Day Five Recap!

I posted this video by Tommy Emmanuel below in the Day One Recap. I like this video for a variety of reasons... and thought it was great to revisit it here.

It's easy to look at great guitar player like Emmanuel and say... "I could never do that."

All things technology fit into that mindset as well. 'I can't do that' or 'I'm not good at that' or 'I'll never be that good at it' are all thoughts that might cross your mind at one time or another.

The most powerful lesson you can teach is that you never stop learning... that you are not afraid to learn something new.

Many of us older folk, and even younger ones, come from an era of 'scripted learning.' Things are prepared for us, step-by-step. We are asked to follow directions, provide the required feedback, prepare the specified content in a specified format for a grade. We get great at following directions.

Technology though... provides new challenges... and opportunities in learning.

Here's an example of how I showed a person in the Fall Semester last year to create a blog for his work.

A: I'd like you to create a blog for the class. Something creative that documents your journey here, video, audio, reflective writing, inspirational things... whatever you'd like to create on it, that'd be appropriate to share with the class (smile).

Student: Which blog should I use?

A: What ones are available?

Student: I don't know. I've never used one.

A: How would you find out?

Student: I could search for one.

A: Great idea!

Student: Searches for some blogs and finds: Tumblr, WordPress, Blogger... and about 100 other ones.

Student: UGH! There are so many! Which one do I choose?

A: I don't know... they all have different strengths. Take a look at a few and see what you find.

Student: Which one is easiest? Which one do you use?

A: Look at our class blog and see if you can figure out which one we use.

Student: You use Blogger for the class. Why did you choose that one?

A: It integrates with Google, is actually owned now by Google, so I use it... it's easy.

Student: I'll try that one then. Looks cool.

Student: How do I set one up?

A: Good question! How would you find out?

Student: Go to the Blogger page maybe...

You might guess where this went from here. The student tried to prompt me to give them 'specific' directions on how to log in, and all the steps to create a blog. I kept referring them to login, and evaluate what's on the screen: Create a name, pick a template, try rearranging things, and to search for things like, 'Introduction to blogger,' to use the help menus. We went' on through... the student asking "how do I insert a video?" and I'd say... "How do we find out? We can use the help menu, search the web for something like 'how to insert a video in blogger."

They began, slowly, to ask fewer and fewer questions... and in two short weeks, their blog turned into something quite spectacular.

It's easy to look at the finished product and think... I can never get there.

I use five practices with students all the time:
1. Read what's on the screen.
2. Use the web to search for things like 'introduction to...' or 'how to...'
3. Seek tutorials on the web: Podcasts, videos, etc.
4. Try something! Click a button... learn to take risks... and how to step back from failures (Undo, History (in Photoshop), revert to earlier saved versions, etc).

Viewing what's on the screen, what things say, clicking a button... may lead you somewhere.

5. Then... there's promoting the 'experts' in class to help each other. I helped the student above to create a blog, and then asked them to help some others in class to do the same. I was careful though to show them not to do this for another person though, rather, let the person you're helping drive, help steer them, and help them learn to explore what's on the screen.

It's an explorative way to use software... and to teach.

It's a lot like learning to play a baseline... then adding a drummer part, then adding a rhythm guy... and then to play the melody on top of it all.

Tommy Emmanuel didn't just pick up a guitar and play this way. As his skills and comfort level increased, new doors began to open. He experimented, practiced, he sought out mentors (he thanks Chet Atkins in the video for a great lick that he plays in the song), and he refined his craft. Much like the kids we highlighted in the El Sistema video from Venezuela, they learned their craft.

As I said many times in class, each generation has it's challenges. I feel one of the major challenges of this generation is:

Use technology for it's creative capacity rather than just a source of entertainment or basic reading or writing.

By loosening up my guidelines, adding creativity and ownership, and mentoring... I've gotten far better results from students in projects. Ultimately, the students feel the work they do is more gratifying, that they are doing it for their benefit rather than simply doing it for a grade.

