The “First Day”

August 17th marks the first full day of school for all Trinity students. As I walked through the halls late this afternoon, I passed many doors with the lights still on…countless teachers putting the finishing touches on the classrooms, making sure their rooms were most welcoming to the elementary students who arrive before eight o’clock in the morning. Of course, the names on the cubbies, the bright bulletin boards, and the organized reading corner make the classroom feel like an exciting and comforting place. These things are so important. More important than the things, however, are the words and actions of the teacher and those of the students during those first minutes and hours of the school day. At Trinity, we spend the first days of school focusing on strengths chasing and what a difference this makes. What a difference those the first few hours make. What a difference those first few days make.

Ultimately, it’s about relationships…and those first days are invaluable.

At Trinity, we ask all teachers to reach out to their students before the beginning of school. Most teachers write letters or postcards and many students respond by sending pictures and notes in return. In essence, so many of our teachers begin building relationships with their students and embarking on strengths chasing  before those first days.

One of Trinity’s fifth grade teachers, Meredith Burris, did an interesting thing. She included the link to her blog in her (snail-mail) letter to her students. Meredith is an avid reader and plans to post on her blog, “Burris’s Blog for Bibliophiles: A Blog for Book Lovers and Becoming Book Lovers,” throughout the year. Her first post of this school year chronicled her summer reading life and invited readers to share highlights of theirs. The following sentences illustrate how passionate she is about reading, her strengths of writing and reflection, and (of course!) her love of the long days of summer:

I, too, love summer, but I look forward to it for a very different reason. I love summer because I can read – as long and as much as I want, whatever I want, wherever I want, and whenever I want. I love having the freedom to read all day long, if I so choose. I find myself getting up earlier and reading while I eat breakfast, or staying up l late until the early hours of the morning. There’s nothing better than finding a book that’s impossible to put down and having the luxury of not having to do so!

Even though Meredith’s post is powerful, I’m struck by the 20 (and counting!) comments which follow her post. Donovan responds to his teacher’s post almost immediately (on August 2nd…well before the first day of school)  and not only addresses his teacher’s love of summer but also acknowledges the number of books she read and added a few from his own list:

I like summer too Mrs. Burris. I like summer because it makes my schedule more open. Just like you I like to read all night because there is no school in the morning. It is so cool that you read 30 books in this one summer. This summer I read a Rick Riordon book called ” The Throne of Fire”. I am also reading the Hatchet series by Gary Paulson. I am in the middle of a book called “I Am Number Four”. I can’t wait for the school year to start, enjoy the rest of your summer.

If you scroll through all of the comments, you’ll see a beautiful thing. You’ll see relationships being formed around a common topic. You’ll see our Head of School commenting as well as a Trinity staff member and an administrator. If you keep scrolling down, you’ll come across a parent’s comment (a few comments below that of his daughter). Of course, the children’s comments are powerful. That’s a given. They are writing because they care. They are writing to connect. And they are writing to begin to form those relationships that will make their fifth grade year even more rich. Interestingly, I suspect that the adults who contributed are doing the same thing. They are writing because they care enough to connect. To connect with kids, with Meredith the teacher, with the topic, and in essence, with something that’s much larger than themselves.

From the fifth grader to the Head of Trinity School, the “first day of school in Mrs. Burris’s Fifth Grade Class” happened long before August 17th. Those first few real-live hours and those first few real-live days will still be invaluable. But what I know, and what I suspect that Meredith, Donovan, Kate, Allie, Annie, Ginny, Mrs. Berry, Emily, William, Mr. Pulver, Mr. Kennedy, Ellie, Wyatt, Isabella, Josh, Isabel and Eva know, is that August 17th is going to be a special day…and it’s not only because it’s the “first day.”

 

Connecting Globally

If you haven’t bookmarked the “Great Quotes about Learning & Change” Flickr Group, then you should do so. Right now. It’s a great place to find provocative images and quotes to use in conversations, presentations, and in personal reflections as well.

The site really is that good. This image is one of 706 currently in the group. Cool, huh?

