Success November 24, 2011

As this class comes to a close, I am, like a lot of classmates, saddened by the end.  As I have posted on some blogs, I take this as my beginning. I have learned so much, and especially since I am now done my Master’s, I can’t wait to apply this new learning. For my major digital project, I wanted to get my students involved in Social Media, and therefore decided to get them blogging as well. With a lot of bumps (and bruises on my part) I have this blog page up and running. At one point, I posted a blog about success (which really served as an outline for the students next assignment). Most of the students completed this assignment and had great thoughts, ideas and opinions to share. But here is success to me. I have a student who is difficult to motivate and get his assignments done. However, he loves technology and has really come a long way in the few short weeks I have encouraged him to bring his laptop to school. Here is success. I think by reading his blog post, you will understand.

Echoing some similar thoughts November 22, 2011

As I think about last week’s session with Alan Levine and the amazing Storytelling tools he shared with us, I find myself echoing some of the same thoughts as classmates. At first, I was ecstatic that there were so many great tools and so well organized. I cannot wait to use so many of them with my students. But, at the same time, with this time of year, final projects, report cards, interviews, internship block, 2 kids, cruise to plan, it seems like I am running out of time. However, I can honestly say this is the most useful class I have taken in my whole Master’s program. I know that even when this class is over, I will continue to blog, read others’ blogs, track with Delicious, tweet and share, as well as use these new tools with my students. Like Chelsi, I have started creating a list of ways in which I can use certain tools with my curriculum and class. I  know I have said this before too but I LOVE that I can use these tools with my French Immersion class and it will definitely serve as motivation. I even have my class blogging in French. To check out our page, click here.

Alec’s challenge November 16, 2011

Well I am still sorting through the millions of favourites (seems like it) on Twitter. Needed a break  and decided to take up Alec’s challenge of playing with our new tools. I already did the Five Card Flickr challenge. Here is Blabberize! Here is my example, my spiderman son and my voice!

Failure and Imagination

“Nobody succeeds  beyond his or her wildest expectations unless he or she begins with some wild expectations.” – Ralph Charell

Today, in hopes of minimizing my favourites in twitter, I started watching some TedTalks on Education. The first one I watched was JK Rowling’s speech at a Harvard graduation. One of the main messages of her speech was failure. It seems weird to think that a speech that should deal with success in life has a main message of failure.

In education, we as educators, want the best for our students. We don’t want them to experience poverty, depression, or homelessness. We want them to be successful and have success. However, part of having success means we should experience  heartbreak, discontent, and failure. I try every day to explain to my students that failure or failing at something  is part of learning. We are expected to make mistakes. The learning comes into play if and when we try again in a different manner and succeed. It is also important to point out to students, and perhaps some adults, that there is a big difference between having a desire to succeed, which can be motivating, and a fear of failure, which can be paralyzing. Life and learning is about taking risks, knowing that there is a chance of failure.

The definition of failure (and that of success) will be different for everyone. Some may believe that divorce, unemployment, being a single parent, or poverty are all the ultimate examples of failure. And in these extreme cases, the light isn’t always at the end of the tunnel. Like Rowling points out, not everyone gets a fairytale ending. However, when we do fail at something it is important to learn.

Rowling suggests that from her failings she was able to strip away the inessential and stop pretending she was something she wasn’t. There are essential pieces to a person’s self-discovery. The next step is to free yourself from the constraints of other people’s expectations. A person needs to figure out what is important for their own happiness, well-being, and success. Rowling says one must direct his energy to what is important, realize his fears, and survive. This is how a person moves forward.

It is really important as teachers to convey to students that some failure is inevitable. In life it is impossible not to fail. Rowling suggests that we can’t actually live life fully without failure. Some suggestions she has for success in life is to have a strong will, maintain good relationships with others and gain knowledge.

“Personal happiness is knowing life is not a checklist of acquisition or achievement”- JK Rowling

I think this is a very important message to try to convey to students. Perhaps the hardest part is to convince  parents that their child’s success in school is not depicted by a report card?

