David Warlick has a Zen of an idea -- Method vs Approach

• 2¢ Worth » Method vs Approach - Annotated

  David Warlick makes an association between Reynolds Presenation Zen Method v's Approach and the way we approach technology professional development

  tags: blog, technology, teaching, David Warlick, literacy, presentation zen

  • how we use technology and how we teach it
    • Warlick has articulated what many have struggled to say for so long. Students are not afraid to approach technology in a more investigative way, unlike those of us from the older generation that want the right way to do things everytime. - post by leekevp
  • You operate these devices natively, by approaching it with a certain frame of mind, not by method.
  • to kids who are at home accessing and interacting with the world from their pockets — there is a disconnect that may well be a big part of why so few of our children are interested in pursuing technology fields
    • Unfortunately many students are not encouraged to take this method of learning into the classroom. We remove the association so that they are acclimatised to learning in a more method way by their secondary education. What are we doing? - post by leekevp
  • as educators, need to began to picture ourselves as master learners, and to project that image of ourselves to the community.  If we become enthusiastic learners, then we are modeling the concept and process of life-long learning.
    • As technology coordinators/integrators this is what we model. How many teachers within our schools also see themselves as fullfiling this role? - post by leekevp

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Teacher Banned by Facebook

One of our teachers was recently banned for 1 week from using Facebook.... by Facebook! They got really upset with her because she was "using Facebook to chat"

If it wasn't so funny, I'd Cry. What is the world coming to when teachers are kicked off Facebook for talking to their students? The teacher in question had set up a group where her examination class could ask her questions just before their Mock exams. Now unlike some students - her class actually were studying and preparing for their exams. So much so that the teachers activity caught the attention of Facebook Big Brother.... she was warned.. she ignored them... she was banned for a week!

OK - I'm trying to wipe the smile off my face... but I do think this is funny. It also brings to mind the saying "not every tool is a hammer" -- choose the right tool for the right job. I've put said teacher onto Ning - here's hoping that she will take the right action. I don't want to get into a discussion of why the teacher is not using the school learning platform - I'm working my way up to a post on that.

Facing the Divide

Sad news this week with the death of one of our students. Her death and her illness aren't what I want to blog about however. What I want to talk about is how the students at school found out about it and are dealing with their grief.

I was talking to a group of my year 7 students - and one of the questions they had for me was "Have you ever lost a close friend?" When I said yes that one of my friends had died when I was in Year 11, they then asked how long it takes to 'feel better' (my words as I can't remember the exact wording). When I was explaining to them what had happened to my friend and how I found out their faces were unbelieving. At first I thought it was because of the way my friend died, but as we talked more it dawned on me they were surprised about how I found out. I found out thru a news report on the local radio - and then had to wait at school as all my friends arrived to see who it wasn't/was.

They were surprised that I didn't know before I went to school.

They were surprised that I had to wait for people to arrive at school to find out who had died.

They had the answers to all of these questions within hours of our student dying.
I had come face to face with the digital divide.
Finally I had concrete proof that it existed -- that it wasn't just something that people write about to get their name up in lights.
Whereas my friends and I had to wait and wonder, my students this week knew and started their grieving process.
Whereas my friends and I had to wait for the funeral to say goodbye, my students this week were leaving their messages on a Facebook group -- they started their goodbyes so much earlier than we did.
This is one of the times when we need to say thanks to SMS, Facebook, email etc. Whilst they will never forget their friend, I'm hoping that today's technology will spare them some of the pain that we went through in dealing with our grief.