So, I ran across this image today which is a perfect representation of my thoughts and reflections this weekend. Thinking of my Trinity colleagues who will be welcoming children into their classrooms on Wednesday, I began to reflect on my three years of teaching sixth grade at Trinity.  What would I do differently if I were heading back to the sixth grade classroom this year? The short answer: I would make sure that my students realized that they were entering into a classroom situated in the year 2011. Not one from the past…not even one from 2010. Even when I had a 1:1 tablet computing environment, I’m not totally sure that my classroom was as 21st century-ized as it should have been. It’s that whole “technology must serve pedagogy not the other way around” thing. In fact, if I were trying to gain some inspiration about making my classrooms 2011 ready, I’d certainly spend some time reflecting on the five axioms of EduCon, the above quote being axiom #3.

1. Our schools must be inquiry-driven, thoughtful and empowering for all members.
2. Our schools must be about co-creating — together with our students — the 21st Century Citizen.
3. Technology must serve pedagogy, not the other way around.
4. Technology must enable students to research, create, communicate and collaborate.
5. Learning can — and must — be networked.

So, with those reflections swirling, I decided that my first step would be to find a way to make my classroom a globally connected one. It’s something that fits with each axiom above. Without a classroom to directly influence, I decided to reach out to my Trinity colleagues with three projects which look incredibly promising for the elementary ages. Within a few hours, I had heard from a handful of teachers who were interested in jumping in. In fact, our entire first grade team will be taking part in the Global Read Aloud Project this fall.

I thought I’d share my email here (and yes, I was lazy about the links!):

Dear Teachers,

Are you interested in exploring how to further the Mission of Trinity School and assist your students in becoming responsible, compassionate, and productive members of the expanding global community? There are so many ways to open your classroom to classrooms all over the USA and the world….and there are a number of Trinity teachers who are already doing just that thing!

I wanted to let you know of a few projects that I have discovered that seem to be manageable, interesting, and connected to Trinity curriculum. If you are interested in finding another project, I’m happy to point you in the right direction. There are so many resources out there and so many great projects, engaged teachers, and cool classrooms! I have included the top three that I’ve seen recently. If you would like to talk in greater depth, please let me know! Also, Marsha and Kara would be more than happy to chat and assist as well! It’d be our dream that there are so many globally connected projects happening at Trinity that Kara, Marsha, and I had our hands full with supporting you and your classes!

To Connecting Globally!

1. The Global Read Aloud Project: This project begins on September 19 (and lasts until October 14) and is geared to students in 1^st – 3^rd Grade (who will be reading Flat Stanley books) OR to students in 4^th – 6th (who will be reading Tuck Everlasting).

• The Basics! You “read aloud” a book (Flat or Tuck) with your class and connect with other classes all over the world in whatever way you want…wikis, Skype, Voicethreads, Videos, Etc
• Can I Really Do This? The founder of this project is very organized, so this is a safe project to start with if this is your first time doing something like this. Plus, there are people at Trinity who are happy to “hold your hand” through it.  If you read aloud to your students, this project only requires a little more time reflecting on what you are reading.
• Learn More:
  • Project wiki: http://globalreadaloud.wikispaces.com/
  • What a 4^th grade teacher from Wisconsin has to say about the project: http://globalreadaloud.blogspot.com/2011/08/veteran-shares-why-they-joined-gra.html
  • Some FAQs: http://globalreadaloud.blogspot.com/p/faq.html

2. Teddy Bears Around the World: This project has no timeline or deadline…it is geared to students in the Threes, Pre-K, or K.

• The Basics! You and your class get a teddy bear and name him/her. Then you write blog posts about your teddy bear’s experiences in Atlanta, GA. There are classrooms doing this all over the world, so you can learn about different parts of the world through the teddy bear’s eyes. Other classes will leave comments for your bear too!
• Can I Really Do This? Like the GRA Project, the founder of this project is also organized and full of great ideas! This project has NO timeline so you can start, write blog posts on the Teddy Bears Around the World Blog, and quit whenever you would like. The only thing you would need to learn is how to post a entry and comment on a blog (which isn’t too difficult!).
• Super Cute! They even have a song that you can sing with your class: http://www.langwitches.org/blog/travel/teddybearsaroundtheworld/bear-travel-song/ (Adorable!)
• Learn More:
  • About the Teddy Bears Project: http://www.langwitches.org/blog/travel/teddybearsaroundtheworld/about-2/
  • Look at the Classrooms Participating: http://www.langwitches.org/blog/travel/teddybearsaroundtheworld/where-in-the-world-map/

3. Community Connections Project: This project has a deadline of February 2012 but it seems like it will be ongoing throughout the 2011-12 school year. This project seems to fit students in K – 3^rd grade.