At the end of her speech, she reminds everyone that we touch other people’s lives simply by existing. This is both a privilege and a burden. She encourages us to identify with the powerless. I think this is what a great educator does everyday. We try to speak up for the children and hopefully touch their lives in meaningful ways. Regardless of the struggles and hardships that we sometimes have as educators, I still feel blessed that I am able to do this job everyday.

Using some new tools

Last night, Alec challenged us to start using a new tool immediately. I had already done a five card flickr story but I didn’t fully understand the purpose and so wanted to do it again. Here is what I put together. Feel free to comment! Learning lately.

YQR Tweet up

As I was driving to work today, thinking about last night’s amazing session with Alan Levine (more to come), I was also still thinking about this digital community we have formed. In only three short weeks (sad to be done yet elated), this class will end. I know that most of us, having formed some great digital bonds will remain in contact; blogging, tweeting etc. Then on the radio, CBC with Sheila Coles, I heard about a group of people on Twitter who decided to meet in person. The event is called the YQR tweet up. The organizer said this was a way for people to chat in more than 140 characters. Imagine that! The experience would be one similar to meeting  with friends since you have connected, know each other, have helped each other etc, just never actually met. I thought it was an interesting concept. What do you think?

Getting to know you November 8, 2011

The further we get into this class, the more I feel like I am getting to know everyone. However, I am finding this connection weaker than if we were in a class together physically. I wonder whether we wouldn’t know each other better if we physically sat at the same tables in a class once a week. I realize that part of getting to really know one another is based on how much we all individually share and that perhaps for sharing purposes in education, it isn’t necessary to know one another on such a personal level. However, I do know that we are human, we all have “things” going on in our lives. In our class, we have pregnancies, new babies being born, people with health issues and perhaps even people going through divorce or other heartache that we don’t even know about. For some reason, on a personal and social basis, this bothers me. It is disturbing to me that these great and not-so-great things are happening and we are not “there” for one another. I don’t know the answer to this question either. I have gained a lot from this group of people and I guess it is just troublesome that we aren’t a community; there for one another. It’s weird for me to think that we are all living our lives and we have affected one another, yet we really don’t know each other or what’s happening d the computer. Thoughts?

Who’s YOUR teacher? November 3, 2011

  by  bengrey 

Our session with Dean Shareski had me intrigue and interested before it even started. I had seen loads of tweets and comments about this Dean Shareski guy. In fact the day before the presentation, I asked Honni “who is this guy?” All I knew was that people respected his opinion and were quoting him and tweeting about him.

When I saw that our discussion would be about sharing, the first thing that came to mind was the book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum. I often find myself quoting this book to my students and in my parenting. I also used it last year in my administrative address to our grade eights at farewell. I was very happy to see Dean using this book in his presentation, with the emphasis obviously being on sharing.

One of the very first lessons we teach our children as parents is to share. Share your books, share your toys, share with friends and siblings. I knew this was a learning lesson but I never thought of sharing as learning that continues. This is a powerful statement and really struck me!

  by  _foam 

And, I can’t believe that I never really thought about the fact that when we teach we are SHARING our knowledge. It leads me to wonder then why it is so hard for teachers- maybe just some teachers- to share ideas, units and lessons. I think that in years past this profession has mainly been done in isolation. Teachers maybe felt like they were on their own little island just trying to survive. Now with the introduction of PLCs and PLNs as well as technology for sharing, we teachers need to wrap our minds around the fact that this professions should be about sharing our knowledge not only with our students but with all students, parents, teachers and community members. I am excited by the idea of setting up a youtube video where I am teaching a lesson in French that I can then share with those who see its usefulness. I am even more excited by those who are willing to share with me!