If you keep moving forward... you might end up somewhere you always should have been... or somewhere you might never have seen... like working with a great group of folks in Monterrey Mexico.

So...

I added some things to the Resources page, and I'll keep adding posts here if you'd like. Collaborative blogs like this can be a great place to keep learning.

All the Recap posts from the week can be found easily by clicking on the 'Recap' tag, under Labels on the right hand side of the blog. Using labels posts can make things easy to find.

On the first post here in this blog... I tossed in a picture I took on the plane flying into Monterrey.

Here's a video I shot with my phone on the way from Monterrey to Houston, out the window of the plane and tossed on YouTube (all on my phone) a few moments ago.



There's so much more you can do with these tools rather than research, write, and read. If you inspire kids to learn with tools... to create with these tools... to build a creative voice... to learn how to learn and explore, well, who knows where they might lead us.

I posted the landing too... not the end of a week-long exploration... but the beginning of something new:



I can't thank all of you enough for your hospitality, your willingness to learn, and to take risks and chances. We saw a great deal of courage this week as you wrapped up a long, three-year journey of classwork en route to your final Master projects, and then on to graduation. I applaud your resolve to take on new challenges and to broaden your horizons in this program. As you know, it's no small commitment... and it should be celebrated! It was a privilege for me to work with all of you. I sincerely hope you keep in touch, keep asking questions (of me and your peers), and keep seeking inspiration for your students and for yourselves. I look forward to returning to Monterrey, to seeing you again, and to new adventures.

The Force is with us, Adam

Day Four Recap: A call for deep reflection

Wow! It seems strange to write a recap for day four. Time does fly when you're having fun exploring with great people.

We started off the day with a reminder... a story that saving your work is important! I wrote for about 30 minutes on the blog this morning framing up some ideas. I got distracted and hit some key combination that made the web page move back one screen. The short story is... I lost 30 minutes of writing! When you write, save often, or in the blogs case... 'Save as Draft' often. Some quick typing and another gracious ride from Mena to the school and we were off and running.

We looked at some blog posts this morning, some great work by Chris Lehmann, from the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, on his blog called Practical Theory. We looked at two of his posts today: What I ask of all SLA Teachers, and What makes a great teacher.

Snipping a bit out of both articles, Lehmann offers some great, common sense advice:

Take care of yourself. Teaching is a marathon, not a sprint, and SLA teachers do put themselves out there early and often. I want my teachers to take time for themselves every day. I want SLA teachers to take trips, go to conferences, spend time with family and spend time with each other when they don't talk about school.

Understand that your class is but one of five or six or seven classes that kids have. Understand that school is one of many things in a teenager's life. And while what goes on in your class is important, I ask that teachers remember that, at any given moment in time, there are pressures on their kids' lives that makes what goes on in our classes seem powerfully inconsequential.

Remember that benevolent dictatorship may make for an orderly class, but it rarely helps kids become better people. Giving kids opportunities to feel ownership of the classroom is important because, in the end, you can get what you want or you can get much more.

Remember that inquiry isn't just for kids. If we want our kids to always push themselves to question more, dig deeper, figure it out for themselves, we must be willing to do that too.

A willingness to change. This one gets overlooked sometimes, I think. I've written about this before, but it bears repeating. We talk about how schools should be transformative for kids, but I think they can be just as transformative for teachers. If you expect kids to be changed by their interaction with you, it's got to be a two-way street.

A willingness to reflect. You've got to be able to ask why things went the way they did... both on the good and the bad days. And you have to be able to admit when the reasons it went bad were because of what you did, not what the students did. (Equally important is the understanding that often things go right because of what the kids brought to the table, not because your lesson plan should be bronzed.) Teaching requires a willingness to cast a critical eye on your practice, your pedagogy and your self. And it can be brutal.

Ok, I pasted more quotes than I intended! It's great stuff though... true to the title of Lehmann's blog (Practical Theory)!


