What does education look like for your child?

I haven't blogged since October - lots of ideas swirling around and all linked to one big idea - what should education look like in New Zealand?

The most significant reading I have done this year is Supporting Future Oriented Teaching and Learning - A New Zealand Perspective by Rachel Bolstad and Jane Gilbert, with Sue McDowall, Ally Bull, Sally Boyd and Rosemary Hipkins. In October 2012, Curriculum Update 26 summarised the six main themes of future oriented teaching and learning, so all teachers should be familiar with how education will look based on the research done by these researchers.

I say, should be familiar, because sometimes educational concepts are slow to filter through to teachers at the coalface. As I read this blog tonight called "Same Old, Same Old" by Tom Whitby, I reflected on why changes are so slow. Whitby says that "There is no longer a choice as to whether or not educators should incorporate technology tools for learning into education. That boat has sailed, that train left the station, that genie is out of the bottle, and that horse got out of the barn. Time to close that barn door and get on with it. "

He surmises that some teachers are reluctant to learn something new.  Which is pretty ironic, since one of the themes of future oriented teaching and learning is that teachers have a culture of continuous learning.

So is it now time that communities start demanding more of their school leaders?  School leaders need to be putting time and effort into leading changes so that children have the type of education that will allow them to adapt to the future.  As my daughter searches for the "right" school for my granddaughter, I can offer this advice.

The six themes of future oriented teaching and learning are

• personalised learning
• new views of equity and diversity
• a culture of lifelong learning for teachers and educational leaders
• new partnerships and relationships (with communities)
• new roles for teachers and learners
• using knowledge to develop learning power.

These themes are all afforded through the use of technology in learning.  Questions that I would be asking, if I were a parent of a school-aged child, would be around the themes.  For instance,  - How do you ensure that my child is getting personalised learning?  I won't be wanting answers along the lines of - "there just isn't enough time in the school day to give your child personalised learning" - but I suspect I will be getting those responses reasonably regularly.  Technology enables teachers to be able to plan for and construct personalised learning for your child.  The teachers need the time and support to put this possibility into place.  This means learning around using the learning management systems (LMS)  that they have available to them.  And I am sad to say that I haven't seen a lot of use of LMS in my job this year.  Thank goodness Google Apps For Education (GAFE) is starting to take off, at least in primary schools.

If I had a child who was disadvantaged because of a learning disability or a cultural position for instance, I would then be asking what the school is doing to cross the barriers.  Students who have been unable to make progress in the past now have new opportunities to engage and learn. You only have to see an i-pad in the hands of these students to know that assistive technologies will play a huge part in unlocking the potential to become contributing members of our society

The new partnerships that can be forged with the aid of technology are coming from leaders and teachers.  I have seen some teachers make use of Skype to reach people who would not otherwise be able to come to the classroom.  Relationships can be forged across the world, across the ages, across cultures.  In my child's school, I would ask what experiences there are for the child that will be outside the "norms"  of everyday life. 

And finally, I would also be asking about the way that they students learn.  Do they have to do endless worksheets for completion and assessment purposes?  What deliberate acts of teaching are there and are they balanced by inquiry into the unknown where there are no right answers or finite descriptors of learning outcomes but a wealth of knowledge to be gained around my child's interest.  Does this new knowledge spark a thirst to know more?

I urge all parents to start asking questions of the school leaders about these themes.

So, at Christmas, I finish with this lovely little video. Even an old agnostic like me can find it very charming.  I wonder how many schools put together little gems like this?

Have a great break over Christmas and New Year and keep safe!

Did I Learn at ULearn?

My mentor, Hazel Owen, asked me before I went to Ulearn, if I was going to blog during the 3 day event.  Well, I hadn't thought about it but, sure, I said, I will try.

