Showing posts with label Twitter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Twitter. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

I Seem To Be A Verb...



I have recently become more familiar with the life and times of Buckminster Fuller. When I think deeply about the spirit of inquiry, I find it useful to learn about those who personify it, and Buckminster, or "Bucky" as he was oft referred to, had to be a premium example.

In his 1970 book I Seem To Be a Verb, he wrote,
I live on Earth at present, and I don't know what I am. I know that I am not a category. I am not a thing—a noun. I seem to be a verb, an evolutionary process—an integral function of the universe. Buckminster Fuller
This quote reminded me of  Robert Sylwester, another individual that beyond a shadow of a doubt for me, personifies the spirit of inquiry, I think mostly because of the Buckminster Fuller reference to "being a verb." Verbs connote actions, or movement. In another post here I explained that we (human beings) are in constant motion; traveling in simultaneous physical, psychological, emotional, and cognitive realms. Robert Sylwester characterizes this need to be in motion ...
The planning, regulation, and prediction of movements are the principal reasons for a brain. Plants are as biologically successful as animals, but they don’t have a brain. An organism that’s not going anywhere of its own volition doesn’t need a brain. It doesn’t even need to know where it is. What’s the point? Being an immobile plant does have its advantages however. Plants don’t have to get up every day and go to work because they’re already there. 
On the other hand, if an organism has legs, wings, or fins, it needs a sensory system that will inform it about here and there, a make-up-its-mind system to determine whether here is better than there or there is better than here, and a motor system to get it to there if that’s the better choice – as it is, alas, when we have to go to work.
I think that learning can be described as movement; multiple journeys over a lifetime in the simultaneous physical, psychological, emotional and cognitive realms. I believe the process of inquiry provides us with opportunities to travel the most engaging pathways on these journeys, perhaps, fortunately, the ones less traveled by.

Buckminster Fuller and Robert Sylwester both present learning as a process that does not stand still. Young children certainly understand that learning doesn't stand still. They have a hard time standing still for any reason. Moving and evolving (aka learning) is a natural state for kids. In another post here I addressed the natural learning tendencies of preschool kids. Kids have massive learning potential in the first five years of life before educators even meet them in kindergarten. Kids are curious, inquisitive and unafraid for the most part to make learning mistakes. Play is learning for them in these formative years. Virtually everything they do at this stage of life teaches them something. It seems like Buckminster and Robert are on to something.

Friday, August 15, 2014

Cur-educ-ation...


The ability to curate well is increasingly more desirable and necessary technology leadership and teaching skill. Despite their requisite teaching and learning value, trade materials found at teacher stores and other static 'set in stone' print materials designed to be photocopied or replaced once used won't be able to hold up to the nearly unbelievable volumes of immediately available and up to the minute online teaching and learning resources available in different forms online. This would be very difficult to debate, and perhaps a statement of the obvious. The fact that there are so many online resources available is irrelevant if educators aren't skilled at retrieving them and making good use of them in a teaching and learning context. In order for school leaders to model effective 'cur-educ-ation' skills, they will have to develop some of their own first.
curate[n. kyoo r-it; v. kyoo-reytkyoo r-eyt] verb (used with object)curated, curating.
  • to take charge of (a museum) or organize (an art exhibit)
  • to pull together, sift through, and select for presentation, as music or website  content
curate. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved August 14, 2014, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/curate

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Virtual tribes...


I had a brief Twitter conversation awhile back with George Couros (@gcouros) about the complex interaction between people and the technology we create. George commented that he was reading tweet archives from the International Society for Technology in Education 2010 (ISTE10) Conference, and noticed that very few were about technology.  Instead, many delegates at the conference commented about the human relationships they initiated or renewed. Interesting considering this conference is a massive education technology event.

My contribution to the conversation ended with the comment... "synergy between people and the technology they use creates ideas, collaboration... possibility otherwise unlikely." I have met many who assert that the use of technology in teaching and learning 'depersonalizes' the experience. I am compelled to disagree. As I grow with technology in my teaching and learning, I am finding that the opposite is true. The tribe I call my PLN (personal learning network) has grown exponentially since I started using Twitter a short seven months ago. I have had my mind stretched further than ever, including my time in graduate school. My network of passionate educators hails from all over the globe, and I am collaborating with them in ways never before possible without this simple tech tool.

Shortly after I began using Twitter, I started blogging here at KARE Givers. I have always kept a paper journal of reflections and ideas that cross my mind anyway, and I thought blogging would be a good way to collaborate with those who perhaps share my interest in teaching and learning. I had no idea how beneficial this would become, and I've barely gotten started.

My point is rather simple. Adults do well when they understand the power of inter-dependency. We have passed through the stages of dependence and independence in our lives, and hopefully learned that it's infinitely easier to handle the stresses and responsibilities of adulthood when we have others to count on, (and more enjoyable too.) We are social beings; we appreciate the value and benefits of tribes... it's a very basic element of human nature. Micro-blogging (Twitter) and blogging, two relatively simple technologies, have made it incrementally easier for me to connect with my virtual tribe, and I don't plan on looking back.

Using technology in my professional practise has done the exact opposite of depersonalizing my job; on the contrary, it's brought me closer to other teachers who share my passion for teaching and learning, and allowed me to belong to something so much bigger than myself- a global education reform movement dedicated to the perpetual improvement of the teaching and learning process.

