People are often saying that you can learn/find anything on the internet. I’ve always been a bit skeptical of this because I’m a people person. Every personality test I’ve taken shows that I value interactions with others, my love language is time/touch, and I love to decompress by being around people. So learning online all by myself? Yikes. Four weeks ago, I was tentative to set out learning to play the guitar entirely online. I must say, it had its challenges but wasn’t all bad. The good: My inhibitions were low because no one could hear me sing off key, strum the wrong note, or botch a transition between chords. I was not afraid to take risks in front of anyone for fear of embarrassment. Additionally, I could access a multitude of resources at any place and time. I didn’t have to fit one more thing into my busy schedule but could practice on my own terms. YouTube videos, Reddit pages, and more could be pulled up on my phone or laptop whenever I wanted to explore. The bad: Feedback was lacking. The only person evaluating my successes and errors was myself, and I’m a total guitar novice (see more about novice vs. expert learning in this blog post). I don’t know what I don’t know. Motivation was sometimes lacking, too. I am more motivated to show up to the gym when I’m meeting a friend, so similarly, having to show up to a guitar lesson would hold me accountable for practicing instead of surfing Hulu for a new show. Every learning experience has its good and bad, and this networked learning project was no different. Curious to see and hear how my four week “learn to play the guitar” adventure went? Check out the video below. In conclusion, Aleph Molinari (2011) says in his TED Talk, “Internet should be a basic right, not a privilege.” This project would not have been possible without the network and has made me realize what privilege simply connecting my phone and laptop to WiFi affords me. As a teacher, I hope for all students to have the same access to information that I do, and further, to understand how to use the internet as a tool and not a distraction or a weapon. Our job as educators in the 21st century learning is a big one because for that, technology cannot replace caring teachers. I still prefer to learn and interact in person, and will probably start some guitar lessons soon! But I cannot discredit the fantastic resources I found on YouTube, Reddit, and more. (All of my sources are recorded in this Google Sheet.) My husband is stationed abroad and just expressed an interest in learning to crochet to pass time. Guess where I directed him? The internet. References
Coco, Bella. (2019, February 24). How to crochet for absolute beginners [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcOzdAzmtNM EF Explore America. (2012, March 15). What is 21st century education? [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax5cNlutAys Level Up Guitar. (2017, April 8). I have no idea what I'm doing [Image]. Retrieve from https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/a3/12/91/a3129121302fdb1ed7eb9a8f0a1c4734--funny-dog-memes-dog-humor.jpg Molinari, Aleph. (2011, August). Let’s bridge the digital divide! [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/aleph_molinari_let_s_bridge_the_digital_divide (n.d.). Guitar - Gear, reviews, lessons, and discussion for everyone! [Online forum] Retrieved from https://www.reddit.com/r/Guitar/ Piano, Andy. (n.d.). Andy guitar. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9cvVvlvr-qBssphm1EdYGQ
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Recently I’ve been expanding my professional learning network and my grad school course encouraged that I participate in a Twitter chat. Seemed like an easy task... Until I Googled “Twitter chats for education with meeting times” and found endless lists of “the best” chats for teachers. Thoughts started swirling… Am I a bad teacher for just starting to participate? Ugh, the times they give are all in Eastern but I live in Texas. Okay, I’ll pick one. #GamesForEd made me excited for new ideas! But I forgot to log on and missed it. I put it on my calendar and set a reminder for the next one. Until I forgot about a meeting and missed #WeirdEd. This was definitely not easy. I have many students identified as gifted and talented. The #gtchat sounded perfect! Finally I was all logged on and then… Nothing. The hashtag was just being used for educational ads. I teach my students to use a growth mindset when they get frustrated. I need to as well. Next up: #mmpd. Logged on and searching again. There was a tweet! Someone else was participating! Except… There were only three of us. Not what I was expecting. Okay, last try. The assignment would be due soon and I was getting disappointed. I teach fourth grade so #elemchat would work. This blog post really hypes it up, too! There weren’t any moderators as Ed said (the post is from 2011, so maybe the chat is outdated). It was cool, however, as other teachers began asking and answering questions. I shared a few ideas and people tweeted back at me! Apparently I need to research the Universal Design for Learning. It was overwhelming and exhilarating. Maybe I’ll try again. I’ll keep my Twitter profile active, at least. References
