Tag: teaching

No entry?

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I’m struggling a bit getting ready for the new school year. So many distractions and I’m not fighting very hard to win (read: losing).  I’ve said before that I love planning (I over-plan). Feel organised = Feel prepared = Feel calm; except calm isn’t a word generally associated with me. haha.

I don’t feel organised. I don’t feel prepared. I don’t feel calm. I feel jet lagged (just lost your sympathy then, eh?).

Actually, I feel excited BECAUSE I start a new teaching role. This time ’round, I’ll be with TAS (Technological and Applied Studies) rather than Maths. Full teaching load and no official tech integration duties. It’s at an independent girls’ school and I’ll be teaching mandatory Technology in years 7 and 8, Info and Software Tech in years 9 and 10 and Info Processes and Tech in years 11 and 12. I’ll be teaching years 7-12! Big focus on Design and projects.

That’s why I’m excited.

I was wrong to say that I’m not teaching Maths this year because there’s actually a lot of maths in the subjects I’m teaching. The big difference is that now, the maths will be in context and applied….the way I want to teach maths.

That’s why I’m excited.

The TAS curriculum has core content with several options to apply the core content via projects. What this means is that PBL becomes the natural pedagogical choice (for me, anyway) as pre-cursor to the assessed project work. And yes, I distinguish between project-based learning and project-work.  PBL becomes the norm.

That’s why I’m excited.

I’ve never taught mandatory Technology before. My rotation will involve Digital Media but mostly it’s Textiles. How cool is that? I get to bring in my interest in colour theory, design principles and sewing.

That’s why I’m excited.

It’s all new really and there’s so much to learn.

That’s why I’m excited.

Now if I can just channel some of this excitement into focusing to get organised….

But wait, let me share these photos with you first:

I spotted this sign in one of the back streets in Montmartre, Paris; in the residential side, not in the tourist hub.  It took me a while to figure out that the sign was your usual no entry sign but had been altered in a more fun way, I think. Granted, it looked to be a completely different sign, e.g. different meaning BUT I just fell in love with the artistic approach to defacing the sign (if you can call it that).

Also in Montmartre, I spotted this lamp post with emoticons on the glass panels.

Can teaching be approached the same way, i.e. seek different perspectives, enjoy the unusual (every student is an individual, after all), maybe inject a bit more art and fun, maybe dare go where I’ve previously not dared?

Now, that’s exciting.

using what they know

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Students complain that Information Processes and Technology (IPT) course is too theoretical.  Ipso facto, boring, especially relative to the more hands-on and generally fun Information and Software Technology (IST) .  They’re right: there are a lot of concepts. BUT they’re wrong: it is not boring – though it can be.  That can be said of any subject/course, right?

The challenge (I love them, remember?) – as with any subject – is how to make it interesting and better yet, meaningful and relevant.

The irony is, in this day and age, we live and breathe the content of these courses. The problem is we don’t see the connection, much less tap into our experience and knowledge.

I’m not saying this is the best way to do it but this is how I’ve faced this challenge, for example, to teach the design tools in the Software Development Lifecycle. So, I started with this on the whiteboard which got their attention straight away:

Identifying the external entities was an interesting exercise, especially when we got to 3rd party apps and sites – so what are APIs? (I hope some of them try to find out). We had interesting discussions on what information flows in and out of the system (talking about digital citizenship stuff, it’s good).  We got talking about multimedia data types (revising, it’s good).  We got talking about apps they use as do I (building relationships, it’s good)…..and we’d only just started.

I got students to come up to the board and draw a Data Flow Diagram. My volunteer  called out for help and they came. Good, eh? They worked together and came up with something. It wasn’t right but it highlighted some misconceptions  (opportunities for learning, it’s good), questions about information processes (more revision, good stuff) and importance of assertiveness and social skills (all good stuff).

We also used facebook registration as examples for Decision trees and Decision tables – usually ‘boring’ stuff but a lot easier to understand using an example they’re all familiar with. They learned about the design tools and appreciate why we have them, in the first place (bonus).

I will also use facebook to look at the next core topic – Information Systems and Databases….they don’t know that yet. Dan Haesler will be happy – I’m driving down the social media way  😉

But this post really isn’t about facebook , social media or even IPT. This is about tapping into what students are familiar with or care about, to teach something new or to help them in the process of abstraction (recall I said that IPT content is mostly stuff we experience but not necessarily get into abstraction?).  It is also about taking a risk because it’s outside the syllabus and no curriculum support (Dr Sarah Howard will be so proud of me – haha) Truth is, the syllabus hasn’t kept up with technology (understandably so) in that social media itself is an abstraction – it does not strictly fall into the main info systems covered by the syllabus: transaction processing system, decision support system, multimedia system and automated manufacturing system. YET, it’s arguably the most prevalent info system there is now and a perfect example of how muddled or interlinked the different types of info systems really are – silos help us understand but we must remember to re-connect….I digress, erm, do I? The other risk is that as an info system, there’s a fair bit I don’t know about facebook – I’m saying “I don’t know a lot” in this class. The upside is that it helps teach how the tools learned in IPT help us learn a bit more about it….situated learning?

I’ve actually applied a fair bit of what I learned from PLANE’s Festival of Learning, within a few days of attending it. Good, eh?

I love a happy post full of learning. cheers all!

