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The merits of multiple perspectives in the classroom » Moving at the Speed of Creativity Annotated
“The only viable way to help students develop their critical thinking skills, in my view, is to encourage them to engage in extended conversations about issues which are not clearly black and white and involve some controversy. Sometimes in school we present the curriculum as a “here are the facts” sort of proposition, but particularly in the domain of science what we need to encourage is a questioning mind and an outlook which is always critical, searching for evidence.”
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I highlighted this entry from Wesley Fryer’s blog post today. For me it addresses the change that educators must make to prepare our students to live productively and in harmony in a global world. I think most of us know the “here are the facts” way of teaching is remembered for only a short while. How may of us remember the names of all 50 states and their capitals or the history of world wars and their purpose or outcome? Maybe, had the unit of study started with an essential question that addressed a real issue I might remember more of what I studied.
When we address those issues that are controversial, we get deep into the subject and encourage our students and ourselves to ask those questions that get us thinking about other perspectives. Is it comfortable for most of us to do this; no. I think that is why many educators don’t address curriculum in this way.
So, how to we get educators to change?
If you read my post on Yugma, you read about another free web based resource for professional as well as personal use. This resource is called Skype. I am an avid user of this resource. It allows me to contact those in my contact list immediately through my computer. I spend many hours each day online. When I want to collaborate on an idea, I look for people available to call. I then send a chat message to see if they are available to talk. If so, I call them (if only 1) or start a conference call (if more that one). This brings me to the feature I like most, the ability to make a conference call with up to 10 people. I have used this feature many times. My peers and I have collaborated on upcoming presentations, planned family events, demonstrated Skype as well as other online tools, and connected students with others on various projects. You can also purchase Skype credit to allow calls to landlines or mobile phones. This is a great resource! Check it out!
Have you heard about Yugma? It’s a free website that allows collaboration with others through virtual presentations. With Yugma you can give a tutorial remotely as well as provide tech support when you need it by sharing your desktop with others. I first saw this in action when a friend of mine was giving a tutorial on Audacity. She started a conference call in Skype and began a session in Yugma. A link was sent so that we could join in. What a great way to be able to share something from your computer with others! I call that learning when you need it, where you need it.
If you’ve not heard about Twitter, you need to check it out. It’s a good way to create a network of friends, family or those who share similar interests. I was introduced to Twitter by a friend of mine a few months ago. I started “tweeting” shortly after. I’m following about 50 people, some I know through online interactions and some I know personally. We all have one thing in common, we’re involved in education.
As my tweet friends learn something new they post a short entry on Twitter. I immediately receive this information in my Twitter box. I do the same in return. What a great way to share your learning with others.
I’ve been very busy lately listening in on sessions at the K12 Online Conference, participating in Webcast Academy and preparing for a pre-conference session on Web 2.0 to be held in Greensboro, NC the week after Thanksgiving. I have found many, many great uses for Web 2.0 tools for educators and most of these tools are free. The tools I will be using with participants include: blogs, wikis, google docs, Skype, Yugma, social bookmarking sites and others. I will be using a wiki to conduct my training and a blog for participant reflection. I created a spreadsheet on google docs that particpants will be editing and I have a couple of teachers around the country that will be skyping in during the session to share ways they use these same tools in their schools and districts. I’m excited about this conference session because participants will get hands on experience with these tools. My goal is that they find at least one to integrate into their classroom.
Last week I had the opportunity to work with educators in two different elementary schools on the integration of the Smartboard as a tool for learning. Each school had 3 smartboards for teachers to check out and use in their classrooms. For the training, we set up one for a short demonstration of it’s many uses. The other two were left as is for teachers to learn how to set them up initally and then for them to explore the gallery and many online templates for use as an educational tool. Teachers left excited and eager to use these in their classrooms. Why smartboards? Students become actively involved and engaged in the learning process. Learning becomes fun which leads to higher academic achievement.
Wow, today I learned about blogging and have actually set up my first blog. I’m looking forward to sharing some of my expertise with others.
An Educator's Travels 