TABLE OF CONTENTS
New Stories of Transformative Learning Preface 1
Project IGNITE
3
2
Powerful Conversations
4
3
New Stories
5
3.1 Kindergarten Connections ~ Williston Central School by Sharon Davison
6
3.2 Marking New Trails ~ St. Albans City School by Matt Allen
8
3.3 Keep Moving Forward ~ Burr & Burr by aDam pRovost
11
4
Transformative Teams
15
4.1 Leadership
16
4.2 Educational Technology
17
4.3 Educators
18
5 Appendix Credits
20
Technology has played an important role in transforming learning in Vermont schools. In its earliest days, technology tools were new and exciting and many visionary educators dreamed of possibilities for using these new tools. We set up classes where teachers and students could learn these new tools and looked for curriculum topics to use with these new technologies. Conversations about technology and learning were mostly about the technology rather than the learning. But as educators and students started to become more literate with technology, educators started to adapt assignments so they could be completed with these new tools. We found ourselves telling the same stories of learning, but this time with new tools. BernaJean Porter labels these two phases as “Literacy Uses” and “Adapting Uses” in her Grappling’s Technology and Learning Spectrum. Today, our most innovative educators have moved beyond adapting their instruction to use new technology and are currently using new tools to transform their practice. They are telling new stories made possible by new tools. This book was created as a space for them to share new stories made possible by new tools. Enjoy. Many thanks to BernaJean Porter for the creating a framework that helps us better understand the stages of technology [Grapplin’s Technology and Learning Spectrum] See Appendix A (used with permission)
CHAPTER 1
Project IGNITE
Project IGNITE was created by Vita-LEARN Vermont’s ISTE Affliate as a way to identify, gather together and nourish innovative transformative educators. Each year, Vita-LEARN recognize a new cadre of Vermont educators who exemplify innovative and transformative instructional practices. Our goal with this project is to:
I dentify Innovative and Transformative Educators in Vermont schools G ather 1 or more artifact from Vermont IGNITED Teachers that can help other educators pursue innovation and transformation in their classroom
N ourish the spirit of Innovation in Vermont IGNITED Teachers I ncrease Innovative learning opportunities for Vermont students and teachers. T ransform learning in classrooms around Vermont. E ducators networking around the concept of Innovation and Transformation Each year we have structured a day of recognition and powerful conversation using new tools to highlight the stories and insights shared by educators, educational leaders, and technology specialist. This ebook was created by the 2014 Project IGNITE cadre and VITA-LEARN.
CHAPTER 2
Powerful Conversations
Each year we bring together the new Project IGNITE cadre and their team (a school leader and a technology specialist who support innovation and transformation in their building) for a day of recognition and powerful conversation sparked around key questions. What examples can we share from our teaching that tells the story of transformative Pedagogy/Practice? ● In what ways does this story model changes in teaching practice (methodology) to meet the needs of students in today’s world? Why is this change important? ● How do digital tools support those changes? How do your stories of learning with technology might include one or more of the following elements: Student-Centered Learning ● Where did student voice play a role in this story? ● How were students empowered to be self-directed learners?
Authentic/Project-Based/Real World/Problem Solving ● How does this story model making learning “authentic” for students? ● What “real world” problems are students involved with? Collaboration ● In what ways do students collaborate within and outside the classroom in this story? ● Does this learning example foster students as a “community of learners”? Communication ● How are digital tools used to support communication between students, parents and local and global community? ● How are digital tools used to communicate student understandings? Creativity and Innovation ● How are students using digital age tools to create and make? What are they creating or making? ● How do students create and innovate by building on the creation and ideas of others? Citizenship and Social Networking ● In what ways does this story model appropriate and powerful uses of social networking can play in learning. ● How does this story model policies and procedures that support digital learning, including processes of how to resolve appropriate use issues if they arise. Transformative Teams ● What role does Leadership play in making this story possible? ● What role does EdTech play in making the story possible? (people, tools & processes) ● What characteristics does a transformative Educator need to have for stories such as these to be part of the learning in our schools?
CHAPTER 3
New Stories
“Technology is not important because it is new, but because it changes how we solve problems and who is empowered to solve those problems.” ~ Chelsea Clinton Today’s technology tools have empowered teachers and students to solve new problems in new ways resulting in new stories of learning. Many thanks to the Project IGNITE 2014 educators, leaders, and technology specialist who contributed their stories of learning with new tools to this collection.