• The Basics! This project is a great way for your students to learn about urban, suburban, and rural communities from around the world! You will create a wiki with information (pictures, words, videos) about the Atlanta community. Other classes will do the same.
• Can I Really Do This? Yes! You have all of 2011 to become comfortable with using a wiki and then you could start the project in January if you’d like. Or, you could get started right away! You will need to learn how to use a wiki (the same thing that the PLP is!) and upload pictures and student work.
• Learn More:
  • About the project: http://communityconnectionsproject.wikispaces.com/
  • Instructions: http://communityconnectionsproject.wikispaces.com/Instructions
  • A Sample Wiki – just to get you thinking: http://communityconnectionsproject.wikispaces.com/Urban+Bronx+%28example%29

Learning is Everywhere: Langley News

Image Credit: Photo courtesy of @L_Hilt

We have a fourth grader at Trinity who started her own newspaper this year. She has been working with our Director of Communications on her writing style which has improved drastically over the course of the school year.  When May’s edition of the Langley News appeared on my desk, I wondered about M. Langley’s motivation to start her own paper. She was happy to share:

The Langley News is my newspaper that I wrote. Why did I write it is a good question. I get many things from my dad and writing was what he was good at. Sometimes when I’m cleaning out cabinets I find little short 2 sentence stories that I wrote in Pre-K. When I write in my journal I feel free and writing has become my future and my past. I truly love writing stories and I enjoy my newspaper so much I can’t wait to start the next one! My favorite parts about the Langley News are writing it, seeing it all finished, and watching the people I give it to read it. In my classroom we are reading the book called The Landry News, that gave me the idea.

Writing isn’t something you can force me to do. I’ll do it on my own.

— M. Langley, Fourth Grader

Emergent Relationships

In an effort to get my Google Reader account to a reasonable number after a month of workshops, epic snow/ice in Atlanta, birthday celebrations, and life in general, I came across a post on The LIFT blog, “How to Introduce Yourself: The Value of Emergent Relationships.” On the heels of a trip to Philadelphia for Educon 2.3 and after spending over an hour this afternoon watching the livestream Prototype Camp presentations coming from Columbus, Ohio, I was intrigued by this sentence:

Complexity theory tells us that when an element of a system changes in quality and the linkages between the elements change in quality, it is possible for a new system to emerge that has collective capacities found in none of the parts. — Ryan Quinn (@ryanwquinn)

Three days at Educon and today’s #prototypecamp presentations are, in a way, helping me realize that it may be  “possible for a new system to emerge that has collective capacities found in none of the parts.” We must understand the power of networked learning and create drastically different learning spaces if this is to happen, but I believe that a new system is possible, and we — and the students whom we serve — will be better for it.

As I followed the twitter stream from #prototypecamp, the following exchange between two good friends who were actually attending the live presentations caught my eye:

See another theme? These groups are leveraging value of places that matter to them (Facebook) to effect change. #prototypecampWed Feb 02 18:35:56 via TweetDeckLaura Deisley
Deacs84

@deacs84 yep. they are leveraging virtual (facebook), physical (school space), as well as emotional (empathy). #prototypecampWed Feb 02 18:37:50 via HootSuiteDavid Bill
dcinc66

In their quest “to use design thinking to solve real world problems about the future of learning,” these high school students  were leveraging the spaces that meant most to them to find solutions to actual problems. As I think about the spaces that mean the most to educators, what are they? If they are only the individual classrooms where they teach (or offices where they work), I worry about our capacity for change. How do we get educators to emerge from the egg-crate culture of teaching and learning? How do we get educators to experiment with personalized and networked learning? How can we help to create paths which lead to new, diverse learning spaces — and ultimately — change?

The Age of the Unthinkable (Part I)

I have a goal of reading at least one non-educational (and non-fiction) book every couple of months and thanks to the SAIS’s Book Club on December 1st, I am currently reading The Age of the Unthinkable by Joshua Cooper Ramo.

To be honest, as I started reading Ramo’s first chapter I was disappointed when I saw the following: “We are entering, in short, a revolutionary age. And we are doing so with ideas, leaders, and institutions that are better suited for a world now several centuries behind us.”

Here We Go Again, I Thought.

Interestingly though, Ramo’s words take a turn…

“On one hand, this revolution is creating unprecedented disruption and dislocation. But it is also creating new fortunes, new power, fresh hope, and a new global order. Revolutions, after all, don’t produce only losers. They also – and this is the heart of the story I want to tell here – produce a whole new case of historical champions.”