I just looked at the blog for the first time in a week... and there's another great post up there that was just written.


The we took a look at a speech from Benjamin Zander 'On Music and Passion' from TED.com. Zander speaks of many things in this video. Maintaining a positive perspective will give you energy. Listening... is important. Practicing your craft... takes time, patience, love, and humility. Passion... transforming from impulse playing to, as he puts it, "one buttock playing" takes... all of the above. 

"... For me to join the B to the E, I have to stop thinking about every... single... note... along the way and start thinking about the long, long line from B to E."

My favorite part of the speech... "The conductor of an orchestra doesn't make a sound.... He depends for his power on his ability to make other people powerful. I realized my job was to make other people powerful. And that changed everything for me... I realized my job was to awaken possibility in other people... You know how you find out?... you look at their eyes, if there eyes are shining you know you're doing it... if the eyes are not shining... you get to ask a question... who am I being that my childrens eyes are not shining?"


Important perspectives, and important questions on personal craft and the craft of teaching. Deep reflection is a tough business. It's easy to beat yourself up, frustrated at what you don't know, what you can't do well, what you didn't do well. The trick though is patience, a positive attitude and perspective (the shoe salesman story from the Zander vid!) and a willingness to learn and collaborate. Ultimately though, committing to moving forward will help you recharge and grow, and to set a new course.


Here's Zander's full speech on TED:



After a short break, we took off on some project work. Many continued chipping away, and many shored up week-long inquiries. Some started prepping for tomorrow... and many, I think, started some deep reflection... and the realization is setting in that this is the final class coming up of a long journey.

We took a break for lunch and then dove into a quick recap of iTunes U and OpenCourseWare at MIT.

iTunes has a load of resources it can access on the web via 'iTunes U' and via the Podcast sections on the menu. Open iTunes and click on iTunes U and Podcasting on the top menu bar and explore! You can also get some background info here: http://www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/  There's an unbelievable amount of free content there... and don't forget to use the search box to find things you are interested in!

Then we dove into a quick intro on one incredible movement and mission called OpenCourseWare at MIT. A university giving away its undergraduate and graduate intellectual property took, well, some guts! Their efforts have made the incredible resources and intellectual capital available to the world and inspired other institutions to do the same. The site reveals more about the history of the program (it launched in 2001), and a great story of what's coming up next on their A Decade of Open Sharing Page.

Our friend Ari reflects on the week.

We said a farewell of sorts to Ari today. Ari left class a day early, off to her new job tomorrow. Before Ari left, she shared her work and reflections this week with the class, a tale of many projects and collaborative learning. Ari's been a mentor to many here in class and in this school and it's easy to see the admiration and love for her in the room. Best wishes, Ari, on the new job!

For all these great folks, a three-year journey of Masters classwork is coming to an end. With such times come tears... of accomplishment, joy, sadness, and the euphoria of closing out a long journey... and the excitement that the future brings.

Tomorrow we'll have some conversational presentations on learning this week... and with that, a whole range of fulfilling emotions, and hopefully a great celebration!

Day Three Recap!

Igniting the passion to learn... takes some practice and craft. It also takes some risk taking. We have comfort zones in our learning, our lives, and pushing beyond them and learning new things, seeking out new experiences can be intimidating.

Often times, and especially as a teacher I think, it's easy to fall into a scripted mode, a patterned approach of refining and tweaking those things you already know. Students in school do this as well... 'do what you're told,' and 'how I tell you,' and often 'using these resources and this method, and deliver it to me in this format.' As a result of our system of education many students get good at being led.

Technology though, the rapid pace of development, and the increasing creative capacity of the tools... the ability to do things with a computer and a piece of software many different ways, presents incredible challenges on this scripted method of learning. It's a bit like being on a roller coaster I think.

Lose some preconceived notions and fear... throw your arms up in the air and have some fun.
Who knows where it might just lead you... and your thinking.
Play!