Earlier this week, I had a discussion with a friend and colleague, who teaches kindergarten about her sharing. You see, I consider her an AMAZING kindergarten teacher ( I am secretly wishing and praying every night that she gets assigned to my son’s school for September when she is off maternity leave) and I think a lot of other people appreciate her knowledge and wisdom as well. She was saying she found it strange to return to her daughter’s kindergarten class as a parent helper to see that the stations being done were her creation. She wasn’t sure how she felt about it. She was honoured that people valued her work enough to use it but yet for some reason because it was here creation there was this sense of privacy or ownership. I explained to her that I thought it was an honour to have so many teachers using her creations. I said she should think of it as her having a hand in educating all the kindergarten students using her materials. I think this helped her and I think it is helping me when I think about sharing. I am hoping to try to promote this sort of belief among our division’s schools. Just need to figure out how and when!

I also enjoyed the part of Shareski’s presentation when he started talking about filters. We have a need to connect to others. This connection is now often being made though the use of social media. One of the complaints I often hear from friend, family, and collegues is that there is too much to read and too much information being shared. This is a negative factor of social media for some and at times results in people not using these great tools. I love the idea of building and using our own filters. We should share all that we want and the readers then can filter all they want. I have learned on twitter and facebook, that it is not necessary for me to read every single post but rather learn what is important to me and read what I NEED. At our staff meeting this week, I began using the word filter to help colleagues realize that we can be choosy about what we read and what we subscribe to. This may even mean that we are filtering whom we follow. If we don’t care about the Kardashian sisters, then don’t follow them. I am trying to encourage and demonstrate how useful these sites can be if used for the desired use.

We also discussed the concept of feedback. When blogging, Shareski says that commenting on blogs is just as important as posting on your own blog. I never really thought about this until my class started their own blogs. The students were definitely more interested and intrigued when others posted on their blog. I think they took comments as some sort of validation. I guess I do too. You know you have written a good post when others feel compelled to comment back! It is so interesting to me to share this experience with my students, knowing that I, as an adult learner, am just as excited (and sometimes giddy) as they are with their learning. Tomorrow, when my students and I discuss their next posts, I want to let them know what Shareski shared with us-  a comment or post is just the beginning of a conversation. It needs to be enticing and intriguing! I also like the imagery that one comment can be like a pebble in a pond.

  by  climbnh2003 

At the end of our discussion, Shareski listed why we share. Here are his ideas:

Share…

– to build community

– to reciprocate

– because I’m lazy

– because reinventing the wheel is dumb

– because you never know

– to make something better

– to learn

As I finish this blog, a day after I started it, I am left wondering where and how do you share?

Expectations November 2, 2011

I was reading Seth Godin’s blog and came across a post about expectations. I am not really sure how I feel about his post. At first, I thought he was advocating for setting the bar high and trying to achieve no matter what. However, when we don’t attain these expectations, we feel like failures. He questions whether we just shouldn’t have expectations, just effort and acceptance. I don’t think effort without an expectation is possible. We will always expect something at the end of our efforts. When something doesn’t work, we try again. This is possibly the most important part of learning. When at first we don’t succeed, we try again. Try- fail-learn- reflect- try again-success. Isn’t this what encouragement is all about? Don’t we always say to students that it’s not how hard we fall but how we get back up? What do you think?

 

  by  tinou bao 

My first twitter debate

Tonight I shared my opinion on a youtube video where a young girl was being beaten for disrespecting her parents (father happens to be a judge). I was shaken when a member of the Saskatchewan Roughrider’s tweeted that just because the dad beat the daughter didn’t mean he didn’t love her. I tweeted back that it was wrong no matter the reason and the debate went on from there. In fact we are still tweeting as I write this blog! The content of the debate isn’t what amazes me most but rather the fact that I am able to SHARE my opinion and hopefully EDUCATE someone I don’t know via a social media tool. The concept of education via social media has so many possibilities. I am proud that I was maybe able to point out some facts and challenge someone’s thinking. For so long, I have thought that this was only possible within the four walls of my class, in my family and perhaps among friends. However, I feel like I am now a “card-carrying member” of twitter having really voiced my opinion on something that matters to me! Anyone else have experiences like this?