A new global order. A new case of historical champions. The Age of the Unthinkable is about both. I wonder, though… What are we doing in education to create fertile ground to not only grow these historical champions but to help them navigate, learn, and engage in this new order?Are we providing our young learners with the language, creativity, and revolutionary spirit that Ramo argues many of our current leaders lack?

When I think of the learning that I have done in the past year, I am equally thankful for my Klingenstein cohort as I am for my growing network of online colleagues. Through Twitter and RSS and the many face-to-face conversations that happen as a result of my virtual learning, I have shifted my mindset about what it means to learn in the 21^st Century. I understand more fully what George Kennan meant when he said, “Today you cannot even do good unless you are prepared to exert your share of power, take your share of responsibility, make your share of mistakes, and assume your share of risks.” I am able to do those things because of the people in my expanding network – many of whom I consider close friends and many of whom I have never met – who model this type of “doing good.”

What communities are we creating for our students – at all ages but especially at the elementary level? How are we to create “responsible, productive, and compassionate members of the expanding global community” (the last 10 words of Trinity School’s Mission Statement) if we continue to stay isolated in our classrooms, our grade levels, our schools?

I hope to push teachers at Trinity to consider these questions as we continue to engage in conversations about making learning relevant for kids. Ramo offers an interesting starting point for the conversation:

“The future demands a different resume. Today the ideal candidates for foreign-policy power should be able to speak and think in revolutionary terms. They should have expertise in some area of the world – be it China or the Internet or bioengineering – where fast change and unpredictability are the dominant facts of life. They should have experienced the unforgiving demands for precision and care that characterize real negotiation – as well as the magical effect of risk-taking at the right moments. They should have mastered the essential skill of the next fifty years: crisis management. And they should be inclined toward action, even action at times without too much reflection, since at certain moments instinct and speed are more important than lovely perfection of academic models.”

How do we develop revolutionaries, risk-takers, experts, negotiators, crisis-managers, and innovators?

In this ever flattening and increasingly global world, aren’t all of our students going to be engaged in some sort of foreign policy? Doesn’t every student have the potential to be a historical champion?

Can’t Ignore It…

I spent an hour talking with a group of 25 or so sixth graders about what the words “respect” and “protect” mean in terms of technology and children’s online lives. I used Tod Baker’s post about his school’s AUP as inspiration for the lesson. I may write about the actual lesson later, but I was stuck by the genuine questions that were “left circling in my students’ heads.” (I had them record their reactions to the lesson with the three prompts pictured from a summer tweet from #klingsi10.) The following student questions are evidence enough that we need to be rethinking our approach to educating children in the 21st century. We can no longer ignore students lived lives both in and outside of the school walls.

What if someone is harassing you or a friend and it’s uncomfortable to talk about it with an adult?

Why are there bad things on the internet?

If you think of something to write or an idea for a website and then you see that it’s already online, should you delete what you wrote?

If someone who you communicate with online knows who you are and where you live and they start to blackmail you, is it better to keep quiet or tell someone?

How many genuinely good people are out there on the internet? How many bad people?

At the end of the year, I’d honestly rather these kids feel empowered in their online lives and be able to see and understand that the internet is a powerful place for learning than some of the curricular initiatives I know are coming. At a private school, we can balance both. I think.

Wrestling with Process & Product

I just finished reading Kist’s The Socially Networked Classroom this morning due to a group dynamics conference I attended over the weekend. After 36 hours of exploring “leadership and team development in a world of difference,” I have learned an incredible amount about myself and actually made some connections to many of the ideas we have been exploring this semester in my literacies and technologies class. Personally, a powerful takeaway from the weekend for me centered around ideas related to process/product. I am often so product-oriented when working in teams that learning through the process part takes a back seat to the end goal. Shifting my mindset requires being comfortable with discomfort – and being willing to relinquish a bit of control. I have to acknowledge my high expectations for products yet realize that not everything will/should live up to the standards I set. I also have to acknowledge that the journey toward a goal is often much more enlightening than the actual achievement of the goal.

With an hour left to the conference, I tweeted: “35th hr of group dyn conf…lots of talk ard losing control & being comf w/ discomfort. Wondering how that will translate 4 tchrs n clsrms…” There were so many people at the conference – mainly educators – who raised similar revelations about the loss of control in their own lives and how this “letting go,” while scary, can actually produce transformative experiences. While many were probably not thinking about their specific roles as classroom teachers, I am very interested to assess my issues with process/product and reflect on my previous six years in the classroom based on issues of boundary, authority, role, and task.