Morin, Amanda. (n.d.) Universal design for learning (UDL): What you need to know. Retrieved from https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/treatments-approaches/educational-strategies/universal-design-for-learning-what-it-is-and-how-it-works WhatEdSaid. (2011, November 2). Effective professional learning (again) [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://whatedsaid.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/effective-professional-learning-2/ I am self-conscious of my tone deafness. I cannot tell if an instrument is in tune or sing in key, but I love to dance along. Some songs transport me back to a time and place. “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” puts me on the waterfront at summer camp, “Perfect” plays and I’m walking down the aisle, and “Cheeseburger in Paradise” brings me to the Porcupine Mountains. I even use music in my classroom to connect with my students and reinforce concepts. So taking on guitar (learn more about the project here) was daunting. Last post I mentioned researching how to make my fingers hurt less. The answers I found on Reddit? Suck it up. The line, “Played it ‘til my fingers bled,” has a whole new meaning. Not that I can compare to Bryan Adams! Here’s a look at the last week or so. Day 1: Girl sits on the couch with a guitar awkwardly in her arms. Phone in her hands, she downloads an app with great reviews. It doesn’t load, so she goes to plan B, and then C. Day 2: Getting started on Andy Guitar, she learns how to play a chord. Then two. It’s actually really hard. School came easy to her, so struggling to learn something is uncomfortable. Day 5: She can slooooowly transition between E and A major. Progress! She’s ready to play a song! Day 8: Still practicing “UNI” by Ed Sheeran, but with a newly acquired capo and pick. It sounds so much better! For the integrity of the project, I can only learn online. That’s the challenge -- to use the network. I often don’t finish what I start, though, and I’m working on that. So I’ve looked into guitar lessons, because it’s never too late to learn something new! References
Adams, Bryan. (2009, June 16). Bryan Adams - Summer of ‘69 (Official music video). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFjjO_lhf9c Andy Guitar. (n.d.). Online lessons. Retrieved from https://www.andyguitar.co.uk/ Margaritaville. (2009, June 16). Jimmy Buffet - Cheeseburger in paradise. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBsPZV14I-k Owen, Jake. (2011. June 278). Jake Owen - Barefoot blue jean night. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRh-vBOS-dU Sheeran, Ed. (2017, November 9). Ed Sheeran - Perfect (Official music video). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vv-BfVoq4g Sheeran, Ed. (2017, February 9). U.N.I. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leCWiHvePpw _thereaper_. (2018). What to do for sore fingers [Forum post]. Retrieved from https://www.reddit.com/r/Guitar/comments/7q1xjw/question_what_to_do_for_sore_fingers/
This week I was asked to explore 21st century learning. Interesting, since I have spent more of my years in school in the 21st century than I did in the nineties. (Insert comment from my coworkers about my young age!) So, haven’t I been doing 21st century learning my whole life? As I explored the multitude of definitions, I realized just how much education has shifted since the last century, and even since I graduated kindergarten in 2000.
In reading about education from the early 1900s until now, I was a bit surprised by how much legislation was involved. Experts tout that the 4 Cs are essential to 21st century learning: critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity (Nichols, 2019). But yet, No Child Left Behind (Strauss, 2018) and subsequent legislation ask for students and schools to make pre-determined annual yearly progress goals solely on multiple choice tests. Where is the creativity in that? As Carla Santorno says in an interview titled “How High the Bar,” “the fault lies not with the students, and it’s not in the schools, Common Core, or the assessments themselves. It’s the flawed benchmarks” (National Superintendents Roundtable, 2018). Learning and teaching, is dynamic. The world keeps changing, and teachers must be in shape to “keep up.” We teach our students about “technology,” but at one point in time, that “technology” was simply a pencil replacing chalk. And then it was a lightbulb replacing candles. Each generation has sustained changes; truly transformational educators are those who embrace them. How lucky am I to get to be a part of the pack. Check out the video below for a multimodal presentation created by yours truly -- what better way to give a more detailed representation of what 21st century learning is!