So, on the first day,  at the keynote by Ken Shelton, I busily started to take notes in blogger.  His was an interactive session so, not being a multi-tasker, I soon began to get bogged down.  How can I keep up?  I know, a quick flick to Twitter on my phone, enter the hashtag, #ulearn13, and voila!
 All the notes and links I would want. Right here! Awesome!  A rich, rich resource of many highlights of the 3 days!
Now just the time to sort through. But how powerful to have the notes taken during the actual session, reminding me of the important points.
I also went to breakouts that weren't being tweeted about, though.  We need more tweeters in the teaching profession.  Yes, I know I should have done more but it is so much more exciting when you can join in the tumble of tweets filling the pages on your phone .....9 more tweets since you last looked, 13 more tweets, 39 more tweets and so on.
So now you have to rely upon my recall of some breakouts without the tweeting twittering away.
I was fighting off a dreaded lurgy at the time and so apart from missing a few snippets of information, I also missed several breakouts.  So here we go.
Firstly I gave a taster session on Flipping Learning which I did enjoy even though the technology was fighting me at the time. Then,  I went to "Building on the Skype Project" by Bronwen Glass from Botany Downs Kindergarten which was about using Skype, as a very cool way of transitioning ECE students into their schools.  Could be applied from Primary to Secondary and Secondary to Tertiary, if only these institutions talked to each other more often.
After that I went to Matt Griffiths presentation about using Google "Sites, Apps and Dashboard in College Classrooms" at Tamaki College - an amazing application of Google in the School, supported by their Head of Maths (Nolene Dunn) and their Head of Social Sciences (Dorothy Apelu).  Awesome again!! And their resources were freely shared. Here.  This really showed how a teacher could manage all of the personalised learning that was going on, supporting their learners as they pursued online activities and assessments.
On the second day, I went to an excellent workshop called Developing Future Oriented Learners and Teachers by Ian Suckling and Esther Casey, two facilitators working on the same project as me.  This was based on the 6 themes of 21st century learning:

• Personalised learning, 
• changing roles for teachers and learners, 
• new relationships and partnerships, 
• new views of equity and diversity, 
• a culture of continuous learning for teachers and leaders, 
• and a curriculum that uses knowledge to build capacity for learning

Again, an excellent workshop that had attendees thinking and talking hard and fast. Their activities are here.
That night, the Ulearn dinner, always a breakout happening there.  Lots of good music, wine, men and song.  Enough said!
On the third day, after my second presentation on e-portfolios, I had to admit defeat and drive home.  My head was pounding and throat croaking and so home at the end to a weekend of laryngitis and sore throat.  Think my husband was grateful.  And it meant I couldn't talk to the gathering of reporters outside my house for which I am even more grateful.  (Yes, Mark Lundy has moved in 2 doors down).  Strange way to end a very good week.  Hope I don't get distracted.  I learnt heaps at Ulearn2013!

Are you making the shift?

Image by Frederick D Bruner

The New Zealand Curriculum Update in Issue 26 October 2012 identified six themes of future oriented learning and teaching.  Guess what?  It is a year later - so, have you made the shifts in your class so that there is 

• personalised learning
• new views of equity and diversity
• rethought roles of teaching and learning
• a culture of continuous learning for teachers and educational leaders
• a curriculum that uses knowledge to develop capacity for learning
• new kinds of relationships and partnerships?

This morning I read a blog by Dean Shareski in Canada which resonated deeply with me, called "Why Teachers Aren't Making the Shift".  The gist of this article is that teachers are not capable of making the shift by themselves - they are busy, they are struggling to keep up with the demands of assessment, and they are not being informed about up to date research findings.

That is where professional development should come in.  I was interested to read the recent PPTA report on what kind of professional development that teachers like the most.  It seems that they do not enjoy the systemic, principal-led professional development that happens within their schools.  They prefer "more PLD opportunities, preferably with colleagues from other schools, led by an expert facilitator with valuable and trusted external expertise". 

Actually, when I remember back to being in their situation a year ago, it was my preferred pld as well but I think the real reason why is that you were out of the school for a day, with time to digest, and think about ways that you could use your new learning in your classes. You could discuss with other teachers without the pressures of daily routine interfering.

The first step that is needed by teachers however remains an acknowledgment that shifts need to be made for future oriented learning. There needs to be changes.  What do you think that this shift will look like in your school?  How can you provide the best possible outcomes for your students, because after all, that is what we are here for?

Don't keep on preparing your students for today's world.  Prepare for tomorrow.

More on eduspeak and other inspired words

Technology-inspired words are definitely buzzworthy! - ICT in Education - Awesome article to add on to my Eduspeak Blogs

Too old to know better?

The Human Rights Act makes it unlawful to discriminate on the basis of age. That does not stop some humans - if you can call them that - publicly having their negative say about old or middle aged (in particular) women.
As I approach a significant birthday, I am becoming acutely aware of what many other women have reported before me. In the middle of a productive, rewarding and also contributing phase of my career, I have encountered prejudices from people who should know better.
For instance, while training up younger teachers in the use of digital technology for learning in the classroom, I have been reduced to biting my tongue about comments made by said teachers about the old ones on the staff who don't use technology, when they, themselves, are barely capable of attaching files to their emails. They seem to ignore the fact that I am approaching sixty when they say these things.