I fail to see any downside to this.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

You might be learning authentically if...

flickr CC image via yonolatengo

It sounds a little strange to say that learning would be anything other than authentic. To assert otherwise would imply that learning is somehow counterfeit or imitative... but wait a minute; we need to contextualize if we're going anywhere with this.

Learning in its purest, most natural form is as close to automatic as a human response can get. It's our human nature to learn. We live; we learn.  It's arguable that the act of living, growing and developing new skills is synchronous with learning. We learn despite ourselves.

So if we're accepting that learning is a natural human tendency, we should also accept that schools, our institutions of learning, should reflect this tendency. But this is where it gets a bit dicey, and where I think defining the authenticity of school-based learning becomes an issue. Learning is natural, automatic even, in some regards... so how do we make it so in the context of how we teach and learn in schools?

Much debate surrounds traditional pedagogical practise, and I won't get into that here, but I will say that teachers as learners shouldn't be terribly concerned with traditional pedagogical structures. Today's teachers should display an orientation of perpetual improvement toward their practice... a constant striving to find more effective ways to teach. To me, that's how we emulate the natural forces of learning in human nature... constant striving to be better, healthier, smarter. This striving to develop and grow is the essence of authenticity in learning... a genuine search for meaning and relevance. If we get hung up on a pedagogical stream of consciousness that we feel is adequate and righteous, we risk becoming blind to potentially better, more effective ways to teach and learn. There is always something to improve upon, and engaging colleagues in the Twitter Universe is a great conduit for dialog about what teachers do.

I've been engaged in allot of Twitter #edchat lately surrounding the principles of authentic learning. Like so many other elements of formal, organized teaching and learning, defining authenticity in schools can be difficult- everyone has their own opinion of what authentic learning looks, sounds and feels like. Again, I would assert that a genuine search for meaning and relevance in what we teach and learn in schools is the context within which we should define authentic learning.

I want to diagnose authentic learning. To that end, here's a Foxworthyesque list of symptoms that I have come up with so far:
  • You might be learning authentically if school is exciting instead of stressful- a challenge, not a burden;
  • You might be learning authentically if you talk about school experiences rather than lessons;
  • You might be learning authentically if every answer leads to another question;  
  • You might be learning authentically if you let your grades take care of themselves- you're too busy learning;
  • You might be learning authentically if you feel an overwhelming urge to share what you know with others;  
  • You might be learning authentically if learning isn't like your 9-5 job;
  • You might be learning authentically if you're taking home homework that wasn't assigned.
Perhaps you'd like to add to my list... tweet me @graingered.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

How About a Twittference?


I've been using Twitter as a professional tool for about three months now. Many of my colleagues don't understand when I tell them that using Twitter has been the most beneficial professional development experience I have had in sixteen years of teaching, and I am being totally sincere when I say that.

The connections I have made to intelligent and thoughtful people, the resources they use, the ideas they have and the stimulating dialog they offer have been unbelievable- all for free and in the simplest form of distributed learning I have experienced by far. So in the context of professional development, I've been wondering lately how this wonderful medium can be spread to include more teachers that have their own intellect, resources, ideas and conversations to share. I've been wondering too if there is a way to combine Twitter for educators with the the more traditional elements of teacher professional development conferences that people seem to remain comfortable with in our profession (face to face, keynote speakers, the social factor of networking, trade displays, etc.)

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy conferences and have spoken at many, but lately I'm concerned that big ideas and good messages that should stick, don't as a result of the drive through PD format that is so prevalent these days. One shot two or three hour mini-seminars leave many feeling overwhelmed and unsure where to go next with a concept before they trudge off to the next two or three hour mini-seminar. Many conferences have become so huge, with so many topics and conversations going on, that I fear that participants fail to see the trees for the forest. They get lost in the magnitude of the process at the expense of zoning in on a key bit of information that could lead to a long-term, sustainable change in the way they operate.

So here's my idea... what if the sharpness and 'get to the point' qualities of Twitter could be applied to a large scale conference? I see delegates being offered 'sessions' that would be, say fifteen minutes long (leaving lots of opportunity for in-between time to meet new people, build networks, reflect) on any number of topics, but that were organized like hashtags into broader sections (for example- assessment, technology, literature, behavior, etc.) for organizational purposes. Each fifteen minute session would include a condensed and specific introduction to the idea, topic, pedagogical idea or whatever, and once introduced, each topic could be extended and discussed via Twitter under the hashtag that corresponds to it.  Handouts would be limited to one page including a list of web links that the presenter wanted to include that correspond to the topic and could serve to extend the concept. It would be kind of like speed dating; quick and dirty, no frills and hopefully leading to a longer term connection via the extension of each topic on Twitter and through the web links each presenter would provide.

I'm thinking a cool way to introduce Twitter to delegates at this conference who aren't familiar with it would be to offer a keynote tutorial showing people the basics. For those who are familiar with Twitter, any number of extra keynotes could also be offered addressing other big picture education reform topics or inspirational messages (and I've met many via Twitter that could provide these messages.) In addition to the whole thing being planned on Twitter and marketed through the education tweeters network, I think restricting speaker proposals from those who already access Twitter would keep the project grounded in Twittilosophy. They would propose their session presentations via #Twittference2010. A small group of organizers and logistics specialists would take care of the schedule and location, and we're off!

What do you think?
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