Resources
National Superintendents Roundtable. (2018, January 17). How high the bar? [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQjaQhP_om8&feature=youtu.be Nichols, Jennifer Rita. (2019, June 8). 4 essential rules of 21st-century learning. Retrieved from https://www.teachthought.com/learning/4-essential-rules-of-21st-century-learning/ Strauss, Valerie. (2018, April 26). ‘A Nation at Risk’ demanded education reform 35 years ago. Here’s how it’s been bungled ever since. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2018/04/26/the-landmark-a-nation-at-risk-called-for-education-reform-35-years-ago-heres-how-it-was-bungled/?noredirect=on I recently wrote about what 21st century learning looks like, and the 4 Cs (Nichols) that we want students to learn and use (critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity). So what does a 21st century lesson plan look like? For my grad school course on educational technology, I was tasked with writing one. I have to upload weekly lesson plans to my administration and I refer to the hyperlinks, details, and notes embedded in them daily. But, as I began exploring the syllabus of this course, I asked my course instructor what exactly a 21st century lesson plan looked like. Her response intrigued me when she said that it’s not really much different from what I already do. For some reason, sticking “21st century” in front of something so familiar made it feel foreign. I now understand what she meant. I teach in the 21st century each day and face challenges, celebrate successes, and keep moving forward. What made this a 21st century lesson plan was not necessarily that I included technology or topics relevant to my students, but being intentional in what technology I chose to use to meet my objectives. Here are my 4 Cs of writing it: Critical Thinking: Backwards planning is life for my team. We always start with the end in mind, and writing this lesson plan asked me to think about what learning goals needed to be met (content), how I could help my students reach them (pedagogy), and what partner to use in doing so (technology). See Mishra and Koehler’s TPACK framework to learn way more about this! Collaboration: I mentioned above planning with my team. I am a much better teacher because of the teachers I work with, and this lesson plan has been shared with many intelligent minds to make it the best it can be before it is presented to students. Communication: Cult of Pedagogy is one of my favorite blogs to follow as it consistently gives me ideas, inspiration, and relief that I’m doing a few things right. A few weeks ago, Jenn sent out a post (Gonzalez, 2017) about using curation to promote higher order thinking. I read it and instantly filed it away in my mind to come back to. It was such a beautiful way of using technology to do the research, thinking, and writing skills that our students need to practice in such a meaningful way. Creativity: This lesson plan is for my fourth graders as we study adaptations during a life science unit. They are to create their own “Top 5 Coolest Plant and Animal Adaptations” list, with a rationale for each on a Padlet page. Sound like a Buzzfeed article or blog post you’ve seen linked on Facebook? Way more real-world than a worksheet or essay, and real-world is what our students need. But students are still demonstrating an understanding of the connection between structure and function. There are a lot of pressures on teachers these days and we have to be realistic about what 21st century learning looks like day in and day out. During walk-throughs and evaluations, admin comes in to look for learning goals and success criteria posted, students who are able to explain the purpose in what they are doing, engagement and higher-order thinking, etc. I also have a lot of needs and behaviors -- ranging from students who are eager to please and learn to disrespect and refusal to work. As I read about case studies (Battelle for Kids) of schools exemplifying 21st century learning, voices in my head were saying:
All of these challenges are very real. I intend to use them as detours instead of roadblocks. My students and I are far from perfect, as is the technology and resources provided to me. I hope that more days than not, my classroom looks like it belongs in the 21st century. And on the days that it doesn’t, everyone is able to show grace and start fresh tomorrow. References
Battelle for Kids. (n.d.). 21st century learning exemplar program. Retrieved from http://www.battelleforkids.org/networks/p21/21st-century-learning-exemplar-program Gonzalez, Jennifer. (2017, April 15). To boost higher-order thinking, try curation [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/curation/ Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. J. (2006). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record, 108(6), 1017-1054. Nichols, Jennifer Rita. (2019, June 8). 4 essential rules of 21st-century learning. Retrieved from https://www.teachthought.com/learning/4-essential-rules-of-21st-century-learning/ |
Hi there!I'm Sarah! I have a passion for powerful teaching and lifelong learning. I am a 4th grade teacher turned instructional designer, and this is my blog documenting the journey. Click here to get in touch with me. Archives
February 2021
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