New Stories
Section 3.1
Kindergarten Connections Williston Central School ~ by Sharon Davison
What started as 140 characters turned into a global collaboration between two Kindergarten classrooms in Vermont and South Korea.
My Kindergarten classroom twitter account @vermontkkids123 has been an exciting way for my students and I to share each day. These quick 140 character tweets have brought us endless possibilities to connect and enrich learning to my kindergarten students.
“@vermontkids123 That would be fun! Skype would be hard because if you are in America - you are sleeping when we are at school.”
Our latest connections happened just because a class in South Korea started following our class twitter. We tweeted back to them to inquire about how we might connect our classrooms. Our conversation began using twitter but was soon expanded using Padlet.
Since the students in South Korea would be sleeping when my students are in school, we realized that Skype or Google Hangouts would not work out as a way to connect our
classrooms. So I created a padlet where we could continue our conversation and begin to learn from each other.
“We experience what life is like in another part of the world and we begin to make connections with ideas that we explore.”
Through our random connection via twitter, our students have begun to learn “how to” use technology as a way to enhance and enrich our understanding of the world. We experience what life is like in another part of the world and we begin to make connections with ideas that we explore. My students immediately noticed that we are talking, having conversations with others who live across the ocean and on another continent! Wow! This presented another opportunity for me to explore and expose my students to some geography. So we created a large physical map of the world to represent the connections we are making. We also created a virtual map using Google Maps so that we can see and have conversations with parents and family members about what the map represents when we are not in the classroom. We have added the map on our class blog, which we use as a journal that tells the story of our learning in Kindergarten. How Are We Connecting In Kindergarten To help make explicit connections with the different places in the world we are connecting and the tools we are using, I created small paper icons of Skype, twitter, padlet, blogger and kidblog that my students can use to show our classroom visitors which digital tool we are using to connect with. Social media has provided opportunities for me to model with my students how we are connected globally. We are experiencing what it means to be safe, kind and
responsible digital citizens. These connections are a fun and easy way to explore cultures, too.
Williston Central School
Some of the tools that made this new story possible Twitter: https://twitter.com/vermontkkids123 Padlet: http://padlet.com/wall/dlv0tagxqq Google Maps: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/u/0/edit?mid=zcR ylIiDOFjQ.kED6HD2yR08o
Sharon Davison Kindergarten Teacher Twitter: @kkidsinvt Google+ http://kindergartenlife.wordpress.com
KidBlog: http://davisonkindergarten.blogspot.com/
New Stories
Section 3.2
Trails for the Future St. Albans City School ~ by Matt Allen
Students at St. Albans City School work with community to redesign recreational area trails on Har’dack/Aldiss Hill
“Students will hike the trails in order to get the first ever complete map of the entire trail system.”
As an educator who is able to reflect on my own time as a student, I recognize one truth: My school work had no value outside of my own learning, and that wasn’t nearly enough to keep me engaged. In my eyes, book projects, writing pieces, math activities, social studies quizzes, or science experiments offered teachers the chance to gauge my value. With no greater purpose than receiving a grade, I was not motivated to put real effort into my education. For this exact reason, I am always looking for projects that hold meaning for students’ present as well as their future. One example of this is the Hard’ack/Aldis Hill trail redesign project I am currently involved in with 7th and 8th grade students. The students are working with the Friends of Northern Lake Champlain, the Franklin County Mountain Bike Club, the Hard’ack Board of Trustees, the Aldis Hill Board of Directors, and any hired firms or individuals to redesign the trail system on Hard’ack and Aldis Hill. In addition to improving the trail system for the people (and pets) who hike, bike, snowshoe, and ski on it by making the trails flow and offering a map to navigate with, this project will address the much larger concern of nonpoint source pollution that is negatively impacting Lake Champlain. Throughout the project, students will be working in small groups made up of about four students. Each group has a designated leader who is responsible for
attending meetings with the steering committee and “Having small groups gives those hired for this project. Having small groups gives students the opportunity to learn how to students the opportunity to communicate and collaborate with others, while communicate and collaborate having others to be accountable to.
with others, while having other to be accountable to.”