Why choose to teach

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A friend of mine, Dr Michelle Dyson, has kindly allowed me to quote her reaction to Jane Caro‘s article on ABC, A little respect: attracting top teachers is not rocket science. Here’s Michelle’s post in full:

Part of my brain thinks I have made a biiiigggg mistake embarking upon a teaching career after being a research scientist. I’m just two weeks away from being qualified to teach secondary science, senior biology and chemistry. I have an undergraduate degree in biotechnology with distinction and the University Medal. I have a first class Honours degree by research, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree with several peer-reviewed publications. I’ve excelled in my Graduate Diploma of Education studies. The ‘determined to make a difference’ side of the same brain is trying to win the battle, because of how important good teaching is. I’m not into teaching for the money, or the ‘cushy’ conditions. The only ‘cushy’ bit is that some of the work required to be a good teacher can be done from home after my own kids are in bed.

As a student teacher, I have been up till midnight and beyond most nights preparing lessons for my students, and all this without a cent in payment. Why? Because I passionately believe that teaching children critical thinking and analysis skills is so important for our nation’s future.

What would be nice, and this would make a real difference to the career satisfaction of teachers nationwide, is to be respected as a critical influence upon future generations. “Baby-sitting” my fat aunt!!

If I am busting my butt to plan engaging, relevant and memorable lessons, it shouldn’t be too much to ask that students and their parents actively participate, strive to achieve THEIR best, and that parents stop siding with their kids every time there is an identified problem. All that teaches children is that their teachers don’t deserve courtesy and respect. Also that mum or dad will bail them out of whatever self-imposed pickle they have landed themselves in by failing to put effort into their schoolwork.

Perhaps the unusual situation where independent and public school unions are planning to co-operate in industrial action might be the turning point we need. What would happen I wonder if we stopped teaching, and just “baby-sat”, until more than the basic necessities for teaching are provided? The Gonski Review has clearly identified what is required, much of it is simple common sense. Where $1.7 billion dollars worth of cuts in NSW alone is going to come from is a frightening prospect that literally brings tears to my eyes thinking about the effect on our country’s future.

Can someone please remind me WHY I have chosen this path again? To be valued and respected is a basic requirement. To have the facilities and equipment to do our jobs with is another. Monetary compensation? Not so important, but as my PhD supervisor told me once, when choosing between a paid job and a meager scholarship, “you gotta eat, kid”. Unless a career in teaching can be made more attractive with decent conditions and fair compensation, there is little hope of attracting enough quality teachers to replace those who are about to retire. Altruism is one thing, beating your head against a brick wall, repeatedly, is another.

How would you respond to Michelle?

Imagine: multi-modal learning

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Imagine

I love the word, the idea, the song (melody, lyrics, riffs).

We received a (much-wanted) piano – a gift from a stranger (quick digression: husband asked at a local garage sale if they had a piano. The answer was no but that their brother had one to give away but it was in Bega – a good 6-hour drive away! Husband goes off on a road trip with 2 mates and now it’s home…a piano with stories…gotta love that).   Not a day goes by without it being played by my daughters and recently, me. Yes, I’ve decided to re-learn.

If you’ve been following my blog before, you’d recall that I have tried to do this before and, in fact, used the experience as an inspiration to introduce Algebra. That was a few years ago and the interest waned. But now, we’ve got a REAL piano. with a story.  So re-learn, I must.

I chose to learn “Imagine”. I got the free music sheet from here. I had a go and then hit YouTube (as you do) and found this tutorial. This guy made it looked easy and talked about chords. So there I was, tinkering away and said aloud, “I wish I could play chords on the piano” et voila! my fairy godmother appeared! Actually, it was my 15 year old daughter.  She learned the skill from her Music elective and she showed me how. And guess what, there are patterns (again). So now, my ‘version’ is a hybrid of the sheet music, the video tutorial and the face-to-face tuition I got from my daughter. THIS is multi-modal learning!

There’s much here that can be adapted to classroom learning and I will list a few. Please feel free to contribute any more you can glean out of this.

  1. Motivation drives learning. Have purpose.
  2. Learning through (work)sheets is possible. It is a point-of-reference.
  3. Learning through videos is possible.
  4. Direct instruction can be a real boost.
  5. Immediate and specific feedback is invaluable.
  6. Articulating (identifying) difficulties can become learning opportunities.
  7. Learn from anyone; kids can teach.
  8. Identifying patterns can be a catalyst for learning.  Abstraction is necessary for transference (and I’m really excited about this transference bit – building my repertoire and dreaming of improvisations – haha)
  9. Practice. There is a difference between knowing and mastery: I now know how to play Imagine but mastery is still a dream.
  10. Learning is relationship-building.

Imagine a classroom where these are at play.

Can’t chuck a u-ey

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This is cross-posted in Inquire Within.


Photo credit: wallyir from morguefile.com

I’m really loving inquiry learning. As Edna Sackson has pointed out, I’m on my own inquiry journey. Perhaps because I’m new to it, I find it really is full of surprises – maybe it’ll always be full of surprises by its very nature. This is a positive spin on a journey that is fraught with uncertainties because inquiry is that – keep asking questions though there are no guarantees the line of inquiry will lead to expected destination.

The uncertainties sometimes shout at me like the sign above – “Wrong way, go back“.  My experience with inquiry learning, however, is that once on it, I literally “can’t chuck a u-ey”; the only way is to keep going onward; there is no going back.

This is powerful stuff for me. I am realising that as I learn, I keep moving forward – there is no reverting back. Inquiry as a process is just that – it may branch off to who-knows-where and may seem to lead back to the beginning but the journey itself transforms the traveller.

There is no “wrong way, go back“. There’s still, stop, go, look, listen, turn left, turn right but there is no chuck a u-ey.

Inquiry as a process transforms the learner. In this case, the learner is me, the teacher.