Learning how to learn, how to troubleshoot, how to rekindle that desire to explore and try things, to revisit how to play... can help us reignite our creativity.

The artist can draw on a piece of paper their whole life. They can stay in their comfort zone, cast away chances, changes, and opportunities... or they can take a new challenge, a new opportunity and expand their craft to a large wall. When you try new things, well, who knows where it might lead you.

Demonstrating to children that you don't have all the answers and are learning, that you take risks, that you explore this great world and it's technology is a powerful message... and it takes fortitude. For each child we want learning to be a lifelong passion. In this spirit, we must demonstrate these skills ourselves.

Learning troubleshooting skills with technology, to collaborate, to play and experiment takes some time. A computer and it's software is a confusing, complicated object to some, just like and musical instrument is when you first pick it up. Slowly though, you find out new things, you learn to use tutorials, you learn to ask questions, you practice, you learn to take chances and to try something and see what happens. When you do this, when you step aside from a script that tells you exactly how to do something, when you cast aside preconceived notions and fear... you gain strength. You open yourself to incredible opportunities.

Discussing learning is not limited, of course, to technology.

Maybe... it's a book, a movie, some inspirational writing, a painting, a building, a person, a moment, a question, an invitation, or a piece of music that can inspire you...

We watched and talked about two spirited examples of learning, of passion, of dedication and... nothing less than social reform... and ultimately hope I think.

El Sisteme (official site), the Youth Orchestra program in Venezuela, is one of the most hopeful programs I've run across in some time, perhaps in my lifetime. Here's the summary from Wikipedia. Here's is the programs founder, Jose Antonio Abreu's speech from TED.com that we played as an intro:



After the speech we had more discussion. I shared some stories about some of my own students, those of privilege or poverty, some gifted in the capacity for deep thinking and some who are not. In all cases though many students, whatever their case or ability, have lost hope, they have lost their will to be creative.

A most powerful example of learning is the Teresa Carreno Youth Orchestra, a thread of the El Sisteme program. Every one of these children in these videos likely said at one point 'I can't do this,' or 'I can't play an instrument'... and yet here they are, 17 years old and under, playing some extremely difficult arrangements... with expert musicianship and incredible passion.



Of course, every one of these incredible young musicians, at some point, wanted to throw their instrument out the window. I've had many times in my life where I've thought about turning a laptop into a frisbee. Taking a break, a walk, a meal, or letting my sub conscience work through something on a good nights sleep can bring new spirit, new ideas, new thoughts and again, the development of creative and explorative strength.

I use a quote at the top of my class blog that says "Keep Moving Forward." We are at a new point in our civilization. It is the most communicative, most technically advanced, and perhaps most socially challenging time in history. Urban planning, social reform, global economic issues... there is no scripted curriculum that will allow children in the future to meet these great societal challenges. It's not to say that scripted curriculum cannot be useful... but I believe strongly we need more balance. We need more creativity, to help people think creatively, and to explore exercising their voice. We need to include students more in the creative process of learning, of how to learn, of making things, of stating opinions for larger audiences... of rekindling hope and intellectual drive. perhaps even of meaning in their lives.

Of course... you may not be the one to create a national program. But... with each child you reach, with each spark you kindle in them to learn. Who knows where it might lead. That opportunity... is the great joy of teaching.

WHOO! Ok, now back to some of that recap business...

We added many publishers to our site today, and saw many posts on our class blog and on Twitter... comments on the great videos and discussions we had. Backchannel conversations, reflective writing with friends and people abroad can bring powerful insights. We collaborated on what folks were sharing here, exchanging ideas and information. We posted some framework for our projects. We had some laughs, some tears, and some discussions of helping our friend in the hospital, Elisa, through her plight. We... had a great day. My sincere thanks for your work and your passion to learn.

Tomorrow... we'll continue to explore our projects and help folks seek out answers to their curiosities. We'll explore some new resources, and we'll look toward crafting reflective posts and presentations for Friday.