Using Nexus 7 tablets and the My Tracks app, students will hike the trails in order to get the first-ever complete map of the entire trail system. (This map will be used by everyone involved with this project as a means of redesigning the new system.) Once the original map is created--My Tracks creates .kmz files--the groups will use their own copy as evidence of their learning by marking areas of concern, potential trails, elements of the ecosystem, etc. As the culmination of their learning and efforts, the groups will present their own trail system proposal to the steering committee. Based on their experiences, they’ll need to support their proposal and “sell” it to the committee. Then, the committee will choose the proposal the best suits their needs. In this project, students use real-world tools to have a direct, observable impact on others and the world around them, while learning from professionals and through observation and hands-on exploration. This is the future of education, as it’s what the future will demand from our students in order for them to be successful. Malcolm X once said, “Education is the passport to the future, as tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” Through projects like this one, I hope to show them the value of that passport and get them interested enough to apply for it.
St. Albans City School
Some of the tools that made this new story possible
Nexus 7 tablets Google Maps My Tracks App Matt Allen Innovation Specialist Twitter: @MattAllenEDU Google+: +MattAllenEDU
New Stories
Section 3.1
Keep Moving Forward... Burr and Burton Academy (2005-2013). by aDAM pROVOST
Give students topic choice in their education and interesting things start to happen... to traditional ‘school’ models and thinking.
B
ack in August of 2005 I proposed a
different sort of ‘tech course’ for students at Burr and Burton Academy. After a lengthy (10 minute) discussion the course was approved… and the ‘Tech Research’ class, aka rLab was born.
“Limiting students to just what’s offered in the curriculum… we’re asking them to mispredict their future.”
Classroom refit : This was our first effort to make a proposal as a class to the administration. We wanted to change the look of the 'typical classroom.' Classrooms really don’t have to look like classrooms.
There were some challenges. Students are often good at being told what to do. Learning how to learn is not often practiced in schools. In this class ‘messy learning’ would be paramount. I often asked students “what makes you tick? What are you passionate about?” For many it was the first time in their academic career they’d been asked to pursue a topic of interest. I think this is a critical skill to develop, especially in high school students. Limiting students to just what’s offered in the curriculum… we’re asking them to mispredict their future. Introduction to PBL We introduced students to PBL through three class explorations on how ‘technology’ has changed the news, healthcare, and education. The projects delved deep and often led to innovative class proposals, many of which helped change ‘school business’ for better learning. Then students took on their own projects. Their choice. Following an
“Each project would be archived for their peers to build on… no more starting from scratch. ”
Two students tinker in one class project called ‘The Way Things Work.’
“Promoting student inquiry into ‘the educational process’ helps on many fronts. School business that really doesn’t make sense gets exposed. Students sense of purpose to explore ‘their learning’ vs viewing school as something that’s done to them. becomes more clear.”
‘OpenCourseWare’ format from MIT, students were asked to write a proposal, journal, collect resources, and build a final project that discussed ‘the good, bad, and ugly’ of their learning. Each project would be archived for their peers to build on… no more starting from scratch. Growth and depth of the projects grew exponentially . Students were publishing for a real audience… their future peers and not just for a final ‘one and done’ project. Some projects were stellar, and some rudimentary. A lot of learning happened within those projects though, and always multidisciplinary in nature. Some students who struggled the most on a topic learned a great deal about ‘learning how to learn’ and what motivates them. That has as much or more value than a subject skill. Course Schedule While we were bound to semester and year constructs, we shattered traditional semester and year long course barriers within the course itself. Students could explore something they were interested in for a minimum of three weeks and on through an indefinite period of time.
Grading As part of a class discussion in our education project, we decided to shift grading to effort and participation rather than traditional punishment and retention based practices. That’s when student project explorations really started to take off. Students were more willing to take risks. Traditional ‘tech’ themes bloomed to over 87 categories. Some projects were their own category… take ‘thoroughbred horse racing’ as an example. It’s actually a field loaded with technology.
For that student, the rLab project became a profession. The course build upon 5 pedagogical practices: ● ● ● ● ●
Student collage from eDesign on ‘rLab Projects in one class block, Fall 2010.’ Advanced photo editing, electric cars, C++ programming, scuba diving, online education (AP French), adaptive camouflage, swimming technology, viral video (point and shoot cameras) and editing, tattoo, midi music, cycling, iPhone touch screen, facebook advertising, transcontinental travel, Advanced Photoshop.
