Seth even says about his project that, “We’ve never done this before, and though we certainly might fail, we’ll definitely create impact.”

That’s really a lot of pressure to take off one’s back. Basically, he’s saying to go out and live, take risks and see what happens. You know, have fun with things.

Dan Pink seems to say the same in a recent blog post. He talks about how when someone asks him about his passion, “[His] innards tighten. [His] vocabulary becomes a palette of ahhs and ums. [His] chest wells with the urge to flee.”

Instead of passion, he thinks the real question is, “What do you do?”

You know, when the work’s all done and your time is yours, where do you go, and what activities do you do? What would you go out there and do for free?

That takes even more pressure off of me.

So, I know this post has been unbelievingly long already, and maybe nobody will make it this far, so I’ll close things out. I still don’t know if I have a passion, but what I do know is that I don’t want to sit still and let life pass me by.

I want to be active in the world.
I want to try things out and always keep learning.
I want to be open to risk or loss.

I think if I can put all of these things together while being good to myself, my family, my friends and the world around me, I’ll do alright.

That’s something I can be passionate about.

Alan and Brad discuss the uniqueness of this school, the real work students are doing as they build curriculum and resources along with their teachers as well as the lessons they have learned that can impact any school.

Brad will be a presenter at the BLC11 conference being held this July in Boston. Click here for more information.