Ideas/Quotes that caught my attention today...
From Learning to Change, Changing to Learn:
Technology is not a choice... it's what happening in the real world.
Sir Ken Robinson "...so we must think and act anew...rise with the occasion"
Things I'm pondering... "My Reflection Collection"
Q: Why do we close the real world out of our schools?
Q: How can we diversify our teaching teams and schedules so that students are receiving instruction from the most highly skilled technology teachers? How to we capitalize on innate talents (in staff) for the benefit of our students?
Q: Is collaboration about "learning" from one another, or rather is it about working, building, brainstorming, arguing/challenging (respectfully) and discovering with one another?
A related TED Talk I like, and which got me thinking:
Margaret Heffernan: Dare to Disagree
Q: How do we share our resources with our communities in a way that helps our students and families build technological (or other) skills?
Q: Is there a way to purposefully and consistently bring real-world professionals into our schools on, for example, exchange, stipend or on a volunteer basis? Are there business partnerships yet to be developed?
Q: How do we help teachers participate in local events, such as the upcoming NCTE conference in March of 2014?
Q: How do we help teachers continue to focus on what's going well and build on those successes?
Q: Does everyone need to go to college?
Another related TED Talk I like:
Mike Rowe: Learning from Dirty Jobs
Q: If students and parents knew the "Real Truth" about the student's current level of achievement (because we've told them and made certain they understood), and if they understood or had access to information related to Common Core Standards, could the use/application of technology at home enable and empower families to take more responsibility for achievement and/or advancement? How can we promote that?
Amy--watched the entire Mike Rowe piece on TED and truly enjoyed his perspective. I'm not sure I agree with all of it, but fun to hear that point of view from someone I've always enjoyed. Thanks for sharing it! Your list of question reflections is exactly the thinking that's great to see -- especially in our common school district! Great to have you in class!!
ReplyDeleteAmy, I love the questions you have posed and your point of view. You brought up a great point in class yesterday and I think that your question reflection style prompts a deeper thinking perspective. Hope you don't mind if I steal them :)
ReplyDeleteAmy, I think we all have these thoughts and questions. As leaders, we need to encourage growth and progressive, outside the box thinking among our staff and colleagues. It's difficult to come up with money to cover classes to send everyone to PD such as NCTE, but we can sometimes manage to send one or two teacher leaders and ask them to bring back information to the rest of the staff.
ReplyDeleteWe have so much to learn from each other. One of the best professional development days I ever had came from colleagues who shared what was working in their classroom with the rest of us. It was great! We picked up great ideas from each other and found new enthusiasm for what we were doing.