So, when I picked up Kist this morning, I was struck by the section on student blogging. In Kylene Beers’ foreward, she includes a quote from a school principal:

“Actually, its not just that we run this school by a bell system – something straight from the factory whistle that ushered workers back to work after breaks – but that our entire model for education comes from the industrial age. During that time, making sure each person on the assembly line could handle discreet skills was important. That’s what we’re doing here today in this school – making sure these kids can all handle discreet skills. I’m not sure we ever try to give them the big picture, or more important, get them to create the big picture themselves. We’re teaching kids to pass a test, but I don’t think we’re making sure they can be competitive in a world they’ll live in for the next 40, 50 years.” (Kist, The Socially Networked Classroom, viii)

So many of the activities Kist presents do not align with my beliefs about student-centered classrooms and the idea of “big picture learning” that Beers presents in the foreword. Many of the ideas did not seem to be as forward-thinking as I anticipated after reading Beers’ words.

For me, the activities around student blogging were most frustrating since I spent two years blogging with my sixth graders. While my experiences and lessons were far from great, I’m confident that each student had a good experience with blogging. Some even had great experiences. (I think I’m most proud of one of my students, Emma, who is still (three years later!) writing on a personal blog and is a guest blogger for a music website). While student experiences ranged from good to great, I WAS actually more concerned with the process piece than the actual product. The problem I see with the blogging examples that Kist chooses to include is that they are still very teacher-centric and product focused.

• Rachel Ring on page 56: Very specific, step-by-step introductory assignment and a blogging rubric that attaches point values for (teacher generated) qualities of completion
• Heidi Whitus on page 58-59: Activities that include lower to middle level thinking skills (summarize in activity #1 and #4, compare in activities #2 and #3) and teacher generated assignments
• Bill Kist on page 60: Rubric that hasn’t been developed by the student

Two of my main issues…
1. assessing of student blogs with rubrics
2. assignments for particular posts

When my students were blogging, I didn’t grade their blogs and never felt like I needed to incorporate grades to motivate them to write. While some may say that I just had “good kids,” I disagree. I created a classroom culture where openness and sharing were expected and honored. I introduced blogging to the students and planned my lessons in a way that focused more on process than product. I also had many discussions around what “good” process/product looked and felt like. I made students key players in the game of determining the purpose and power of blogging. Also, I rarely assigned topics for them to write about. Occasionally, I’d ask them to reflect on a field trip or a particular class experience, but I was careful not to encroach upon their personal blogging space. I wanted my students to feel as though their blog – though connected with “school” – was as much a part of their school life as their personal life.

In my classroom, reflection (both written and face to face) was the most important tool of assessment for both teachers and students. I’m wondering…is there a way to effectively link blogging with grades (or with any formal assessment) and still make blogging a student-centric experience?

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More About Mindsets

Three times this week, I’ve been asked the same question: Are you going to miss New York? It’s a normal question (since I’ll most likely be back in Atlanta next year), but I’ve had a very difficult time forming a coherent answer on each occasion. Of course I’ll miss my life here – my “job” is being a student, most every restaurant serves food that’s picture worthy, Central Park is three blocks from my door, I can see the sunset over the Hudson River from my apartment window, and on top of everything else, the Klingenstein kool-aid tastes delicious! However, while I revel in all things New York, I’m very anxious to get back into a school environment – back into the “real” world where I can begin to apply what I’ve learned and experienced in meaningful ways. I’m aware that I’m in an interesting place….caught between the theoretical and the practical with very few opportunities to marry the two in authentic ways.

As an example, I spent this morning delving into theories of organizational structures with the Klingenstein crowd during my Leadership of Private Schools class. Then, I hopped on the subway and traveled to my internship site (a private, all-boys, inner-city school in the East Village) where I spent five hours continuing previous conversations about writing (which will hopefully lead to a re-vamping/mapping of the 4th – 8th grade writing curriculum – read: my internship project). From there, I traveled back to Columbia for my Literacies and Technologies class to discuss how literacies can be “new” in two ways, ontologically and in their ethos. It was a crazy day, and I had to shift my mindset a number of times. However, in all of the traveling, shifting, and changing gears, I had a bit of an ah-ha moment.

