Taking Web 2.0 to the Next Level

Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the OTF sponsored workshop Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century. This workshop enabled me to spend an entire day working with other educators experienced in the use of web tools in a small group session that was facilitated by Will Richardson.

In my own mind I felt that I had become fairly comfortable and competent in the use of web tools in the classroom. I have introduced blogs, podcasts, wikis, voicethreads, and digital stories to my students, and I have been thrilled with the results. I signed up for the "Advanced" session of the workshop because I had attended the previous OTF conference, Expanding Our Boundaries, last February (also facilitated by Will Richardson) and I was curious about how my thinking would be pushed this time around.

Will wasted no time challenging us to be more selfish about our personal learning. He stressed that we need to consider how we can use the tools available to us to enhance our own learning instead of simply thinking of how they can be used in the classroom. To get his point across, he asked us the following question:

"If there was one part of your personal learning practice that you
wanted to focus on today, what would it be? What questions would
you seek to answer?"

Those of us in attendance completely missed the point of the question, so as a result Will had us do the activity again. It seems that we had a very tough time thinking selfishly!

Later on in the session we began to focus directly on how we could get our students to use web tools more effectively in the classroom. Will challenged us to "Shirky-ize" our lessons, a reference to Clay Shirky's belief that students need to share their work, cooperate and collaborate with others, and "collectively act" within a social justice context. The energy level in the room had been high all along, but it reached a new high at this point. Many of us took a hard look at lessons and units that we would normally teach, with or without the integration of web tools, and began to develop them in ways that would impact student global-citizenship. We helped each other out and collaborated to push our thinking into areas that hadn't previously been considered. Come to think of it, we were modeling exactly what we want to see our students doing in class!

It will be interesting to see what type of impact these challenges will have on those of us who attended the workshop. Will our group continue to focus on developing project-based learning opportunities that have a social justice context, or will many of us slip into the trap of simply trying to cover the curriculum standards (and maybe throwing in a web-based tool here and there)? Also, will we successfully become more selfish about our own personal learning rather than focusing only on ourselves as teachers? I don't know about the latter, but I have a feeling that we are about to see some wonderful learning opportunities being developed in our classrooms. I certainly hope so!

How "The Element" Pushed My Thinking

I have been wanting to get my hands on The Element by Sir Ken Robinson for about six months now, and I finally had a chance to read the book this week. I had heard some detail about the contents of the book through word of mouth and online postings, specifically this blog post by Will Richardson, but I was left with many unanswered questions that I hoped would be addressed in the book.

I understood that the definition of The Element is "the point at which natural talent meets personal passion" and I tried to connect this definition to my own experiences, but I realized that it was difficult to truly understand the power of being in The Element without digging deep and discovering what factors contribute to, or inhibit this achievement. As an educator, I was also curious about how we as teachers can encourage our students to discover and pursue their passions.

Some parts of the book clicked with me right away because of my own personal connections as well as my knowledge of the success stories of others as portayed in the media. For example, there are no shortage of stories about athletes who report the power of being "in the zone" and visualizing what success looks like as they pursue their passions. However, as I read the book I was particularly drawn to other points that Sir Ken makes such as the importance of "Finding Your Tribe" (pg. 103) and overcoming the barriers or obstacles that may detract from us finding our Element. In chapter 6 he summarizes this important point as follows:

I think of the barriers to finding the Element as three concentric "circles of
constraint." These circles are personal, social, and cultural (pg. 132).

This was one of those concepts that really pushed my thinking and challenged me to consider this through the lens of a teacher and a parent. Sir Ken tells the story of Arianna Stassinopoulos (Huffington) and how she overcame many social objections, including those of her father, on the road to finding her Element. The support that Arianna received from her mother helped her pursue her passions and realize her dreams, and I can't help but look at my own life closely and ask myself "Am I doing everything I can to encourage my children and my students to connect to their passions?" Or am I subconsciously throwing up roadblocks (I certainly don't think I'd do this intentionally)?

The biggest "wow" moment for me came in Sir Ken's hard-hitting chapter on education transformation. He argues that the hierarchy of subjects taught in the standard curriculum need to change to reflect a more balanced and diversified approach to education. He sums up this point with the following statement:

Too many students pass through education and have their natural talents
marginalized or ignored. The arts, sciences, humanities, physical education,
languages, and math all have equal and central contributions to make to a
student's education. (pg. 247)

Now, I"m not sure that I can convincingly make the case that all of these subject areas should receive an equal focus in our curriculum, but Sir Ken's point is well taken. I don't think that there is any doubt that we have students in our care who have a natural aptitude or passion(s) that isn't being nurtured at home or at school. My own teaching practice reflects this. I can think of a number of students I've taught in the past couple of years who have demonstrated a natural talent and obvious passion for the arts (music, visual, drama), and again I ask myself the question: Am I doing what I can to acknowledge this passion, encourage it, and help push it to the next level? Hmmm...this is an area I need to take a good hard look at.

I'd be interested in hearing others' thoughts on what it is that we can do, or are doing, in education to help our students, and each other, reach our Element.