Before I forget... I mentioned a great web site I found on crafting presentations, storytelling, artwork and many other things today called PresentationZen. The site has a wealth of great material on these fronts and I've enjoyed reading through it over the years.

Excellent snacks today (thanks again Mena!)... spicy chips, hot sauce, and crushed red pepper flakes in the early morning and jamica... I love this place... almost as much as the great people I've had the privilege to learn with here.

The picture at the top of the blog, the picture of the children, here's the link to the story:
http://www.allthingsstrings.com/layout/set/print/News/News/YOLA-at-HOLA-El-Sistema-like-Program-Begins-Taking-Root

Day Two Recap!

Day two! We had a student come through an accident unscathed, we had some more great snacks provided graciously by Mena, we threw Pirates of the Caribbean on the wall as background music, we had some great discussions, and also movement on projects today.

In the morning we dove into a discussion on this talk below from TED.com by Sugata Mitra called 'The Child-Driven Education' and then had some discussion.



The video conjures up all sorts of feelings excellently which were excellently summarized by Mena as "good and bad!" My feelings exactly! It's easy to look at this video and feel like folks are advocating for replacing teachers. There are certainly some who are doing that in the world. There are movements in education where teachers are under attack, mass firings, and many resulting in computer driven/scripted curriculums. It's also easy to look at this video and get intimidated by the aptitude, the fluency that children seem to have with technology, especially if you are a person who struggles with it.

The real crux of the video though, I think, sits in, as the title states, the child-driven education. Promoting students to dive in, find answers, be included in the process of learning, and to apply their skills rather than be led is one of the major themes here. This type of immersive, messy learning takes practice but ultimately is far more interesting to students, and creates a stronger bond with the teacher. It moves the teacher into a mentorship role. The video is a great compliment to the work we explored yesterday from Reggio Emila. Mitra states near the end of the talk that he thinks 'education is a self-organizing system.' Promoting collaboration in the classroom, allowing creativity within projects can lead to far better results that scripted models. I'm hoping to show you many examples where creative freedom can lead to far greater results that you might expect. It can also lead to some failures, but those too, can be excellent learning!

The projects are ambitious that Mitra describes, especially this one where he says: 'Can Tamal speaking in a South India village teach themselves bio-technology on their own.' The students work in the experiment were pretty staggering. It's a great example of how mentoring, supporting, and providing a framework can lead to some great results.

The role of the teacher as a mentor, as a coach, as being involved in the process of learning rather than directly leading instruction is a pedagogical shift, and a difficult one for some. The goal here in this course... is to explore this avenue, both in our class material and discussions and also in your own individual projects... but here's the rub...

Frustration will happen! Learning to problem solve, learning to seek out answers and develop troubleshooting skills takes time. The teacher, as I'm trying to do (and hopefully well!), becomes a mentor, sculpts new opportunities, encourages collaboration, and... helps find answers.

We'll explore this theme and style of work more tomorrow (Wednesday) and also try grouping people by interests at tables to promote even more collaboration. Moving around the room can be a good thing! We'll also explore (and encourage) that some may want to start shifting to explore other areas, explore other curiosities. My first thought is to conjure a table for: Photoshop, Video Editing, Blog/Website creation, and discuss how to promote growth in those groups. We'll ask what other themes we can group up or create new ones from new interests.

We'll have a discussion in the morning tomorrow about some of the guidelines for posting to the class blog (one post due by tomorrow, Wednesday, by the end of class), and another at the end of the week (Friday) that summarizes the work you did individually or as part of a group, what you learned, and your thoughts: What you are curious about, what you'd like to explore... whatever strikes your fancy to share. I'll also encourage people to chime in on things other folks post on the site.

We'll explore this statement and have a discussion:

Children have a remarkable capacity for intensity.

Creative, immersive projects vs scripted, specified curriculum... we'll see where the discussion goes.

We'll also review how final projects will be presented to the class Friday, and we'll see where folks would like to direct class discussions and / or some work sessions.

