Reigniting the Muse of Fire

It's been a tough week in my district with tragedy befalling our student body prior to an extended weekend coming up. While the shock is still something being processed, the students have been making good use of writing to work toward a sense of catharsis. Blogging, like writing, often offers the chance for reflection and thought. 

This video of a talk by Sir Ken Robinson is something that has this writer thinking about the future and what needs to be done in education. Sometimes in darkness it's incumbent upon us to ignite something if no other illumination can be found. This video is something that's shining a light for me. It's Sir Ken Robinson being given the RSA Animation treatment. 

Flipping the Paradigm of Homework

Writer Daniel Pink's article for the Telegraph has been making the rounds in various educational circles. In the article Pink first presents what has been the traditional model of education in the U.S. for the better part of the 20th century- 

During class time, the teacher will stand at the front of the room and hold forth on the day’s topic. Then, as the period ends, he or she will give students a clutch of work to do at home. Lectures in the day, homework at night. It was ever thus and ever shall be.

The article goes on to detail what Karl Fisch, a teacher in Denver, Colorado is doing to change this paradigm. 

However, instead of lecturing about polynomials and exponents during class time – and then giving his young charges 30 problems to work on at home – Fisch has flipped the sequence. He’s recorded his lectures on video and uploaded them to YouTube for his 28 students to watch at home. Then, in class, he works with students as they solve problems and experiment with the concepts. 

After reading Pink's article and the thoughts of marketing researchers like Seth Godin it's an idea that has merit. But first I'm going to put the question to my students and to all readers. 

Daniel Pink's full article on "Flip Thinking"

Complete the survey on "Flip Thinking" if you'd like to share your opinion. 

Sharing Reconciliation with the People Formerly Known as the Audience

Lately there have been a few words that have become ubiquitous in media discussions of education. That's right: standards and data are everywhere when education comes up as a topic. Everything in education is either "standards-based" or "data-driven" no matter what the topic is. Whether it's the adoption of a new set of standards or a supposedly well-intended instance of agitation, in education the words 'standards' and 'data' manage to resurface often. But in being given this opportunity to guest blog, the word that haunted the build-up toward approaching the topic of reconciling standards and 21st century learning was not standards but data. In a fit of 21st century research it can be found that data is defined as 

–noun

1.

a pl. of datum.

2.

(used with a plural verb) individual facts, statistics, or items of information: These data represent 

the results of our analyses. Data are entered by terminal for immediate  processing by the computer.

3.

(used with a singular verb) a body of facts; information: Additional data is 

available from the president of the firm.

In all of the angst that surrounds the lemming rush of educational systems surging to become standard-based data-driven entities the definition of data gains new importance.  If data is simply a set of items of information, educators need to keep this fact in mind when the word 'standard' is wielded as a weapon. It is this writer's fervent belief that educators everywhere really are doing good work with students every day. What has been lacking has been a succinct way to communicate this fact. Cynicism aside, testing and the use of data has arisen as a part of the problem that education wants for ways to articulate what it does. In the midst of heated editorial pages and town-hall levy meetings achievement testing has become a baleful blade possessed of precious few handles. But how much do those strident voices demanding accountability even know about what is on those tests? 

The debate surrounding accountability and standards is often presented within a frame of binary solutions when what is truly needed is reconciliation. Wanting more for students is no more wrong than wanting a real assessment of learning. If education is to move forward and repair relationships with all stakeholders it must be with a sense of reconciliation. As Daniel Pink shows us, some surprising things can be learned from data particularly in relation to motivation. 

But if the tests used to derive the data only reward lower-order thinking how can education survive when its very funding is tied to what some consider to be the antithesis of higher-order thinking? The answer lies within the word 'data'. If data is a body of facts, education must use standards as a basis of learning not as a myopic and duplicitous lens. Data is present in everything education does. Data does not stop with a test score. But then how is the picture to be properly painted to all involved? How can accountability, standards, and the need for 21st Century skills be reconciled for all involved? 

The roots of this repair are present within the very 21st Century skills that are required by a shifting modern world. In the book "Cognitive Surplus" author Clay Shirky calls digital media users "the people formerly known as the audience" because 

When you buy a machine that lets you consume digital content, you also buy a machine to produce it. 

The binary distinction of student and teacher loses focus in the context of 21st Century technology and skills. If education is to repair the schism between 21st Century skills and standards-based education it must come through the sharing of data. The items of information for such sharing can come from the activities already going on in classrooms today. Data doesn't have to come from a one-shot testing window; data can come from qualitative learning experiences that still use educational standards. But such sharing will require a change on the part of educators. 

If educators are to reconcile educational standards in the context of a 21st century world, the "four walls syndrome" must cease. The times of saying that "<insert educational initiative name here> is just a fad" and will pass must become the past. No more closing the doors to the world and teaching within one set of four walls. To begin this reconciliation educators don't have to be Scott McLeod, or Shelly Terrell, or Will Richardson. Your school doesn't need to be on a laptop initiative or have a seamless online class management system. Use your cellphone to record a great student discussion, create a Facebook page for a class, have students concoct a Twitter hashtag to conduct larger discussion, or join a PLN yourself. But educators must share what is going on in their classroom with all stakeholders within the community and world around them. Isolation cannot be the default for those that feel educational data selection is subjective. Karl Fisch and others are taking steps to change educational paradigms; all you need to do is start to share the good that you do. Share this reconciliation of education with the people formerly known as the audience. 

The Upside-down Syllabus Pt. 2

Yesterday's work was aimed at creating some "free write" beginnings for the class syllabus, but instead resulted in an interesting social experiment on anonymity, human behavior, and Google Docs. Yes, it will be the subject of a future post once the video is edited...

For now the YouTube video below will be the starter text used in conjunction with classwork thus far in the first Socratic Circle Discussion being held Friday. Enjoy.