Karen LaBonte, my Literacies and Technologies professor, challenged me with the idea that it’s the “ethos” stuff that can transform education. According to Lankshear and Knobel:

In addition to being made of different ‘technical’ stuff from conventional literacies, new literacies are also made of what we might call different ‘ethos stuff’ from what we typically associate with conventional literacies. For example, they are often more ‘participatory,’ more ‘collaborative,’ and more ‘distributed,’ as well as less ‘published,’ less ‘individuated,’ and less ‘author-centric’ than conventional literacies…The ‘stuff’ of what we think of as new literacies reflects a different mindset from the stuff of which conventional literacies are largely composed. They involve different kind of social and cultural relations, they flow out of different kinds of priorities and values, and so on.

As I continue to ponder ideas of new vs. conventional literacies, it’s also important for me to wrestle with the idea of “ethos.” How can I do the hard work of creating a highly participatory, very collaborative classroom/school where learning/teaching/leading is distributed? What work can I do now to solidify this “ethos” so that I can clearly communicate my new mindset when I enter into a new school environment?

The first thing I need to do is work to define my mindset (fully knowing that it will shift and change based on my experience and new learning). Lankshear and Knobel provides an interesting place to start (Mindset 1/2), but I know that ideas from Dweck and others in my PLN will help to further challenge me over the next few months. It’s one way I can begin to marry the theory with reality.

Education Really Needs an Upgrade

A Preface: Over the past six months, I have had the chance to ponder BIG questions in relation to leadership and education. While I’m incredibly impressed with my experience, I’ve been frustrated with lack of conversation around 21st century literacies and education – especially among our group of aspiring administrators and future heads of schools. This semester, I decided to do something about it. I enrolled in an elective class (Literacies and Technologies in Secondary English Classroom) which is outside of the official  education leadership umbrella (but obviously, not really). Although we’re not even halfway through the semester, I have found this class to be even more challenging than many of my core classes. We’re a diverse group, we’ve been grappling with tough questions having to do with literacy and education, and we’re trying to envision what our classrooms and schools will/should/could look like while we’re in the comfortable cocoon of graduate school. It’s quite a daunting task.

Our small group has been thinking about a number of interesting questions during the first few weeks of class. The following questions are based on Lankshear and Knobels’s ideas from New Literacies, but they echo some of the larger questions that are being considered across our nation/world:

• Since literacies can be considered “new” in terms of both ontologies and ethos, what does “new literacies” mean? Are ethos/ontology mutually exclusive?
• What is the connection between a mindset and a new literacy?
• What are the effects of distinguishing literacies as new? How does this shape our ideas of these literacies – both the “old” and “new”?
• Given that teachers and curricula form the backbone of the “deep grammar” of school, what implications does this have for educators?

While I wasn’t able to attend Will Richardson’s conversation in person, I’ve been following the aftermath (and will read through the archived Elluminate chat very soon). Will’s session was entitled “The Decoupling of Education and School” and he used ideas from Collins and Halverson’s Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology to start the conversation. While the questions that were created (by 100 people in person and 40+ people online) encompass a much broader sweep of the educational landscape, I think we can add some of these questions to our discussion and more importantly, learn from his approach.

After the weekend at Educon, Richardson created a Google Form with all of the questions and asked others to join the conversation. He called on the members of his incredibly large PLN to whittle the 30 or so questions down to the ten essential questions by crowdsourcing. This is when I got involved. I voted on the ten that were most pressing as did many others. The results, which Richardson extracted after only a few days and numerous tweets, speak for themselves. His blog post on the process (and what the future will bring) is worth reading.

As I think about the small group in our Literacies and Technologies class and the big questions we are wrestling with, I think it’s essential that we do a couple of things. First, in order to bring more voices into the discussion, I think it’s important that we begin to expand our network to include a variety of opinions. I appreciate Will’s approach – especially since he is considered an expert by many in the ed tech world – because it gives a tangible example of networked learning. Second, I think it’s important that we remember that our discussions (while heavily rooted in theory) have real, practical implications. Karen LaBonte suggested this video, and I think it’ll provide an interesting foundation for the issues that we’ll grapple with this week/month/semester. I think it will help remind all of us that our theoretical discussions have realistic implications – the students in this video are asking for something more. They’re asking for us to consider what the world will look like in 5, 10, 20, 30 years. They’re hoping we take risks to provide them with something different. I’m hoping for the same thing.