The Student for a Day Project: Asking teachers to step into the shoes of a student can have a powerful impact. It's already opened up some great conversations about the whole scope of a student day including school start time, schedule, lunch, transition times, extra-curricular activities, and the perspective of students having multiple jobs (classes) per day. Do we have the best schedule for students? Here's our original proposal , the teaser trailer we played at school assembly, and the full video (11 minutes, 2 seconds). The work has spread virally! Try a web search for ‘Student for a Day Project.’
inquiry research collaboration presentation reflection
… and integrated: PBL, Design Thinking, Project Management, Spiral Curriculum (Bruner), Multiple Intelligences (Gardner), MIT Open Courseware, research skill development, social media development, interpersonal communication. Students helped develop project and personal project rubrics for success. Each learning plan was individualized. I get asked a lot how I managed so many diverse topics. That’s the secret. I didn’t manage them. I learned to facilitate and mentor. I couldn’t be an expert in every topic. Each semester I got better at mentoring students where they were at educationally. I constantly tried to improve systems based on student and parent feedback. Interestingly, that feedback didn’t always stride with ‘school systems and school perspectives.’ St udent-Centered Learning I argued often with some of the school’s best academic students in class. Many had no idea how to pursue their own learning. ‘Teaching students and not subjects’ is key. I met many students where they needed to be. For some, it was rekindling their passion for learning for being in school. Some of the greatest success stories in the Lab came from students
who were essentially lost in traditional academic work. Students kept signing up. Along the way, female enrollment in classes raised to 55%.
Collaboration
Students in the Lab entered the PD realm by assisting and training teachers. The first proposal to administration on this front was accepted in 2006 and evolved into the T3 Program with the production of a full UbD curriculum to train students.
With such a massive array of topics (87 different categories), I couldn’t be ‘the expert.’ Students were asked to identify two role models in the field as a focal point to develop research and vocabulary, and then two project mentors inside or outside school walls. We created a database of over 1000 professionals who were willing to help students with projects. To prepare for focused conversations with mentors, students learned great research skills and in-depth use of social media to learn. With 20 projects brewing in the same room it was difficult to be bored… but some students were. Communication All our learning was transparent on our class website in class assignments, projects, and even our collaborative documents to develop projects.
Creativity and Innovation One project highlight was the ‘Student for a Day Project.’ In a class discussions about how technology has affected the school schedule, a student said “I wish teachers could understand how difficult it is to have different homework projects assigned on a whim.” I asked simply, “ok, how do we do that.” The discussion evolved into a tremendous project that we published to the web. It shook up many discussions in the school. Many teachers came forward and said
they’d like to be part of the project if it ran again. Like much of our work, the result was multi-faceted. We opened up discussion on the school schedule, especially from the student perspective. it also proved to be great PD for the teachers in the project themselves Citizenship and Social Networking We published all our work to a real audience. In some cases, many audiences. Students published their project work for future peers. We prepared case studies for administration that often led to significant changes. We published to the web for people to view. We also hosted many visiting schools who would come and look at how we stirred all this together. The rLab class has helped many schools make very positive changes for student and adult learning.
Burlington School District and Partnership for Change Initiative
Adam Provost adamprovost44@gmail.com Twitter: @batman44 Adam Provost rLab class blog (2005-2013) Personal blog: creativeStir
“The rLab project was developed by over 1000 students, professionals throughout the world, and the parents and / or guardians of students I worked with. I had the privilege of mentoring the work to fruition for eight years. I’ve passed on the scope of our work there, project chronology, assignments, and philosophy to many other schools to build on and from. If you’d like to talk about the program in any way, shape, or form just contact me.”
CHAPTER 4
Transformative Teams
Coming soon - introduction to this chapter •What role does Leadership play in making new stories possible? •What role does EdTech play in making new stories possible? (people, tools & processes) •What characteristics does a transformative educator need to have for stories such as these to be part of the learning in our schools?
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Section 1
Leadership Coming soon •What role does Leadership play in making new stories possible?
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Section 2
Educational Technology Coming soon What role does EdTech play in making new stories possible? (people, tools & processes)
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Section 3
Transformative Educators Coming soon What characteristics does a transformative educator need to have for stories such as these to be part of the learning in our schools?
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Appendix Grappling’s Technology and Learning Spectrum included with permission from BernaJean Porter
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Credits