How to make Future Classrooms a reality…

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I recently watched number of “the future is wonderful” videos. One by Corning Glass, another by Microsoft’s Partners in Learning and this one my Smart Tech.

I love the clean lines, the cool tech and the innovative uses of tech. But that is NOT what gets me the most. The biggest thing is the “what the do”. Much of the things we would like to do, can be done now! It is often less of a technology question and more of a tradition, a curriculum, a status quo, an avidance of radical. We have been talking about project based learning, student centered, portfolios, community, 21 Century, Free schools, since my dad was teaching in the early 70’s. Yet we still have bells, report cards, standardized tests, grades, and columns of courses with a strict curriculum.

Technology can help makes some of these changes easier and manageable, but hot spots have been doing these long before our ICT age. My Dad’s wisdom lives in the Garth Brooks song, Standing outside the Fire”

We call them cool

Those hearts that have no scars to show

The ones that never do let go

And risk the tables being turned

We call them fools

Who have to dance within the flame

Who chance the sorrow and the shame

That always comes with getting burned

I am not suggesting being reckless. But I am suggesting a few things.

#1. Seriously question why we do some of the things we do? There used to be a very good reason why we do many things. Are those still good reasons today? Maybe yes , maybe no.

#2. If I cannot say “yes” to the above, am I willing to be a bit of a fool? I ask my students to take risks all the time and celebrate responsible fails. Am I willing to take a chance and be left with a scar? What is the worst thing that can happen if this goes sideways…really? Am I willing to let go of old because it is comfortable and known? or did someone a long time ago figure this out and I should learn their wisdom?

#3. Try it. I wait until I failed TWICE before I seriously evaluate it. If I get it perfect the first time, it might not have been a big enough change. When I have failed twice, then I willl consider if this has a good foundation that needs some band-aids, duct tape and TLC, or if it is flawed and needs to be bulldozed to the ground.

There are lots of superficial scars failing, duct taping and bulldozing. But there is a whole new world to create out there.

Invited to Attend C21 Canada Summit for the 2nd Year

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I have just been invited to attend the C21 Canada Summit for the 2nd year in a row. Last year it was Summit 50. 50 people by invitation only. I was lucky enough to be 1 of only 2 classroom teachers in the crowd, surrounded by CEO’s, ministers, Faculty of Ed, and politicians. This year it is Summit 100, and the Hon Paul Martin will be giving a talk. Now to find the cash to attend. 

Tech and Treat DEN Virtual Conference

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Drove up to Fredericton in TERRIBLE RAIN (Thanks Marcel) to attend a virtual conference, face to face. Virtual is good. Face to face is better!! Had I attended virtually, I probably would have interacted with Bryan Facey and Jeff Whipple. But I would not have sat beside Heather Hallett and talked about Partners In Learning and I would not have met a great BBT teacher to design a collaborative Chemistry Google Sketchup project!!

Tech is cool, but face to face is CRUCIAL!!

 

 

CyberBullying

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Just finished the SMART Technology Free course on Cyberbullying.

It was short, sweet, useful and productive. They talked about practical things on how you can prevent cyberbullying. I knew about e=mail and filters. What I had never considered was setting the ring tones of the bullies to silent. I also did not know that there was an app for that so that calls and texts from individuals are never received except to put them in a folder to be used as evidence. I like it!!

 

History of Biology From Spongelab Combined with SMARTBoards

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Last year, I downloaded the HISTORY of BIOLOGY from SPONGELABS. It was great!! I loved the game itself. The graphics were wonderful and the tasks were stimulating. Students worked away at the puzzles learning seemingly unconnected topics in biology by solving puzzles. It is sort of a scavenger hunt, meets National Treasure and AP Biology. However, as you get further into the game, you start to see how all the pieces fit together. This is analogous to learning science. You do not always know why something will be useful and then at some point in time later, it is the crucial piece of the puzzle. It is a nice analogy to science.

Particularly interesting was the combination of the HISTORY of BIOLOGY with a SMARTBoard. Half of the class worked on the game as individuals on laptops while the other half of the class worked in small teams of 3 and 4 at SMARTBoards. It was fascinating to watch the teams work together to solve the game.  Although the students at 1:1 laptops were in close proximity and gathered around tables, their interactions were very limited. Just because students are arranged in a collaborative shape, each with their own tech, working on the same problem does not mean that they will actually COLLABRATE. However, the students gathered around the boards were talking, discussing, in some cases arguing, and working as a team. The SMARTboards improved the communication and the social constructivism. The SMARTBoards turned an activity that uses technology into a 21st Century Learning activity by encouraging all those 21C skills such as communication, critical thinking, media literacy and the like. 

Some educators have been looking at SMARTBoards as TPR’s- Traditional Pedagogy Replicators. Combining the HISTORY of BIOLOGY game from Spongelabs, with SMARTBoards is a wonderful example of how the boards can transform STUDENT learning. The key is having students using the boards with wonderful resources like the HISTORY of BIOLOGY.

SMART Interactive Teacher Certification

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I just completed the “SMART Interactive Teacher Certification”.  There is some real synergy between the products at SMART for Education. Each little piece may not seem that valuable at first glance, with the exception of the SMART Boards and Notebook, but when they are all pieced together they are more than the sum of their parts. It has been fun getting outside of my own rut. Thanks!!