“You Can’t Be Who You Really Are In Someone Else’s Language”

Over the past few days, I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of  insiders and outsiders as it relates to education, technology, and the development of the self. While there are definitely three posts brewing in my mind (see below), I’ll save two for another day. But, to be a little more transparent, here’s what I’ve been thinking about…

• In my Klingenstein Leadership class, I had the chance to examine a case study which initiated conversation around the idea of increasing diversity in independent schools. While I can’t refer to the specifics of the study for confidentiality reasons, it made me think about problems with diversity initiatives – especially those programs which aim to increase the “outsiders” within certain communities without proper preparation and planning. It made me frustrated and sad for the many students who have difficult (and often detrimental) experiences as “outsiders” in schools. [I’ll hopefully find time to post about this later in the week.]
• Yesterday, a tweet directed me to a blog post that addressed the experience of an ELL (English Language Learner) in a Georgia classroom. The tweet said, “if you only read one thing today, read the posts/comments.” I would argue that if you only read one thing this week, make sure to put this post at the top of your list. I was profoundly affected, as it encompasses what’s been on my heart and mind recently. Rocio, the student featured in the post, beautifully describes her experience as an ELL student – an outsider – within the context of a school classroom. “We don’t have a personality until we own the language the people around us use to communicate,” she explains. The statement of “you can’t be who you really are in someone else’s language” is a powerful one – and one that adds even more texture to the context of my reflections this week in light of insiders/outsiders. [Again, I’ll hopefully find time to post about this later in the week.]
• Finally, the assigned reading for my Literacies and Technologies class (New Literacies; ch. #1 “From ‘Reading’ to ‘New’ Literacies”)  addressed a completely different subject (much less heart, a lot more head) but strangely connected to the concept of insiders/outsiders that I’d been mulling over all week. Rocio’s statement, “You can’t be who you really are in someone else’s language,” powerfully relates to the ideas of literacy (post-1970) and the implications for educators striving to teach skills of the 21st century to students who desperately need them.

In the first chapter of New Literacies,  Lankshear and Knobel  introduce readers to the idea that “literacy” is dynamic and multi-faceted. It is not as simple as defining someone as literate or illiterate. While this complex idea of literacy has not always been as an educational focus (especially prior to 1970), I am intrigued by the development of the definition of literacy. Last week, Gee provided a strong foundation but this week, I have found the sociocultural perspective presented by E.D. Hirsch and the 3D model (Green) to be the most salient.

The 3D model builds on Hirsh’s idea of cultural literacy but adds that:

Literacy should be seen as having three interlocking dimensions of learning and practice: the operational, the cultural, and the critical. These dimensions bring together language, meaning, and context, and no one dimension has any priority over the others. In an integrated view of literate practice and literacy pedagogy, all dimensions need to be taken into account simultaneously. (p. 15)

It is essential that educators grasp this concept – especially since it’s essential that we teach 21st century literacies within the school walls. On school campuses across America (and across the world), there are insiders and outsiders in relation to the conversations concerning literacy, technology, and education. Jonanthan Kozol would argue that in some schools (schools I have visited in New York and Atlanta), literacy in its basic form isn’t being taught (and sadly, there is eerie silence in place of rich conversations around technology and education). Luckily, in many schools (public and private), the idea of multiple literacies (the 3D model) is being addressed. I believe that in order to prepare students to be productive citizens in a global economy, educators must attend to the operational, cultural, and critical dimensions of learning and practice. Then, the conversation concerning technology and education will have a stronger foundation and might naturally follow.

All of this relates (maybe too tangentially) to the idea of insiders and outsiders. If we only teach children the operational dimension of literacy, we are not teaching them the language of the 21st century. Essentially, we are making them outsiders because they won’t be able to understand someone else’s language. In the past, participation (reading/writing – on paper) was sufficient for the navigation of the world outside the school walls. Now, students must understand the language of the 21st century – and educators must help them work toward creating that understanding. This means that they (students and teachers) must be “able to transform and actively produce” literacy while moving past “operational or technical competence by contextualizing literacy with due regard for matters of culture, history, and power” (p. 16). What does this look like in the classroom? A starting place would be some of the ideas in Richardson’s book – using blogs, wikis, and podcasts (and Flickr, Del.icio.us, and RSS)  to create, transform, analyze, gather, manipulate, search, navigate, and evaluate. Educators (we) must help students (them) learn the world’s language so they can express who they really are – in a language they feel comfortable with and understand.