What is school for?

In the Ted Talk, Seth Godin posed the question, “What is school for?”. I’ve never stopped to reflect and think about this before. In the past, I’ve always followed the lead of what others have told me to do. I never questioned or second guessed their belief, I just did what I was asked to do. I was collecting the dots not connecting them. Are we teaching our students to do the same? Are our students collecting the dots instead of connecting them? For example, when we preach “do as I say”, we are influencing them to collect. When we preach “go and figure it out” we are influencing them to connect. It’s time to hand over the reins to our students by giving them space to grow.

In order to grow as learner you must possess a growth mindset and must be willing to research information on your own. You must be willing to defend your beliefs and what inspires you. When we believe that we have something to contribute our confidence starts to rise and vocalizing our opinions becomes important. This is where I am as learner and where I have begun to take my students. Student voice is important and when students realize that their voice matters they too gain confidence. When students are confident and empowered they connect the dots, instead of just collecting. So what do you think school is for? I believe it’s for sparking ideas and goals that students carry with them outside the classroom. Having a clear focus on learning ensures that students are connectors, not collectors. The ultimate goal through personalized learning is for students to seek and create their own learning pathways.

This is my journey of how I began connecting the dots that built my blended learning innovation plan.

I am an educational artist and I seek to design lessons that engage and spark curiosity. Learning should be all about inquiry and “creating curiosity within others can have a powerful and long-lasting effect (Casas, Whitaker, & Zoul, 2017). If we capture our students’ interests first then teaching the content becomes much more meaningful. Students will then begin to take ownership of their learning and explore outlets outside the classroom. “The curriculum tells you the what, not how” (Couros, 2015). It’s time to start fostering a new culture of learning because “the old ways of learning are unable to keep up with our rapidly changing world” (Thomas & Brown, 2011). This doesn’t mean we let go of old traditions, it just means we combine those traditions with the new technologies of today. My innovation plan does just that. It creates a beautiful canvas composed of curiosity, passion, personalization, fun, innovative learning, creativity, critical thinking, content, collaboration,communication and choice.

The environment that I am proposing is one that embraces teacher creativity and passion as well. I’m not declaring a “free for all” just a pathway based on innovative learning through multiple content deliveries. We live in a world where teachers are not the only content holders anymore. Google and YouTube have created “learning environments in which digital media provides access to a rich source of information and play” (Thomas & Brown, 2011). We must step aside, embrace, and become facilitators in the learning process. It’s not going to be easy but we must embrace what comes next. Dare to be different and seek out what inspires our kids. It’s time to change our learning environments.

I learn best by doing and build knowledge through practice. I am a constructivist who builds learning from prior knowledge. The big idea in constructivism is that learning is active and a constructive process. I teach this way as well. My lessons build upon each other using Bloom's’ Taxonomy. For example, we generated student word problems using multiple learning strategies. First, we identified what we knew about multiplication through multiple strategies using manipulatives and collaborations. Next, we applied our knowledge about multiplication through the dissection of word problems collaboratively. Last, we designed our own word problems and illustrations using digital tools. Our final product was a culmination of events that lead up to the final level of Bloom’s. This lesson not only deepened their knowledge for multiplication it also lent itself 21st century skills applications. I believe students learn best when they are given experiences that are connected to a foundation.

Imagine how our educational system would be if we personalized learning for every student by building upon their foundation. We would see tremendous growth because every student would be learning at their own pace and level. They would be getting exactly what they needed to be successful and confident. It is my goal to transform the educational experience of kids because they deserve an innovative experience.

Bibliography

Casas, J., Whitaker, T., & Zoul, J., & (2017). Start. Right. Now.: teach and lead for excellence. San Diego, CA: Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc.

In the book, Start.Right.Now., the authors define four behaviors that excellent leaders possess. Excellent leaders should “know the way”. They must know every aspect of their job. These leaders must know their stuff inside and out or should be able to find the information for others. They should also “show the way”. These leaders should be comfortable with modeling and demonstrating for others. Another behavior they must possess is “going the way”. Their expectations are high and they must “walk the walk”. They last behavior that excellence leaders own is “growing the way”. They must be lifelong learners who understand it’s never “good enough” and will never settle for mediocre.

Constructivist Theory (Jerome Bruner). (n.d.). Retrieved March 09, 2018, from http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/constructivist.html

One of the founders of the constructivist theory was Jerome Bruner. He explains that learning “is an active process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon their current/past knowledge.” The principles to constructivism are: creating readiness experiences for students, making instruction easily obtainable and spiral for review, and instruction should be personalized.

[TED] (2018 March 09). Bring on the learning revolution! | Sir Ken Robinson. [Video File]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LelXa3U_I&feature=youtu.be

Sir Kenneth Robinson states that education needs a revolution and we need to change with the changing times. He stresses how education should be transformed into more of a personalized learning environment. He explains that our education system must move away from standard testing because learning is not linear, it is organic. We create our lives based on our circumstances and not everyone has the same path.

Nesloney, T., & Welcome, A. (2016). Kids deserve it!: pushing boundaries and challenging conventional thinking. San Diego, CA: Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc

Todd Nesloney and Adam Welcome tell an inspirational story about what educators can do to be the number difference makers for kids. They recap true stories of how they made an impact on the lives of their students by doing what’s best for kids. It’s an uplifting, thought provoking story of how educators should consider what they do everyday with kids matters.

One experience that I have been sharing with my students is financial literacy. This significant learning environment creates the perfect blended learning opportunity. It incorporates student voice, ownership, self- directed and personalized learning. Students work in collaborative groups with a goal of developing a small business. They decide what type of product their business will create to sell, they set product price, track income/experiences. This experience has become something that the past kids remember and talk about. I’ve witnessed leaders rise and fall from this experience of learning. Students are not only learning required content..they are living it! We should be creating significant learning environments that impact learning that ignites student's passion for knowledge.We should be giving students experiences they remember not just lessons to check off. To map out this learning experience I used two organizational charts to map the learning process. The first organizational chart is called 3 column design by L. Dee Fink, PhD. This design lists the learning goals, activities, and assessments that can be used in a holistic overview. It opens with the two main goals that a learner most accomplish to successfully learn the content. One of the goals is referred to as the big hairy audacious goal. This is the learners ultimate outcome. The BHAG for this experience is to spark entrepreneurial mindset(s) in order to develop lifelong financial dependent. Why would I want to spark an entrepreneurial mindset? Because it leads to the development to manage one’s financial resources effectively for lifetime of financial security. The next organizational chart that I used to design this learning environment is called Understanding by Design (UbD). The thought process behind this organizational chart is to create more purposeful thinking about the goal of learning. The UbD breaks learning down into stages using a backwards design concept. The first stage identifies the desired results of what the student will understand and essential questions to spark inquiry. Step two is the assessment evidence. The assessment evidence step lists the performance tasks the learner needs in order to master the desired goals. The last step in the UbD is the learning plan. This is the summary of the learning activities needed for learners to master their learning outcomes through "WHERETO" Elements. So which template works best? Both definitely have their advantages but it's up for you to decide. I prefer to view an overview of the lesson to see where we are starting and where we need to go. We can help our students connect the dots in more meaningful ways by designing purposeful experiences using one the of the organizational charts discussed above.

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