We'll start off with the discussions, introduce some new thoughts, an also explore an incredible music program in Venezuela.

Thanks for your work today! Looking forward to the next round. Adam

Day One Recap!

Colegio Euroamericano Summer Tech Class Day One!

Edgar and Edwardo ( I think I got his name right!) helped us get get on the wireless network and get the projector fired up.

We did some introductions...

And I introduced the first rendition of the class blog, a thoroughly uninspiring site, stark white, no pictures, only a framework for getting started... and discussed the challenge for the class to dive in and make it interesting, to add content as we go, to add their thoughts and reflections on what we cover and where we might head (which is Tuesday's 'in class' homework by the way!).

We looked over the 100 Reasons piece and discussed the philosophy of 'diving in.' We discussed exploring people's curiosities and the 'Story of Laura and the Watch' and the Reggio Emilia (here's one resource, and here's the 'official' site) approach to working with students.

Many thanks to Mena for bringing in some great snacks for folks while we worked today! Approaching day long classes with snacks is a key for higher, more sophisticated learning, right? It's a good way to fire up creativity I think.

We framed up ideas on class and personal exploration projects for the week. We have a lot of common interests! Some messy and spirited editing on our public Google Docs over on the right side of this blog is a great way to see the power of collaborative editing and get things going.

We took a dive into Twitter:

We explored Twitter and a bit of it's potential as a professional development resource, a source to 'subscribe' to topics and people who inspire you... a bit like having research assistants!

• We tried some searches in Twitter: cooking and photoshop (separately, but now I'm curious what searching for both of these together will bring up... and will try it after I finish writing here!) and got to see what came up in posts. Searching for terms you are interested in is a great way to find resources. I gave examples of how I use Twitter with students to find resources for their projects.
• We introduced how to use hashtags and fired one up for the course this week for people to use #st11m . Posting with a hashtag is a great way to broadcast to a larger audience. Want to broadcast to a larger audience? Try using the #edchat or #education hashtag... or do a search for it and see what comes up. Try finding hashtags for your interests or hobbies and search for them: it's a great way to sift through the 'twittersphere'.
• Find and 'Follow' people you like and build your network.
• I gave examples of how I use Twitter for professional development, education discussions and the like and also to find great art resources and music.
• We covered retweeting quickly, reposting things that you read that you like, broadcasting to people who follow you. 
• One of my favorite people to follow on Twitter is @guykawasaki ... and endless source of bizarre, and creative things on the web. Kawasaki (a short bio from Garage.com on him) uses Twitter as an engine to promote his books and business... and he's quite successful at it.
• Using Google to search for things like 'Introduction to Twitter' or "how to use twitter' will reveal some great tips like this and this to help you get started and learn more.

Investing some time into Twitter will churn up some great resources... and that's always a good thing.

Elisa stopped in to say hello and give us some updates on her mother. Our thoughts are with them through this very tough time and we'll all work together to help both of them and send them some love.

Allina stopped in with iPads and flip cams!

We took a lunch break, an important part of learning... especially in day long classes. Thanks for lunch Mena! Spicy tacos... love it! After lunch we got back to some project work, grouping folks up with like interests, exploring and sharing ideas.

We setup a few folks to be collaborative editors on the class blog. Many thanks to Ari for the first modification to the web site, a brown theme now... much more appealing than the grim framework we started with!

We turned down the bright fluorescent lights down and tossed some Tommy Emmanuel (guitar player) up on the big screen while we worked. We played one of Emmanuel's concert DVDs called Center Stage but here's a YouTube clip of an old song, playing four parts simultaneously... smooth stuff, and catchy):

Environment, as you'll see by the Reggio Emilia resource I linked above, plays a huge role in how people learn... or can... and should! Environment, lighting, and resources will be a recurring theme we discuss in class this week.

Much of the work we did today frames up what we'll be working on tomorrow!

My sincere thanks for everyones work today. It gets more strange from here!