January 22

Rocket Science

During the presentation at the Courage To Risk Conference last Friday, as I’ve incorporated for many years, I talked about the five basic needs as defined Dr. William Glasser.  Dr. Glasser, probably most noted for his book Schools Without Failure, believed that the five basic needs of fun, power, security, belonging and freedom must be addressed in our classrooms in order for learning to be optimized and students to be engaged and motivated to learn.  Making sure these needs are met in the classrooms is a central pillar to Denver Academy’s educational approach.

 

Eric Jensen, interviewed recently on the Whole Child Podcast (1/7/10) and author of numerous books on learning and brain, has extensively researched the neurological needs that must be addressed for the brain to be primed and maximized for learning.  In the interview Mr. Jensen says, “Humans learn in an integrated fashion…if the emotions are not right, the cognition is not right, if the body is not right, the cognition is not right, if the social role isn’t right, the cognition won’t be right.”

 

When you take a close look at all the moving parts that are in play when it comes to teaching, when you deeply examine the intricacies and complexities that are present in the various learning profiles that our students present, teaching really is rocket science.  A lesson plan and an objective is just part of the equation; the other elements that Glasser and Jensen bring to the conversation are equally important.

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January 16

Our Story of Learning

I'm just back from the Courage To Risk Conference in Colorado Springs, CO where I had the opportunity to present on the topic of cognitive diversity with a group of eight amazing students. I want to thank all the people that made this possible; parents, fellow teachers, the multiple organizers of this conference and the students who dedicated one of the days of their holiday weekend (along with many hours of practice, research and rehearsal).

The most intense and precious moments yesterday were on the drive back to Denver in the van with the students. As the exit slips from the session were passed around, read by cell phone light, I caught glimpses in the rearview mirror of the student processing the comments and questions. The exit slips generated a great discussion. Like a post-reading comprehension activity, everyone's brain was ripe for deep and reflective processing:

"Hey, did anyone else see this comment?"
"Mr. E, can we email this person and answer their question?"
"Cool, this person said he'll start using music in the classroom next week."
"One person wrote that it felt like we were telling teachers what to do directly instead of in a suggestive manner."
"Yeah, well, we were; I don't want other students treated the way I was, put in a box in the back of the class and told to shut up."
"OK, I get that. But how can we do that more effectively next time."

Onward and upward.
Catch us if you can; calendar posted here.







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January 06

Emotional Architects

Leading a tour around our campus today with a visiting student-teacher from a nearby college, I stopped in the Progressive High School.  In a Geometry class we talked with a student who was intensely engaged in an activity that involved poster board, scissors, tape, and colored markers. Upon asking her what she was learning the student said, without any other prompt, ““You see, what we are doing here is directly feeling the lines, cutting through the paper, so we actually know what architects do and feel when they are designing, measuring angles and building models.”

Learning by doing and feeling.

 

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December 29

My First List

Things I’ve learned in 15 years of actively collecting used poetry books.

1.     Be kind to proprietors; they most likely started their own used bookstore because they collected books, inherited a large book collection (or store) or really like to read.  Commonly they are packrats, hoarders, archivists or former librarians.

2.     Focus your collection. Collecting broadly is wasteful and overly time-consuming. Select a single author or time period and collect avidly. Exceptions:

·      Buy outside of focus area if seller doesn’t know the value of the book, business is closing, unnoticed signed or mis-priced book.

·      These books can be used for trade or re-selling to add value to your collection.

3.     Buy duplicates. This allows you to select and retain best copies. Use duplicates for trading to obtain new books for your collection.

4.     Barter.

5.     Stop at yard sales. Boxes of books can be goldmines.

6.     Incorporate used bookstore stops into errands once a month.

7.     Pay with cash.

8.     Bring friends to visit used bookstores.

9.     Talk about your collection; this often leads to good tips.

10. Whenever you travel, visit used bookstores. They often will have books that your local geographical area does not.




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December 08

Teaching in the Digital Landscape

I recently heard Dr. Ned Hallowell, author and ADHD expert, describe the New Digital Media as a societal behavior modification experiment that none of us volunteered for. The speed of information has been steadily turned up over the last 10 years and we have in turn tried to keep up. Mail is no longer delivered once or twice a day by a mail carrier; it now arrives every single minute of the day delivered digitally to our inboxes.

Upon hearing this, my mind immediately turned to our students. If I am often overwhelmed with the speed of information (as I answer three emails, six more appear), I wonder how this seemingly relentless bombardment of information is impacting students’ attention and learning.  How is this influencing their ability to prioritize and make decisions about what is important in meeting learning objectives and what just needs to be deleted?

As recent publications by the MacArthur Foundation and GoodWork Projects have stated, New Digital Media (NDM) – social networking, cell phones, video games, as well as the Internet – is not a fad. It is a game changer that is having an undeniable impact on our learning environments. So how can we harness this new and powerful force in order to have that impact support learning?

A question that rises to the top for me is how can we best utilize NDM in our classrooms?

• Can we incorporate Twitter into writing assignments and ask students to compose their answers in 140 characters or less?
• During group work can students text each other answers so they have a running record of their ideas?
• Will teachers being available on-line for a few hours a week to help students with homework increase the quality of student work and ultimately increase classroom time on content?
• Can a blog or Wiki support students to work collaboratively long after the school bell has rung?

The tools of the NDM must of course be balanced with the core reason we got into this profession in the first place: spending face-to-face time with students teaching and learning. As John Naisbitt wrote in 1982, the more “high tech” humans have, the more “high touch” humans want. In our classrooms we must balance screen time with teacher time.

I’ve heard stories of students sleeping with their cell phones under their pillows in order not to miss a status update; this balance is more critical than ever. Our classrooms can be those places where students (and teachers) disconnect from technology and reconnect with each other through lesson plans that make time to read student writing aloud, discuss books that are being read in the workshop and brainstorming ideas together on how to mindfully take the next steps that will create a balanced learning environment of high tech and high touch.

 

More information:

 

www.drhallowell.com

 

“Learning: Peering Backward and Looking Forward in the Digital Era.” Margaret Weigel, Carrie James and Howard Gardner. International Journal of Learning and Media, March 2009. (http://www.goodworkproject.org)

 

 “Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project.” The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning, November 2008. (http://www.macfound.org)

 

Naisbitt, John. Megatrends: Ten New Directions Transforming Our Lives. New York: Warner Books, 1982. (http://www.naisbitt.com)

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