Over the weekend I was exposed ( and I use that word deliberately) to a comment from a tutor about principals who are too old to focus on the technology demands placed on them. Believe me, it is not about their age! If a principal has chosen to ignore technological advancements in favour of other principal- type tasks, it is about their attitude and priorities, NOT their age.
I also get ignored in electronics shops, in favour of young customers. I waited for a sales person to approach me this week, so I could buy an Apple TV. At least 5 walked by me to serve other younger people in the shop..... buying itunes cards, and plug in Multiboards. Hello, all you electronics shop managers out there....I am in the position of influencing large electronic purchases. Train your staff! Train them to approach all people in your shops with the same amount of respect for all. You never know, you might get a sale out of it.
And on a slightly different but eerily familiar theme, what is it about criticising the fashion sense of overweight middle aged women? When do these fashion police get out and criticise overweight middle aged men for their baggy bummed pants and ill-fitting teeshirts or bursting-at-the-waist business shirts? NEVER! I feel so aggrieved I am going to start a club to put the focus onto an equal footing. Except it really is not for me to carp on about fashion sense and other qualities that seem to be important to a large portion of the population and maybe that is why they get away with it. Because people let them.
And finally today, we need to appoint a male principal. Why? Is he better than the female applicant? No, but it is what the community want. Really? OMG get that poor female out of there before she gets trapped in that community.
So as I enjoy the last couple of months of the fifties, I would like to know this ageism-sexism thing is not going to get worse than it is already. No wonder women lie about their age. No one want to be treated like a second class citizen.
Have you encountered ageism and sexism in your career? And how did you deal with it?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Image from clevelandseniors.com

Why can't I get into Twitter?

I do not tweet very much. I think individuals develop their own style of communication and for me, it is blogging. Blogging allows me time to think, evaluate and organise my thoughts. However, I took a closer look at Twitter to try to encourage myself to step outside my comfort zone.

I was really interested in a Wiki on how to improve teaching and learning using Twitter as it is really a tool that I have not used regularly at all, except to post my blogs to the Twerps (which I understand is people who tweet).  Note that this link refers to those people as Tweeps

The first thing I read was how to use Twitter as an instant feedback from students.  What a good idea! Instead of the expensive clickers, make a list of your students and gather their thoughts that way.

Then I thought about people I could follow.   I read an interesting article by Dr Elizabeth Rata in the NZ Herald today and thought I could follow her. Unfortunately I cannot find her on Twitter.  Which did get me thinking.  I wonder how many academics are on twitter? I asked educators on Twitter what they thought of the article.

Liz B Davis blogged that there is a Twitter life cycle and I wonder if my Tweeting has done its life cycle, but I have not been able to get going into the "I can't stop" stage.

I looked at this infographic on Twitter and realise how much paper it saves and how many tweets there are and how hard it would be to read them all

This slide share on Twitter was pretty useful.  I learnt about BigbigTweet which I will show you here - you can write longer tweets if you want and they follow on in the right order.

So, I have added that to my Chrome toolbar.  I have used the Twitterific app and Tweetdeck on my PC, too.

This slide was perhaps the best for me. It suggests that your contribution leads to reciprocity and as you accumulate Tweets that is where the real value will be apparent.  There is hope for me yet.

In my opinion, Twitter has a huge place in society.  In terms of instant news and keeping informed, it is second to none.  Just look at the #TeamNZ news as it happened!  I am making a promise to myself to look at more ways to use it in the classroom.

This video helped me think of some of those ways

• You can use it as a backchannel in class.


• You can use it to promote discussion on why it is useful.


• You can use it to be heard - to have a voice in the class.


• You can use it on a variety of devices


• 140 character limit helps students be precise


• It cuts down noise in the classroom


• It helps you stay in contact even when you are away


• It uses less paper than writing stuff up


• You can find curriculum resources on it.

In summary, I do not use Twitter enough and have a renewed admiration for its potential. I will try harder!

My favourite curation tool - Diigo

There are a number of different curation tools - you know the tools you use to collect your favourite websites so they are at hand when you want to go back to them?   From the very visual Pinterest to the fully functional Diigo, each has its own particular strengths and uses. Here is a list of ten of the best, from the Educational Technology website.
 I use a number of them regularly, including Pinterest, Livebinders, Evernote and Scoopit but Diigo is my favourite for my professional work.  I believe strongly that every educator and learner should use a social bookmarking tool like Diigo. Such a valuable tool to use every day.
I have made a youtube which introduces you to some of the functions of Diigo and share it with you here.